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The Apostle John writes in John 1v1-5, talking about Jesus "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was
with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the
light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not
understood it."
Jesus talking about Himself John 14v2, 6: "Trust in God; trust also in me. I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me." John 17v1-2 "O God, Father, the time has come. Glorify your
Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all
people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him."
Most modern societies, particularly in the West, are pluralistic with many
cultures evident within any city and country. With the advent of pluralism,
comes the widely held belief that all religions, creeds, beliefs and non-beliefs
are equal, which all ultimately lead to God and that after death, every person
will enter heaven and have everlasting life with God. That is universalism,
and sadly, some Christian churches hold this belief. However, that is
contradictory to what Jesus said in the bible passages I read earlier. That is
not to say that each religion does not have an element of truth within it. But
only one religion is ultimate and absolute truth and that is Christianity. As
Christians in the twenty first century we are often informed that Christianity
is wrong, and that Jesus Christ can't possibly be the only way to God, even if
a God or Gods exist.
If we were all going to be with God anyway, why would God bother having a
plan of salvation as revealed in the Bible? If Universalism is true, why bother
with morals or ethics now during this life as each religion has differing codes
of morality and behaviour. Now as soon as a Universalist says that morality
is what defines the human (as some do), we can then say well which God,
and therefore religion, decides what morality as different religions have
different rules of morality!! Taking it even further we could say why would
God bother interacting with His creation at all, if humanity is going to be
spending eternity with Him anyway! Why would there even be a thing called
death at all, if universalism is true! So why is Universalism wrong? Lets have
a look very briefly together, how superior Christianity is to Universalism.
But he was more than human, He was also fully God - He was fully divine!
God's salvation plan for humans involved triumphant victory over sin, death
and the grave. However no person could be found that was eligible or
capable to do this. Because of this, God stepped into human history, so that
this victory could be achieved. This God-man would be fully human, so as to
live every feature of humanity, including suffering and death. This God-man
would also need to remain fully God, so as to defeat sin, death and the
grave. Jesus, being sinless, was this God-man, consisting as he did of two
complete natures, the God nature and the human nature. That Jesus is both
human and divine is what makes Christianity truly unique amongst the
world's religions. It is why Jesus' claims to be the only way to God are true
and make sense. It is why universalism is shown to be a fallacy.
Universalism is wrong because it makes Jesus Christ out to be either a liar or
a lunatic or worse - both.
Either Jesus was who he said he was - God - or he was a liar and a lunatic
not to be trusted. Universalism and Christianity are non-compatible - the
Jesus of the Bible and therefore Christianity, is uniquely superior to all other
religions and beliefs encompassed in Universalism.
For more to think about please do read John 14v1-6. Ask yourself the
following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond
or react to them. Why not share your answers with your spouse or a close
friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.
Q2. How does the call for me to be a witness for Jesus affect views of
Universalism?