Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

universalism

God can save mid-level sinners like me, but not mega-sinners like Stalin

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The other day, I posted a couple of tweets listing bad objections to Christian universalism. Here is the second tweet: “The second worst objection to Christian universalism: ‘If everybody is ultimately saved by Jesus, then why bother telling anybody?’ “Um, because it’s the best possible news. And God told us to.” Steve Hays of Triablogue […]

N.T. Wright and the Universalist Strawman

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Christian universalism is the doctrine that eventually all creatures will be reconciled to God and each other through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. While universalism has been a minority report throughout the history of the church it has often been misunderstood and even caricatured by non-universalist Christians. This trend continues unabated into our own […]

Universalism, Evangelicalism, and The Shack

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Two days ago I came across this article at CBN: “Art Designer of ‘The Shack’ Book Cover Says He Regrets His Involvement.” In a Facebook post of three weeks ago, Dave Aldrich states that he lacked discernment when he agreed to illustrate the book cover for The Shack a decade ago. He now recognizes that the theology […]

Universalism for Evangelicals? A Review of Heaven’s Doors

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George W. Sarris. Heaven’s Doors: Wider than you ever believed! (Trumbull, CT: GWS Publishing, 2017). Though he has long been a great defender of the traditional doctrine of hell, J.I. Packer once conceded: “If you want to see folk damned, there is something wrong with you!” That statement has always stuck with me because it implies every Christian […]

If you want to see folk damned, there is something wrong with you!

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J.I. Packer has long distinguished himself as among the foremost evangelical critics of universalism. At the same time, he also made the following admission: “No evangelical, I think, need hesitate to admit that in his heart of hearts he would like universalism to be true. Who can take pleasure in the thought of people being eternally […]

41. Robin Parry on Universal Salvation

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The Christian story has one simple, beautiful and extraordinarily powerful claim: despite all the evil, suffering, and pain that grips this creation, the good catches up. That promise is found in the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And […]

Thoughts on universalism and hope (a response to Nate)

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Back in early February I wrote a response to Nate — one of our resident academic philosophers — and his critique of greater goods theodicy. (See “Is God a user? A response to Nate’s Principle“.) Nate offered a reply a few days later but with the flurry of activity it was never properly responded to. […]

18. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here? Filmmaker Kevin Miller reconsiders the doctrine of hell

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In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we sit down with screenwriter, producer and film director Kevin Miller. Kevin is perhaps best known as the screenwriter for the 2008 documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” and as director of the 2012 documentary “Hellbound?” (You can see my review for “Hellbound?” here.) “Hellbound?” (which is now available […]

Is universalism compatible with human freedom?

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Is the proposition that all will ultimately be reconciled to God in Christ compatible with human free will? This is the question that Bilbo asked in response to my interview with universalist Eric Reitan. Hopefully Eric will be able to drop in and offer his perspective on this important question, but in the interim I’ll […]