The Evangelical Universalist Forum

SNIPPETS FROM MY HARD COPY UR LIBRARY

Evangelical Universalism Arguments for Evangelical Universalism
#721

#377 - GOD’S UNFAILING PLAN REVEALED IN THE EONS – DORA VAN ASSEN

"The whole universe will feel the impact and glory of the cross as it takes away the sin of the world. This expression of God’s influence, power, and love will continue to shine out of His own heart until all come under His sway; saved, purified, changed, and drawn back into Himself.

None can escape the loving and corrective judgment of the Father. Nothing shall be lost or wasted. The true light is shining more and more unto that perfect day when all shall be understood – God reaching His own ultimate plan, the great cycle of love completed; God All in all, everything in everybody. This is true love in the full expression of the cross."

#722

#378 - THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH – PAUL MUELLER

"Babylonish religion would have us believe that everything will end when this age concludes; however, God is not the least bit influenced by man’s religion since He already determined that His redemptive plan involves the ages beyond this present age. In the age of the fullness of times, all things in the heavens and on earth that have not yet been gathered into Christ, will then be gathered into Him (Eph. 1:8-10).

The will of God has been positively affirmed in this matter, for Paul wrote of God, ‘Who will have all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth,’ (1Tim 2:4). The Lord is omnipotent and shall perform all that He has purposed concerning all mankind, ‘Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient time the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE’ (Is. 46:10).

#723

I don’t know whether or not Barclay would regard this as SECULAR literature, but here are three quotes from apocryphal writings which clearly use “kolasis” as punitive:

#724

“The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. There is no instance in Greek secular literature where kolasis does not mean remedial punishment. It is a simple fact that in Greek kolasis always means remedial punishment. God’s punishment is always for man’s cure.” William Barclay quote

I think Barclay might answer that because kolasis meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better then the three illustrations given include the improving of the ones punished, not just punitive punishment.

“What About how the Bible says that those who do not believe will perish or be destroyed?”
tentmaker.org/FAQ/perish.htm

#725

#379 - “FOR WHO HATH RESISTED HIS WILL” – K. ROSS MCKAY

"Because of their past teaching in the tradition of man, many will argue that man’s own will shall prevent the fulfilling of God’s own stated will. But according to God’s word of truth wherein He cannot lie, He shall mercifully prove them to be wrong. Fortunately for mankind, God works ALL things, including man’s destiny, after the counsel of His own will, and always, what His soul desires, even that He does (Job 23:13).

Believe it or not, God’s intimate sovereign control is absolute and universal in scope (Job 3:7), even to the extent of man’s delusions (2Thes. 1:11; Is. 66:4; Jer. 6:19). This is notably evident in the church’s delusion – that God cannot successful influence the human will unless we let Him. But God has absolute control over the extent of success to which His word reaches and changes others, even to the extent of controlling what that word means to each individual (Is. 29:14; Matt. 13:11; 19:11).

It is a prophetic fact, predetermined, willed, divinely promised, and assured by the word of our faithful God Who in fact ‘WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED’ (1Tim. 2:4), This is true not only because ‘HE IS THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN’ (1Tim. 4:10), and not just of the first fruits whom He now specially causes to believe, but also because of the truth that 'HE IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH or be rendered unfit for the ultimate pleasure of His will (Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:5,9; Col. 1:19,20), for 'IT IS NOT OF HIM WHO IS WILLING, NOR OF HIM WHO RUNS, BUT OF GOD (Rom. 9:16).

#726

#380 - “MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND” – K. ROSS MCKAY

“Some believe that God’s satisfaction will be found in the eternal torment [or annihilation] of some of His creatures. But John was not speaking of a perverted pleasure when he penned, ‘Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created (Rev. 4:11). God’s plan and purpose of the ages (Eph. 3:11) is to include perfectly executed and unique stages of progressive development resulting in the final restoration and reconciliation of all.

God has been and always will be in absolute sovereign control over His entire cosmic plan, even unto its ultimate consummation in perfection. His plan for all of humanity cannot fail. All of His working together of good and evil is in perfect harmony and balance. God’s love shall not fail. His absolute power and might insures His completing of all He has willed to do, both in our individual salvation, and in the universal salvation that is sure to come.”

#727

#381 - “ASK OF ME OF THINGS TO COME” – K. ROSS MCKAY

“WHO SHALL EVENTUALLY WORSHIP GOD?
Every creature Rev. 5:13
All flesh Isa. 66:23
All the ends of the world Psa. 22:27
All the kindreds of the nations Psa. 67:7
All the isles of the heathen Zep. 2:11
All the nations whom Thou hast made Psa. 86:9; Rev. 15:4
All the earth Psa. 66:4
The whole earth shall be filled with His glory Psa. 72:19; 97:7.”

#728

#382 - THE GREAT WHITE THRONE – AUTHOR UNKNOWN

“The throne is white. May the One Who will be seated upon it keep us from painting it black. The judgment is viewed in the light of its outcome. If it leads to eternal conscious torment for all who stand before it as orthodoxy demands, then the throne is black and an outrage on justice and a heartless exhibition of fiendish cruelty.

It is only when we see that the outcome of this judgment is universal reconciliation (Col. 1:20), that we can really acknowledge that the throne is white. It is only when we limit the actual infliction of pain and penalties to the judgment era that we are able to appreciate the righteousness of God’s throne.

The judgment is as varied as the individual. It is as different as their acts. Some will suffer severely, some slightly, and all according to their deserts. But there is no reason to prolong this time to infinity. It is preparatory to their reconciliation.”

#729

#383 - PROGRESSIVE REVELATION WITHIN THE BIBLE – EARNEST L. MARTIN

“Salvation through Christ will extend outward to include all people (Rom 5:18; 1Tim. 2:4-6). Indeed it is far more than that. Salvation in Christ reaches out to embrace all intelligent beings in the entirety of the universe (Eph. 1:10; Phil. 2:10,11; Col. 1:15-20). The power of God to save is all encompassing. And when God sets out to accomplish a task (such as saving the world and the universe), He will be successful – God will always be successful!

No power in the universe, including Satan himself, can thwart God’s plan to save all those within His creation. And this is precisely where Progressive Revelation leads – it leads to the truth that God will finally save all!”

#730

#384 - THE PURPOSE OF EVIL – GUY MARKS

“Evil begins with God and is a necessary part of His plan. It is the method He uses to accomplish His purpose. Usually when man works evil he sins because His motives are wrong, but this is not true of God for His motive is always to produce good. God uses the forces of evil to bring about good.

The teaching that sin and death are eternal is a travesty of God’s character, for it presents God standing by in complacency while Satan introduces an evil that all but destroys the human race.

The purpose of evil is to establish a background for a display of God’s love and grace which we could never know apart from the experience of sin. Evil is a necessary part of God’s purpose to mold us and to fashion us in the image of His beloved Son. Evil is a problem only to those who fail to see God’s purpose in it and who refuse to believe that God will bring blessings to all mankind through His dealings with evil and sin. The forces of evil cannot continue beyond the circumference of God’s purpose in it. God always has control over the forces of evil and evil never has any power apart from the authority of God. God has complete control over Satan and all of his activities.

The teaching that sin is to continue eternally blinds our minds to an understanding of the purpose of evil. Those who have made the greatest progress in seeking out the revelation of the cross no longer consider evil to be a problem, for the cross of Christ will turn all the evil of sin into infinite good. God will do infinitely more than repudiate sin and abolish death. He will not simply restore the human race to the status of Adam in the garden.

God’s grace differs from Adam’s offence because it will accomplish far more than Adam lost. Then too that which resulted from Adam’s offense is temporary but the results of grace will be permanent. Grace more than meets the need for it exceeds the need by far. It is enough and to spare for it is a superabundance. And this proves conclusively that the ruin caused by Adam’s sin is overcome and more by the superabundance of grace.

Before the eons, before there was any evil, before there was any sin, God designated all the events that would make sure that not one would be trapped in the forces of evil, but that all would be delivered from death and sin. God prearranged it all, from the fall of man to the glory of the consummation. Not one thing was left to chance. All was founded on His wisdom.

To some evil will never cease, or so they believe. God is never able, or at least He never tries to bring about so much good that all evil will vanish. They try to justify God with the false teaching that man is a free moral agent. But the only freedom of man that the scriptures present is the freedom that comes through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.”

#731

Now that is just not true. That God has to establish a background of evil - rapes of innocent young girls, murders and war, mayhem, deceit, all the anguish and misery of humanity, etc. - to show his love is just a repulsive idea.

Give that we HAVE fallen and to a large extent reap what we have sown, God’s love can shine in a different way, in a merciful and forgiving fashion. But His love does NOT need evil in order to shine or be displayed.

I’m going to be as stubborn as a mule on this issue. But I’ll be good-natured about it! :smiley:

#732

My point of view about the necessity of exactly as much sin and evil as God actually allows is best summed up by Ray Prinzing, especially the fifth paragraph.

TIME, ETERNITY AND GOD – REDEMPTION’S GLORY – RAY PRINZING

“Modern theology has so long circumvented our thinking and teaching to the biased idea that God will save only part of His creation and so limited His redemptive powers that we have forgotten that with God all things are possible and shall be wrought out in due time. God has a definite schedule for saving His creatures, and there is nothing that can withstand His purpose.

Sin was allowed for wise ends, and only after these have been secured will sin cease to exist. It is all a part of God’s purpose of the ages and redemption’s glory will only shine out the more after the plan’s execution. God never allows sin to go beyond His transforming power. God always has everything under perfect control.”

“ ‘And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” 1John 4:14.
‘Who will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come into a knowledge of the truth’ 1Tim. 2:4.

This is not a pitting of man’s will against the will of God as some try to teach, with man’s will able to resist and hold out until God cannot change him, but must throw him into some eternal cesspool to be tormented. NAY – for we read that ‘He is working out all things after the counsel of His own will,’ and man cannot disannul that which HE has willed. It is God’s will that all shall come to Christ. He is the propitiation for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. Why then shall we be so foolish as to dispute the immutability of His truth?”

“God is sovereign, and He controls all the interaction of evil and good, and causes all to redound to His own glory. It is not – what was lost by the fall was to be regained by redemption, BUT by the interaction of FALL AND REDEMPTION, God achieves greater, wiser, nobler, and higher goals for everyone than by the Adamic race remaining in its pristine state.

Evil and good are synchronized to accomplish God’s will and purpose, so that the ultimate goal shall reveal all evil transformed back into good, and all negation cancelled out by GOOD. Evil is allowed for wise ends, and when these are secured it must cease to exist, for God will restore all things into good. HE controls all the interaction between evil and good until His purpose of the ages is fulfilled. Then shall God be All in all.”

“We would not minimize the judgments of God, but the more the spirit of revelation unfolds the truth, the more we see God’s judgments in proper perspective, that they are remedial, corrective in their nature and used to bring forth a state of righteousness. They shall not be executed in unholy vengeance, for MERCY shall balance the score. God’s judgments are ever tempered with mercy, and when they have fulfilled their purpose, the judgments end. Mercy will outlast all the judgments, and will rejoice in the ultimate restoration of all that was perverted, corrupt, and evil.
Mercy can operate on the basis of justice because Christ has gathered the whole into His own heart, and suffered to reconcile all to Himself.”

#733

I agree with you Rodger, that 5th paragraph is very well put and completely scriptural and hope-giving. Thanks. :smiley:

edited to correct the spelling of ‘Rodger’ :blush:

#734

#385 - THE PLACE OF HUMANITY IN GOD’S PURPOSE – JOHN H. ESSEX

“The freedom we now enjoy in spirit will ultimately be enjoyed by the whole creation when it is reconciled to God, and this includes the whole of humanity, for God wills all mankind to be saved and to come into a realization of the truth (1Tim.2:4). When His purpose is accomplished, there will be no vessels of indignation left.

When the reconciliation of all is complete the joy of the universe will be full. When the purpose of the All-sufficient God has reached its consummation, and He is All in all, every heart will be filled with the true laughter which accompanies the praise and adoration of Him Who is Supreme and Whose name is Love.”

#735

#386 - A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE SCRIPTURES – G.J. SALTER

“It is hard for man to accept how completely he is in the hands of God. Churchianity pictures God as sitting off to one side, waiting and pleading for His creatures to come to Him. Instead of that He is the active force; He is the mover of all things. We simply live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28). If He does not move us we are not moved; if He does not enlighten us we are not enlightened.

The course that God has taken to accomplish His purpose for man is preeminently the right one for God is Almighty, so there is no question of His power to do whatever He wills, and He wills all men to be saved (1Tim. 2:3&4).”

#736

#387 - RESTORATION: THROUGH THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES – CHARLES WELLER

“The feast of tabernacles means the feast of ingathering. It takes an eight day period to bring in the fullness of the ingathering. Eight is the number of new beginnings in scripture or FULL RESTORATION.

1Corinthians 15 is the last chapter in the Bible. The fifteenth chapter clearly shows how great the totality of the feast of tabernacles will be. ‘As in Adam all die (every preacher will agree that all people are in Adam but few believe that the word all mean all in the second part of the verse) so in Christ all shall be made alive.’ Jesus is going to gather all together in Himself. He will have everyone in His nature.

Everything that occurs, occurs in the plan and order of God. In 1Corinthians 15 God shows that there are different orders. The highest order is Jesus Christ. Everything will, in time, be brought into Jesus Christ. All shall be gathered into Him. When this is done then Jesus, the Son, will turn all over to the Father. It is then we find that time ends, for God becomes All in all (verse 28).

#737

#388 - THE EONS OF THE BIBLE – JOSEPH E. KIRK

The introduction reads “Mistranslation of the Greek word ‘aion’ is a master stroke of diabolical genius. Perhaps no other word erroneously translated, could more effectively pervert man’s image of God and cause such widespread confusion. Because the understanding of the eons and God’s purpose in them has been lost, the church is divided on important issues like judgment, and man’s destiny. The following work by Joseph E. Kirk is offered in the hope that the serious seeker after spiritual truth will be aided in their quest.”

Here is a snippet from the writing itself. “During this present wicked eon (Gal.1:4), sin reigns, Satan who is said to be ‘the god of this eon’ (2Cor. 4:4) blinds and deceives mankind, and death swallows up the race (1Cor. 15:22). But notwithstanding, God is over all and in supreme control. He is the eonian God.
In due time, He will deliver the entire creation and bring good out of all the suffering mankind is called upon to endure (Rom. 8:18-23).”

#738

#389 - OUR CHURCH FATHERS TESTIFY – DR. JACK JACOBSON

“If the concept of universal restoration seems to be a modern idea, it’s only because the understanding of this glorious plan of God is new to our modern minds. Universal restoration, in fact, is a truth one taught to and received by most of the saints of antiquity. The modern church has become blinded to the fact of universal restoration as given in the scriptures, but this is not a blindness that was shared by the early church.”

This introduction is followed by quotes by many UR church leaders during the first six centuries of the Christian church.

#739

#390 - WHO THEN CAN BE SAVED? – KENNETH BRIX

“That salvation is of man and HIS works is shared by many of us who are Christians. We’ve portrayed God as having done all He could do to save mankind more than 2000 years ago. So now, supposedly, it’s up to mankind to perform the remaining essential of exercising the good work of faith, or else suffer everlasting consequences.

We have looked upon salvation as a joint effort between man and God, and as primarily what WE do for Him. With this teaching MAN is exalted, self righteousness flourishes, and God is stripped of His sovereignty! But our salvation ‘is not of him that willeth’ (any decision we make of ourselves), ‘nor of him that runneth’ (any effort we put forth of ourselves), BUT OF GOD Who showeth mercy! (Romans 9:16)

Christ was prophesied to take away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29), so how then can a sinless world suffer everlasting punishment in the lake of fire?! How absurd! Christ is the Saviour of the world (Jn. 4:42; 1Jn. 4:14), and He will save it!"

#740

#391 - BE YE RECONCILED – VIRGENE ANDREWS

“I CAME NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD” Jn. 12:47

“When I first began to believe in the reconciliation of the world, I fell on my knees and put my head on the floor and cried tears of joy. The revelation came to me in a flash, like lightning and immediately I received it as truth.

God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. 2Cor.5:19.

All will be judged then reconciled back to God so that He will be All in all.
God is a consuming fire and will burn out all the dross from everyone."