The Evangelical Universalist Forum

THE BLACKEST OF ALL BACKGROUNDS

Evangelical Universalism Arguments for Evangelical Universalism
#1

As some of you know, I, Rodger Tutt, had a horrific twelve year nervous breakdown (1966-78, I’m 73 now) over my inability to successfully emotionally cope with the idea that God would let anyone suffer forever.

By listening to many audio tapes by Ray Prinzing over that period of time, I was able to gradually recover. All of Ray Prinzing’s writings can be accessed by typing his name into Google. There are several Google pages of links about him.

Millions of Muslims believe that non Muslims are going to suffer forever in hell.
Quote from
Islamic Beliefs about the Afterlife
“Being a Muslim does not keep one out of Hell, but non-Muslims (kafir), however, will be punished eternally.”
religionfacts.com/islam/beli … erlife.htm

And, as most people already know, millions of Christians believe that non-Christians are going to suffer forever in hell.

The way that I emotionally cope with (i.e. stop myself from going crazy again) because of the existence of ETers (i.e. believers in eternal torment), is to perceive ETers as God’s vessels of grossest dishonor – a necessary foil of contrast in the guise of truth – a part of the blackest of backgrounds, upon which God will paint His glorious masterpiece of universal transformation using the paint brush of His undefeatable grace.

The marred vessels (i.e. ETers), never leave the Potter’s hands, (they are marred in the Potter’s hands), and neither will anyone leave the Potters hands. After our resurrection from the dead, all ETers will be refashioned, and transformed into vessels of honor, and it will be plain for all to see that it was better that ETers were vessels of dishonor for a long as they were (Jeremiah chapter 18).

One of the dishonorable characteristics of ETers is that they have no desire whatsoever to check out the reasons why URs (i.e. universal reconciliationists) believe that a literally translated, (not interpretively) translated Bible, actually teaches universal salvation.

But it may be that a silent member, or surfer, or lurker on this forum might be motivated enough to check us out and decide if the conclusions of URs have any merit.

UNIVERSAL SALVATION UNIVERSITY
richardwaynegarganta.com/universalsalvation.htm

No doubt, many ETers will say that they have examined the evidence of the URs and have rejected it as being false. That, of course is to be expected of those for whom God has chosen to temporarily be a marred vessel. At least, that is the way I see it.

#2

Hi Rodger!

I’m very sorry to hear what you have gone through - having a nervous breakdown for a span of time around two thirds of my present age - it must have been utterly terrible. Thanks be to God, however, since (I hope) it is largely now over with the examination of UR etc. I would just like to thank you again for the time you have spent posting your quotes into this forum and the Tentmaker forum - these could help many people. :slight_smile:

Indeed, I do believe eternal torment to be false, and I realise some people may hold onto it for not-so-good motives. However, it is also true that many (if not most) people, who would find it wonderful if they discovered it to not be true, end up being stuck with it, thinking it’s the only option, or examining the evidence for UR and still having terrible plaguing worries (because of fear). Hence, I certainly don’t think that most people believing in ET have done anything immoral in this area, instead being honestly mistaken (although, of course, there may be exceptions), and, potentially, a victim rather than personally guilty.

Yet I agree that the concept of ET itself (which some people believe in) could be considered a ‘vessel of dishonour’, which will ultimately be moulded away as everyone realises the utterly fantastic truth of UR! :smiley:

By the way, thanks again for your excellent ‘snippets’ on this site and Tentmaker! :slight_smile:

All blessings to you!