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The main three views Annihilation, Hell/fire, and Christian Universalism, are held by people who have been studying the Bible for years. As you can see all this study can lead to completely different answers.
If you read the bible, and just listen to one side of the debate, you will think that is the answer. Hence the need to study and come to your own answer.
No Idea
The view here is that the question of man’s destiny is unsolvable. Therefore you should not try to solve it. Thus one does not know what happens to unbelievers.
While this has the view that all could be saved, the large hope, it could also mean that at the end of the day, that the oppose could also be true, that unbelievers are not saved. That they could be annihilated or go to hell. If I am revolted at the idea that all unbelievers will be sent to Hell, and hold the view that I don’t know what will happen, then that surely tells me that my deepest fear might be true, that it is a possibility. Then how can I go on, with my religion, knowing that such an end is possible.
It can lead to a large hope, or end in unbelief.
The view can extent to believers as well, in that one can not know the destiny of believers as well as unbelievers. If your a believer and view that you can not know your destiny then why are you a believer? What is the point of believing if you think there is a chance that there is no salvation for believers.
"Why try to solve a question which is probably insoluble, viz., the problem of man's destiny ? In reply we ask what the objection really means? Are we to give up every great question because we can only partly solve it? To do so would be to give up all questions, to bid farewell to all knowledge. For every great question contains an insoluble element. Take, e.g., the problems of Life, of Matter, etc. Take such questions as the Trinity, or the Incarnation. Are we to give them all up?” From “Christ Triumphant”, by Thomas Allin
Universalism
There is a believe out there in the religious world, that any form of religion will get you to heaven. This can be called Universalism, however I don’t believe in that. Under this view you do not have to believe in Jesus Christ, in fact you can believe in anything.
The problem with this view is that Jesus Christ did not need to die on the cross. In fact it does away with all his teachings and all that he accomplished on the Cross.
If any belief can get you to heaven, then that would mean that you can not truly know about God, because all religions teach different things. For instance Christianity has Christ as the Saviour, but Islam has him as a failure. Other religions have multiple gods.
Some would argue that any religion can teach you about God, however I do not hold that view, and if anyone truly thought about it I do not see how they can hold this view either. You can not have Christ as the Saviour and Christ not as the Saviour at the same time, he either is the Saviour or is not the Saviour. You can not have it both ways. Some might argue the point but this is not the focus of this study.
Why does God command us that you should not have any other gods before him, if believing in any god will get you to heaven {Exodus 20.3 & Deuteronomy 5.6}. Indeed if any religion is good enough, then why have this commandment. The commandment is given because you should not follow these other gods, they will not lead you to the true God.
Christian Universalism is very different to Universalism. Under Christian Universalism all have salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection.
The reason for covering Universalism, is to show it is different to Christian Universalism which I will be covering in depth later in this study.
I will not be going into other religious, the focus of this study is the different Christian view points.
Copyright © M J Farquharson 2006 & 2020
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