Once upon a time, there was a man whose fate on earth was unthinkably bad. He was homeless, jobless, and unable to work. He had a terrible disease. Because he was not a woman or a child, no one’s gallantry was awakened by his plight. He got no health care. He got no help. He had nothing to eat. And this is a man who had harmed no one in his life – or if once he had, his wrongdoing was swallowed up in the horror of his fate. This… Read more Lazarus and the Oppressor →
Perhaps one of the weakest arguments that’s advanced against the hope that all mankind will eventually be saved from evil and enjoy the blessings of God’s love is the argument that this belief encourages sinners to sin. Without the doctrine of eternal punishment, some people say, people will sin with impunity, unafraid of the consequences. What an odd thing to say! Suppose I tell my son, “If you do such-and-such, you get no more screen time for a week.” And he really wants to do such-and-such so he says, “OK,… Read more Another Brief Word on Universalism →
The title of this post refers to Jesus’ parable. It sounds so harsh to us now. The lord didn’t get what he expected out of his servants, and so he sends them away to a place of darkness. Now fundamentalists (from every church and sect) would have us believe that once you arrive in whatever the spiritual real-world version of this dark place is, there is no real hope that you will ever come out. But Jesus says, you won’t come out until you “pay the last farthing.” I want… Read more The Last Farthing →
Slow Literature 