I know that in the past there have been board members who have been able to contact Dr. Boyd. I’ve emailed him this and never gotten a reply (understandable - he may not even have read it). If anyone that is able could pass along the message I’d appreciate it. And for others who simply want to comment or see what I have to say, please share!
***********I have a few quick questions for Dr. Boyd.
First - I am an open theist universalist (and I think you should be too! Your logic when taken to its conclusion actually supports this far better than annihilation!)
Second - It seems you believe the Jesus was “slain before the foundation of the world” in the sense that his death was planned even before the creation of creatures. How is this possible, given open theism? How, in other words, does this very act not somehow determine that there will be sin in the universe?
Third - If God was a God who was willing to annihilate his creation (or send them to Hell), or if annihilation was a true possibility for the rational beings he made, for all God knew every single rational being he created could have been annihilated! I don’t buy that there can be “probabilities” before the formation of free beings. They have not yet exercised their free will in any way, and those probabilities can only come after observing them continually exercise their freedom. Do you think then that annihilation is something God would be willing to do, or that it is even possible for him to do? Would he gamble an entire universe on such a possible outcome?
Fourth - Why suppose a being can become irredeemably evil? It seems to me this is a metaphysical impossibility. There must always be some core good for the evil to grow on. Why suppose one can build oneself into a state in which evil is his permanent character? Good, on the other hand, is eternal and divine. It can exist on its own and by itself metaphysically. Is it not then possible that no matter how bad a being gets, there is still some hope for it, since it has at least some good? As MacDonald said, “There must be hope while there is existence; for where there is existence there is God; and God is for ever good, nor can be other than good.” Of course, he follows this up with, “But alas, the distance from the light!” What are the criteria for God when he decides to annihilate a creature?
Fifth - If open theism is true, how could God possibly know with certainty that simply more time, different circumstances, different graces and trials, would not bring a good free response from his rational creatures? He could not know this, unless the being became somehow irredeemably evil. But again, let us suppose that is metaphysically impossible. How could he ever decide he was done trying to save it?
It seems to me that these points show that God will never stop trying to save his creation until they have all come home to him and been perfected. Scripture speaks of a Hell, a place of outer darkness, a doom terrible for those to bear who go there. And it says that none will escape it until they have paid the last farthing. Could it not be Dr. Boyd that this is what Hell is - a prison for creatures to stay until they come out? We are lead more or less gently to become such sons and daughters of God here on earth. Of course, terrible suffering can result from not heeding God’s sweeter promptings. But is it not possible for suffering to occur on a far more intense level on another plane? Why suppose at death all is done? We think that God has only certain tools to use, and if he doesn’t get his way with them, he must give up. But he has infinite time, infinite patience, infinite love for his creation. Who can say how time will draw out in the afterlife to one in Hell? Who can say at what speed God will approach or at what distance he will withdraw from those who are there?
Do these arguments not give you pause to consider the Universalist doctrine? Does not your logic and belief system - open theism, true possibilities, free will, a God of perfect and never ending love, the parasitic nature of evil - lead to this conclusion?*********
I like it very much!