This article addresses the question of how Paul dealt with violent scriptures in the Old Testament (OT). Analyzing his usage of the OT, I’ll show that Paul intentionally referenced violent OT scriptures, flipped them around by omitting the violent part, and thereby used them to declare God’s mercy and not divine violence and wrath. This way of interpreting scripture bears witness to his own theological journey away from using violence in God’s name towards rejecting divine violence and retributive justice.
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Church Fathers who believed in Universal Reconciliation
Ilaria Ramelli studied the history of the doctrine of universal reconciliation throughout church history. According to her findings, these church fathers supported the belief that ultimately God will save everyone.
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Why finding an ancient cosmology in the Bible is good news and what we can learn from it.
In the Bible, we can see that God accommodated the beliefs of his people even though they didn’t reflect reality. One example of this is that we find an ancient cosmology (a flat earth, a protective dome on top of it, and an ocean of water above it) in the Bible. In this article, you can read why this is good news and what can we learn from that ancient cosmology.
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Quotes About Universal Reconciliation
This article contains a collection of quotes about universal reconciliation. It is a work in progress. New quotes will be added from time to time.
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How would it look like if Jesus would be incarnated here and now?
C.S. Lewis rightly highlights that “Putting on Christ…is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity (2009:195).” The heart of Christianity is to imitate Christ. But how can it be that Mahatma Gandhi said: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.“ How can it be that many Christians don’t reflect Christ anymore? This article suggests that to successfully imitate Christ, we need a new vision of how it would look like if Jesus would be incarnated in the here and now. This article will suggest helpful questions we need to ponder to gain a fresh vision of what Jesus would do today in our world.
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Reimagining God for the here and how – a biblical responsibility?
A quick book review of How the Bible Actually Works (by Peter Enns)
Peter Enns masterfully argues in his book How the Bible Actually Works that the Bible is not a divine rulebook that gives clear guidance for every question of life. Rather the Bible is supposed to help us grow in wisdom so that we can know God how he truly is and make decisions in life that reflect his character well. Enns phrases it like this:
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Does the parable of the sheep and the goats teach hell or universal reconciliation?
Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats (Mt 25:31ff.) is often cited as the key verse for the idea that there is an eternal hell. But if you look at the verses closely and not just read them superficially, you will discover that this is not the case. In fact, the opposite is true: the verses give hope for a future reconciliation of all people with Jesus.
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The Rich Man and Lazarus
The parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus is often used to justify the teaching of eternal suffering in hell. This article explores if this is reasonable and how the parable should be understood best.
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