I do not do liberal theology. But firmly rooted in the Absolute Goodness and Love that is the Triune God, manifested by, in, through and as the Atoning Death of the Incarnate Logos, I did used to hold a kind of de facto near-universalism, with annihilation for the worst of the worst, since how could it be possible to be cast out of the presence of the Omnipresent God?
But then I became privy to the conversations that men had in prison, having already had to deal with the people who had sent me there, and who were more evil than anyone whom I met there. God loves everyone, and therefore Jesus died for everyone, but it would not have been merciful for Hitler to have been let off, or for Pol Pot to have been snuffed out. It would have been unjust, and I have heard with my own ears the matter of fact accounts to which either such response would be equally unjust, as well as having been put in that position by machinations to which the same principle applied.
There is always the possibility of final repentance. In the moment between Hitler's pulling of the trigger and the bullet's lodging in his brain, then he might have repented. We cannot know. But in the absence of final repentance, then there must be an eternal and conscious Hell, where the God of Justice was by definition as Omnipresent as He was everywhere else.
Seriously thought-provoking stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind.
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