Just curious what the general consensus is on the idea that when you share with people that God did accomplish what he set out to do and did actually redeem all men back to him through Christ on the cross and their reaction is … .“If we all end up in heaven in the end anyway, then what’s the point of being saved in the first place?”
What do “you” tell them?
I might say. “Do you really like your sin that much” “Do you not see the effects of your broken sin nature on your life and on those who come near you?” “Wouldn’t you like to have that fixed?”
I believe that folks that ask that question do not understand the pickle they’re in and what Father is doing through the person of Christ. IMO they only see salvation as a get out of hell free card. 
No one “end up in heaven” before they become saved.
Sonia
And that too 
Another way to phrase the question, Nathan, is, “Well then why did Jesus have to die in the first place?!!!?!?!?!?!?!” usually asked in a huff and all offended-like. When this happens I can tell they haven’t a heard a cotton-pickin’ thing I’ve said. 
If their objection is along the lines of, “Well, why repent and try to obey God, if we all end up in heaven anyway?!?!??!”, AND IF I’m confident that they’re a good friend and won’t take me the wrong way, I tell 'em, “So you, someone who has been saved from your sins and ushered into the manifold mysterious ecstatic wonder of God, set free from chains and made alive, being restored and healed, YOU can’t think of ONE SINGLE SOLITARY REASON to want to not-sin? THE ONLY THING keeping you from a life of perversion and immorality and selfish hedonism is not that hell may last for millions of years, no! It’s that hell NEVER ENDS!” 
Usually that’s sufficient to helps us understand each other. Of course they still disagree with me, but we can both laugh about it when put that way.
Actually, objections like that show that the person is one of two things:
I sometimes use the analogy of love and marriage. When Billie said she loved me and agreed to marry me, I didn’t say “Great. I look forward to enjoying your love after we have died and gone to heaven, but in the meantime I’m going to live a reckless and unfaithful life without showing you any love or respect” did I?
That common objection to universalism is just as silly and misguided. It misunderstands and trivialises salvation just as badly as marriage is misunderstood and trivialised in my analogy.
I would tell them two main things:
If our main purpose of “being saved” is to escape hell, is this not an entirely selfish motive for “getting saved”? Some people actually think they can be “covered by the blood of Christ” and then live as they wish (“It’s not of works, you know”). God isn’t interested mainly in delivering people from hell; His chief intent for sending His Son is to deliver people from SIN.
Why turn from my sins? To bring joy to God. To ease his pain.
Check out what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being born again . . .it’s got nothing to do with avoiding eternal hell or going to heaven for that matter. It’s got everything to do with “seeing” the kingdom. “he that hath an eye . . .” The thing that was “given for you to know” that Jesus was telling his disciples was, “he” was their salvation . . .
By the way . . for me . . .it’s not about hell at all.
The purpose for me to be saved is so I can reproduce after my own kind. So that I have power over my “self”. So that as I go through my hell experiences, I continue to walk in an unspeakable joy and an unexplainable peace. I need to be born again in order to enter into the intimacy with the Father, to engage in his power, to become his conduit . . .to “be” a plowshare in the fields of others . . .the list is actually endless.
Just because I don’t believe there’s eternal torment on the other side doesn’t take away from the importance of coming to know Christ . . in fact, it’s only made me come to appreciate his infinite grace and mercy even more!!! It’s caused me to stop blaming an invisible entity (satan) and realize that it’s my own carnality (satan literally means adversary) within me that has kept me from the freedom of truth . . .which only solidifies what he meant when he spoke about knowing the truth and having that truth set me free . . .it’s not caused me to become lathargic in my walk . . .it’s not caused me to take his grace for granted . . .it’s only caused me to fall in love with him all the more.
But why is God pained with our sins? Is it not because of His great love for us? Sin is that which harms ourselves or others. God does not wish to see us or others harmed.
So perhaps the question, “Why turn from our sins?” might be answered more directly: “so that I will not continue to harm myself and others.”
The prodigal son went home to ease his own suffering. He was far too self-centered to realize his father was suffering also. But as you say, the father was suffering because he loved the son, and the son was hurting himself and others. I can’t help feeling, however, that once reconciled, the son stayed home not because he didn’t want to hurt himself again, but because he didn’t want to hurt his father.
And now we’re starting to see what salvation is all about. It’s not because of fear. I don’t choose to be a Christian because I’m “afraid” of going to hell. I am who I am because out of his love for me, I’ve fallen in love with him. It’s a “relationship” instead of a “religion”. There’s no fear of anything.
A lot of the time I think that salvation is considered something important because it “saves you from hell”. But that isn’t what salvation is for. It’s to save us for our sins. (Isaiah 53:5 says he was pierced for our sins therefore saving us from them)
Sin isn’t just wrong. It hurts us and affects other people (a large majority of the time). God doesn’t tell us we shouldn’t sin because he wants to be an over-bearing control-freak. It’s because he loves us. So why in the world would you want to go around hurting everyone, including yourself?
It isn’t a free ride to heaven either. If you don’t accept the sacrifice made for you, you’re going to pay for your sins in the refiners fire and it won’t be a fun time. Since you didn’t want to be saved - he won’t push it on you.
Here is how I explain the big picture to people.
In the beginning with Adam and Eve, it was good - for two chapters. Then we crossed the line so God gave us some pretty basic rules to live by which are summed up in the ten commandments.
They are like a fence. When you stay inside the fence there is blessing and life. When you go outside the fence, cursing and death.
When we end up outside the fence by breaking one of the rules, we have guilt. Then if we don’t want to face our guilt, we are being stiff-necked and we stay outside where there is death.
If we turn and face our guilt, we go back and humble ourselves by taking our sacrifice up to the temple.
Imagine yourself walking up the temple mount with a sheep over your shoulders, thinking that everyone who was watching your ascent would be wondering what you had done. But once you were finished, you’d be back inside the protective fence of God’s Torah (instruction). The sin will still have been committed, but now your guilt offering is made.
Now in the NT, Jesus is the one who came as the lamb for the sacrifice. We still break Yehovah’s instructions and need to not be stiff-necked, humble ourselves and face our guilt, so we can be forgiven. Once again living according to God’s commandments.
So if we are stiff-necked and don’t face our guilt in this life, we will suffer in hell until we have paid for our wrongs.
Concerning the OP, for me, salvation is about having a restored relationship with God! There is a God. He loves you and wants a relationship with you. Do you want a relationship with Him? This of course doesn’t even begin to touch on our need for forgiveness, wisdom, guidance, deliverance, healing, comfort, strength, etc. etc. etc. For God is the source of all these.
What motivated God to bring us salvation? Love, right? The same love that “casts out” all fear. What is the first emotion that the doctrine of hell stirs up in us? Love? Or fear? Isn’t “that” a pretty good indication right there where the origin of the hell doctrine comes from?
Are we free from the law? Or are we bound to the law? We’re “free” from it are we not? What “is” law? Are you aware that “Law” is the KNOWLEDGE OF SIN??? Just let that simmer in you for a while . … knowledge of sin . . .being sin conscious, always focusing on the sin in your life and in others . . .sin in the world around us . … pleasures of sin, curse of sin.
Oh, sorry . . . where did I get that from?
Romans 3
20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for** by the law is the knowledge of sin**.
21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets
How do I manifest his righteousness? By NOT worrying about sin. Why? Because the cross dealt with it, so there’s no need to continue worrying about whether or not I’m still commiting it. Why? Because the blood of the Lamb did away with it. The only place where sin still has any influence is in those who continue to walk in the law. That creates a whole other can of worries. How can I just ignore sin? People will just live however they choose then!!!
First of all . …why are we to worry about other people . . .are we not to work out our own salvation? Is this a “personal” relationship we have in Christ or not? If other people keep trying to interveine in my relationship with God . . .just how personal is it really?
Secondly, is salvation not a “gift”. Is that something that is “earned”? or given? And if it is given, is it not “through” grace? And where sin is . … does grace not abound EVEN MORE??? I think our “image-inations” create obstacles that instead of keeping us pure and protected, they trip us up. It’s like the work of the cross isn’t enough, for me to be sinnless still requires great discipline on my part.
What “I” tell people is … you just pursue Christ, let the rest of it fall where it may. Don’t worry about the sin, that’s already been dealt with. You get tripped up and fall, you get caught up in the old life for a while . . .you think you need better stimulation in order to be “you”. . …fine . …you can do whatever you want . .it’s not going to affect your final destination . . .but . … should you make bad choices, there are consequences . . .but God loves you just the same either way. this isn’t about whether or not God’s love will be there for you . . .this is about walking in that love as opposed to worrying about falling away from it all the time . . .release the peace, embrace the grace.
I don’t tell them anything. I forgive them for their deeds against me, and I forgive them for their actions and beliefs done out of ignorance. I be their friend until the end, or give them words of encouragement when they need them. I don’t tell them anything because wisdom says, when they want to hear it, they will ask me and not every time they ask me do they want to hear it, so I don’t.
great stuff Nathan
Good post Nathan. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your heart bro and I agree. Too many of us tend to force the seed . . .we’ve had it done to us and we turn around and do it to others. I liken it to the intimacy between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. In order for the husband to release his seed into the womb of his wife, SOMEONE has to be in submission to the other . . .which is . . .the wife. She has to be willing to “let” the husband inside her. In the same way, my MIND must submit to my SPIRIT so that the seed of life can be released and understanding can then be “birthed” in my nature. And so it is when I bring a message to another person. This is why I personally kinda cringe at the idea of Christains going door-to-door trying to either get people saved to get them to go to church.
Salvation is based on relationship . . .not religion. And it’s exactly as you say. Our first reaction to those around us should be, first and foremost . . .just to “be” Christ to them. Be their friend, lay my Bible down and just be their friend. No preaching, no attempts to change who they are or aren’t. Only by building a relationship with then can anything else be built upon that. And the relationship needs to be ‘GENUINE’ Not one with a hidden agenda . …like . …“I’ll be your friend because you’re lost and I need to save you . . .” That has disaster written all over it.
But as to “this” specific question I posed on this thread, it was pertaining to those who do approach you and they’re asking questions as to why we see things differently from the organized church . …“what do you tell them”. That was the context.