Daily Heresy!
This might be heretical. No, I'm pretty sure this is heresy.
I don't believe that everyone who doesn't accept Christ goes to Hell. Wait, hear me out. I don't think that everyone goes to Heaven.
(Good Joke:
Dan: I'm a Universalist - everyone is going to heaven ... (pregnant pause) ... even conservatives.)
First, I don't think we have a proper understanding of Hell. We think of fire and brimstone, which is okay - but Collier teaches that when Jesus died and went to Hell he didn't go to that hell - he went to a different hell. It is just a place under ground where people went because they couldn't ever get truly right with God. I guess that like the two people who didn't die, but rather ascended, went to heaven and everyone else went to this little underground place to wait for the Messiah. Abraham's Bossom? I don't know, I wish I had kept better Collier notes!
Second, our God is just. Sending people who have never heard the Gospel to a hell of fire and brimstone and eternal damnation just isn't just. I don't care what scriptures you might have - it isn't just. It also isn't just for all of the tribesman who have never heard to get a free card in to heaven - because then when we bring the "good news" the people who reject would go to hell when they would have wound up in heaven. It's all very complicated.
So, bear with me. Hypothetically: People who accept Jesus go to Heaven. No exceptions - Even if you lose your salvation you still end up in Heaven. People who outright reject Christ end up in Hell. Fire, brimstone, damnation - the whole 9 yards. People who have never heard or never had the Gospel fully explained go to this underground place where they are separated from God, but they will eventually be in Heaven - not a purgatory, mind you, just a less dramatic Hell.
Of course, this flies in the face of the great missionary thrust. We need to save the heathens from the pits of Hell. Well, I think our emphasis is in the wrong place. I don't think we are doing this for the lost people ... I think we should be doing it for Jesus. God is glorified when people accept his grace. In this hypothetical case, God will redeem those who never call on His name, but that isn't the intended plan. God is much happier when we go by the original plan.
This would be a just system, could possibly be biblical (it would take some work, but it's possible), and would circumnavigate some of evangelicalisms rough water.
Is this how all heresy gets started?
I don't believe that everyone who doesn't accept Christ goes to Hell. Wait, hear me out. I don't think that everyone goes to Heaven.
(Good Joke:
Dan: I'm a Universalist - everyone is going to heaven ... (pregnant pause) ... even conservatives.)
First, I don't think we have a proper understanding of Hell. We think of fire and brimstone, which is okay - but Collier teaches that when Jesus died and went to Hell he didn't go to that hell - he went to a different hell. It is just a place under ground where people went because they couldn't ever get truly right with God. I guess that like the two people who didn't die, but rather ascended, went to heaven and everyone else went to this little underground place to wait for the Messiah. Abraham's Bossom? I don't know, I wish I had kept better Collier notes!
Second, our God is just. Sending people who have never heard the Gospel to a hell of fire and brimstone and eternal damnation just isn't just. I don't care what scriptures you might have - it isn't just. It also isn't just for all of the tribesman who have never heard to get a free card in to heaven - because then when we bring the "good news" the people who reject would go to hell when they would have wound up in heaven. It's all very complicated.
So, bear with me. Hypothetically: People who accept Jesus go to Heaven. No exceptions - Even if you lose your salvation you still end up in Heaven. People who outright reject Christ end up in Hell. Fire, brimstone, damnation - the whole 9 yards. People who have never heard or never had the Gospel fully explained go to this underground place where they are separated from God, but they will eventually be in Heaven - not a purgatory, mind you, just a less dramatic Hell.
Of course, this flies in the face of the great missionary thrust. We need to save the heathens from the pits of Hell. Well, I think our emphasis is in the wrong place. I don't think we are doing this for the lost people ... I think we should be doing it for Jesus. God is glorified when people accept his grace. In this hypothetical case, God will redeem those who never call on His name, but that isn't the intended plan. God is much happier when we go by the original plan.
This would be a just system, could possibly be biblical (it would take some work, but it's possible), and would circumnavigate some of evangelicalisms rough water.
Is this how all heresy gets started?
posted by Michael Airgood at 10:42 PM
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