The Evangelical Universalist Forum

[POLL] Do you believe in hell?

Evangelical Universalism
#1

Do you believe in hell?

  • Yes, I believe in eternal punishment for the wicked/unsaved after death
  • I believe in temporary punishment for everybody after death.
  • I believe in temporary punishment for the wicked/unsaved after death, then they will be saved.
  • I believe in temporary punishment for the wicked/unsaved after death, then they will be annhilated.
  • I do not believe in any punishment in the afterlife
  • Other (please explain)

0 voters

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I was just wanting to get a feel for how many Christian Universalists believe in hell. If you don’t want views known, feel free to vote and not explain. I fall under the category of the wicked/unsaved being temporarily punished before getting saved.

For the purpose of this poll, hell is defined as punishment in the afterlife.

The first option is included for our ECT friends who post here. I did not want them to feel left out. :slight_smile: The second option is included because I talked to a universalist one time that believed that no one gets a free pass after death, that everyone must be punished in the afterlife. The last option was included for comprehensiveness. Not sure what options would be left though.

I enabled the option to allow you to change your vote. That way if you change yopur mind due to discussion, you can reflect it here.

#2

“I believe in temporary punishment for the wicked/unsaved after death, then they will be saved.” I believe that the unsaved could continue to reject God’s love, but I disbelieve that would happen forever, not that forever will ever end.

#3

My vote…

“I believe in temporary punishment for the wicked/unsaved after death, then they will be saved.”

With the qualifier that the punishment is NOTHING like the commonly viewed form of hell from an ECT perspective. It is purely corrective in nature… not torture; then again the view of torture could be subjective in which case all forms of “correction” could be seen as torture.

Mostly kidding about that last part. :smiley:

#4

Just ask any child being punished. It is torture… :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

That is actually what I had in mind when I typed my response. :laughing:

God is the ultimate Dad and we SO do not want to experience his “Time Out”.

#6

I believe that we all will probably suffer some degree of correction after death – but I may be mistaken about that. Paul seemed to believe it was possible to become mature in Christ in this life, and perhaps one could escape correction in the coming age if one were to achieve maturity in this life.

As for the “wicked” dead, I believe they will experience varying degrees of correction as needed and then will join in the Beloved, having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, drunk from the River of the Water of Life, and eaten from the leaves and the fruit of the Tree of Life. :smiley: And we will all be so, so, so overjoyed to see each one that joins with those of us blessed to be already there and awaiting them!

#7

I selected “Other” because, well, I don’t believe in ECT, and I’m unsure as to who or if anyone will suffer in the afterlife. Most of the passages on judgment that can possibly be understood to speak of punishment in the afterlife speak primarily to the condition of believers who are not prepared for the bridegroom, are misusing authority they’ve been given, or just not caring for the needs of those around them. Frankly, the parables of the talents, the separation of the kids from the flock, the 5 foolish virgins, etc., all scare the hell out of me; and they motivate me to righteous living. So the “fire” warned of seems to be reserved for those who have faith and did not live right, not those who have not been blessed with faith.

I believe that judgment will burn like fire, purifying and cleansing us all, revealing to us all our need for forgiveness, and our need to forgive. Through judgment not only are we reconciled to God, but will be reconciled to eachother. All the wood, hay, and stubble of our lives, that which is worthless will be burnt up.

So I do not believe in Hell, but I do believe that judgment might burn like hell except that it has a positive purpose.

#8

With George MacDonald, I believe that we will all receive whatever punishment is needed, in this life or the next, for God to save us and perfect us. With a recalcitrant recidivist sinner like me, I guess that will be quite a lot! :slight_smile:

Shalom

Johnny

#9

I agree with Cindy that Paul indicated it was possible to be so thoroughly “crucified with Christ” that you might escape correction in the second death. Those would be “the overcomers” who are hurt “not at all” by the Second Death.

But that’s Not how the smart money’s betting for most of us. I think the afterlife will be a lot more intense for most Christians than their utopic delusions. It is a day of reckoning for all of us - and we are clearly told we are held to a higher standard.

I live in Holy Fear of the Fear of Jacob.

#10

I lean to believing in a painfully purifying experience beyond death for those whom God knows are then in need of the benefits of such a process.

#11

I put “I believe in temporary punishment for everybody after death.” because I believe even real Christians will need some educative, disciplinary, pruning, “salted with fire” kind of punishment to begin with…

I suspect non-Christians will need even more as they need to come to repentance & faith first, before they can catch up. I also suspect the duration will be related to the amount & severity of the sins committed, mainly because the more twisted you become, the more untwisting you & the Holy Spirit need to do.

Moving further into speculation, I think every person will be required to experience/understand the hurt they’ve caused others, and given the opportunity to repent & ask the other for forgiveness - I imagine that will take quite awhile even for “saints”!

#12

Interesting thread. UR seems to open Christians eyes to the disciplinary passages in the scriptures.

Before my eyes were opened, I saw Christ as a “get out of hell free card”. Now I see my own humble need for “reconciliation”, and how that reconciliation (quite obviously) will require discipline and correction.

“Universal Reconciliation” cuts both ways - for non-believers a (perhaps very painful) bending of the knee and confessing of the tongue - Praise the lord. For believers, a (perhaps very painful) perfecting of our faith.

Those whom He loves, He chastens. And I do believe He loves us all.

#13

I had to vote ‘other’ because I believe that we are all BEING saved ie I cannot go with the binary saved/not-saved idea.
Any of us will receive the correction that we may require.

#14

i find it very difficult to believe in punishment after death. i feel that the hell texts can be read to mean painful or ignominious death, but i believe that David and Solomon were correct to say that death is an unconscious state (or perhaps a non-state would be a better way to put it).

i also think that God can do alot with the final moment of your life. He is outside time, and so time can be manipulated as much as is necessary to persuade, cajole or whatever means are necessary to save someone. this is pre-mortem, so not post.

i haven’t yet seen a huge degree of proof FOR post mortem salvation, so i remain agnostic on that front.

perhaps i should’ve voted other! but i felt i had to make my own stand in a way.

i don’t have a big problem with temporary remedial hell. it satisfies the readings in its own way, but i don’t know if i believe it’s necessary for there to be something AFTER death when so much can be done before.

i really don’t think it’s a huge deal whichever way, it’s an academic and semantical difference (apart from my solution being PRE and remedial hell being POST :laughing: )

also Pilgrim said it well, it’s not a binary thing…we are BEING saved. or, as i like to think of it, it’s a growth process where maturity=“salvation”.

#15

I find this OT passage really insightful on the “hell and punishment topic”

Malachi. 3-1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” saith the LORD.

6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.

#16

I voted for the second option, although I think discipline is a better word than punishment. The Lord disciplines us for our benefit and healing, because he loves all of us and treats us all as his children.

#17

I voted for the second option, although I think discipline is a better word than punishment. The Lord disciplines us for our benefit and healing, because he loves all of us and treats us all as his children.

#18

I voted “other”; so here’s my explanation. I believe in Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus, because these are in the Scripture. I do not believe in hell, because it isn’t.

I do believe that there will be a time of pruning for any/ all who need it after this mortal existence (LOF), and I do believe that all will be saved in due time.

#19

I believe everyone will go through the refiners fire of God’s purification before they come home to heavenly glory. Punishment is meant for correction not punitive reasons.

#20

In my opinion, the word “punishment” suggests penalty. I voted for the second option with the proviso that “punishment” is replaced with “correction” or “discipline.”