One of the best parts of being at the 2015 Rethinking Hell conference as apposed to watching the Youtube videos as I did for 2014, is the personal interactions. And I don't just mean shaking a speaker's hand (I did) or getting them to sign a book (I didn't bring any). I'm talking about asking them your own questions and interacting with them about subjects other than the final state of human beings.
Not only did I get to have some great interactions about the philosophical merits of universalism with Robin Parry during the third break out session, I got to 'geek out' with a proper Englishman about one of my favourite television programs: BBC's Doctor Who. We mainly spoke of the modern era debating the merits of David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi, lamenting the Slitheen, and expounding the great writing of showrunner, Stephen Moffet, including the eerily-brilliant-must-watch-episode, Blink, and another where no one dies causing the doctor to exclaim, "Just this once, everybody lives!"
And everybody living as part of a universally reconciled creation is exactly what Robin Parry believes will happen. He has written about it in detail in The Evangelical Universalist, where he makes an evangelical case: from the text of the Bible. His paper, however, was primarily concerned with our theology as Christians: What makes the best ending to the story and whether it fits with the who God is. Here's what he said (based on my notes):
There have been many 'rediscoveries' of universalism throughout history, which were built up from whole clothe and unconnected to other movements. This suggests Universalism feels like a better fit than other views. This happens when other aspects of theology (God, Creation, and Narrative) push the traditional view of hell out.
There have been many 'rediscoveries' of universalism throughout history, which were built up from whole clothe and unconnected to other movements. This suggests Universalism feels like a better fit than other views. This happens when other aspects of theology (God, Creation, and Narrative) push the traditional view of hell out.
If we think of the Narrative of Scripture as a puzzle, the usual hell piece doesn't quite fit..There is a spot there for a judgement piece, that much is clear. But the one most use doesn’t quite match up and energy is spent to ‘make it fit’. Everlasting Hell is a troublesome jigsaw piece with more problems than a hedgehog has spikes. The logic of the Christian narrative leads to Universalism. A traditional view of hell forces us to colour other aspects of theology to make the piece fit. For example, one must affirm that some people were created to burn forever.
It effects our doctrine of God; our view of God. Really, everything starts and ends with God.
Colossians 1 says that all things are from him and for him. Don't other views of hell muck up the goal of reaching the potential end and completion in God?
Humans are made in God’s image, but not made complete. We have a goal and purpose of which we are moving towards. We are intended to move toward theosis. Other views of hell makes it impossible to reach this destination toward God. Everyone is a universalist when it comes to sin; that all have fallen short. We deserve divine punishment, but not rescue. If every human is beloved and made in God’s image, then what are we saying about God? Is God the great iconoclast? Is he the destroyer of the images he created?
Those views of hell make God’s victory out to be something of a damp squid:
Where sin abounds Grace abounds…quite a lot!
Satan 5, God 1 - Hooray! God won!
God desires the redemption of all people and has acted through Jesus to achieve that. The resurrection of Jesus is the breaking in of new creation. All Christian eschatology must be grounded in this event. The story of humanity does not end on a cross, but passes through the tomb, rises, and ascends to God. To be an 'Evangelical Universalist' is to say ‘Christ is risen’; That every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord . Parry don’t see it as presumptuous to say that in Christ all are raised and return to God. That is the ending he would expect of the Christian story.
Parry likens the three views of hell to: the Prison, the Guillotine, and the Hospital.
The Prison: I don’t want to risk mucking up my doctrine of God just to hold onto a doctrine of eternal torment. The Guillotine: Annihilationism is like winning an election by getting 100% of the vote, but only by killing off everyone who would have voted differently.
The Hospital: Evil must be eradicated, and since it is not a force in and of itself, God will do so when every will is turned to him and there will no longer be any existing embodiment for said evil.
