The Evangelical Universalist Quotes

“Clearly punishing the perpetrators of horrendous evils in hell forever and ever is not going to overcome horrendous evils in the lives of the victims, and it would certainly not be a display of God’s goodness to the criminals. Eternal conscious torment contributes nothing to God’s purposes of redeeming creation. In fact, it would “only multiply evil’s victories.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“have been supposing that God loves everyone and wants to show mercy on all. Indeed, I have hinted that I believe that if God did not love and try to save everyone, he would be less than perfect. Calvinists will not agree to this. God has to be just, they maintain, but he does not have to be merciful. He has to punish unforgiven sin, but he does not have to forgive sin. This is a common view among theologians, but it ought to be seen as problematic for a Christian view of God. To subordinate divine love to divine justice so that God has to be just but does not have to love is odd for a Christian who confesses that God is love.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“The traditional theologian will not allow that it is possible for those in hell to find salvation; but, I ask, how is that teaching compatible with the kind of divine love revealed in the biblical story? How could God be love if he draws a line at death and says, “Beyond this point I will look for the lost sheep no more; and even if they try to return, I shall turn them away.” It seems to me that such a God would not be behaving in a loving way. In conclusion, I suggest that the problem is not that the universalist sentimentalizes God’s love and forgets his wrath but, rather, that the traditional theologians underestimate God’s love and unhelpfully disconnect it from his justice.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“According to the traditional doctrine, hell is everlasting, conscious torment. What possible crime is a finite human capable of committing that would be justly punished in this way?”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“most of us never even think to question the way that we have had biblical texts explained to us unless something problematizes that interpretation.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“What is my own view about Bell’s theological stance? Most critics of Bell think that he goes too far. It will come as no surprise to learn that I, on the contrary, think that he does not go far enough.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“In part this is because Bell tends to ask leading questions rather than to make assertions so it is not always easy to distinguish between what he is claiming and what he is wondering about.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Belief in universalism is most certainly not a requirement for Christian orthodoxy, but neither does it amount to an exclusion from orthodoxy even if it is wrong.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“So, until I can be convinced otherwise, I judge that, even though it is not mainstream within Christianity, universalism is no threat to orthodox Christianity.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Indeed, a universalist, I would contend, could maintain all the central elements of orthodox Christian faith.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Currently, the Orthodox Churches allow belief in universalism as an acceptable personal opinion, though it may not be taught as dogma.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“First, within the early church, three different views on hell co-existed as generally acceptable orthodox alternatives: eternal conscious torment, annihilation, and universalism.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“One common concern is that the orthodox churches worldwide (Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant) have more or less universally rejected universalism, so there must be something wrong with it. There is much substance to this objection, and Christians do need to weigh the wisdom of the ages with deep seriousness.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“it is a little ironic that Packer, as a five-point Calvinist, faces an exactly analogous objection. If God will save the elect anyway, so the objection runs, why bother proclaiming the gospel to them? They will be saved one way or another. Packer’s response, and I would agree with him, would be that the way God saves the elect is through the proclamation of the gospel. But if that response saves Calvinism, it will save universalism also; and if the criticism damns universalism it damns Calvinism too.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“To object by saying, “Well, if hell is not forever, it doesn’t really matter if someone has a spell there,” is like suggesting that because you will recover from the long and painful illness, it isn’t worth taking precautions to avoid it.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“To suppose that one does not take divine punishment seriously unless one construes it in the most maximally awful way possible is just playing games.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“I have argued that eternal conscious torment is not a just response to sin; and, in the eyes of some, this amounts to an underestimate of the severity of sin.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Must universalists underestimate the severity of sin? Not at all. The suggestion that universalists believe that “people are not really all that bad and that everyone deserves to be saved” is absurd. We see sin as utterly offensive to God and harmful to human persons and communities. We do not deny that divine punishment is a fitting response to such behavior. Indeed, I spent much of chapter 6 arguing that an evangelical universalism must have an important place for divine punishment. What makes us universalists is not that we have unusually weak views of sin but unusually strong views of divine love and grace. Where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Must universalists have too rosy a view of how willingly people will embrace the gospel? I see no reason why we should.19 The universalist could easily believe that sin so corrupts humans that nobody would or could accept the gospel without divine assistance. Indeed, that is what I do believe. All that we need claim is that God will eventually provide such assistance to all.20”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Of course, the sufferings of Hitler’s victims have led to some good things that would not otherwise have happened; but if that is all that we have to say, then it can look very much like God allows the irreparable destruction of some people merely as a means to the blessings of other people. Such behavior is incompatible with God’s loving all individuals.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“Sacrificing some individuals for the benefit of the system is not the action of a God who values individuals”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“It is often a thought of some considerable comfort to those suffering that if the injustices they suffer are not rectified in the present age, they will be in the life to come. The sufferings of the present will be more than made up for in the glories of the new age.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“God does not torture anybody—he simply withdraws his protection that allows people to live under the illusions that sin is not necessarily harmful to a truly human life.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“It is clear that an important part of the teaching of the historical Jesus was warning about eschatological judgment. To reject such notions as sub-Christian would be quite an astonishing claim for any Christian to make.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“There can be no doubt that the main argument against the evangelical universalism I have defended thus far is the presence of many texts about final judgment and hell found across the New Testament. Any kind of Christian universalist must have something intelligent to say about such passages if he or she desires to be taken seriously as an orthodox Christian.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“I suggest that the problem is not that the universalist sentimentalizes God’s love and forgets his wrath but, rather, that the traditional theologians underestimate God’s love and unhelpfully disconnect it from his justice.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“God’s saving, cross-shaped love excludes nobody. It wants all people to come to repentance and find salvation (2 Pet 3:9).”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“This rebel world in its entirety is the object of divine love.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“One thing that is important to notice about God’s love for Israel is that this love is quite compatible with his anger at their disobedience and his just punishment of them. When God acts to judge his people, one should not infer that he is no longer being faithful to his covenant or that he no longer loves them. He punishes them because he loves them, and he will not allow wrath the final word because he loves them.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist

“One thing that is important to notice about God’s love for Israel is that this love is quite compatible with his anger at their disobedience and his just punishment of them.”
― Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist