Recently, as I was rereading part of the book of Romans in the Bible, I found myself engrossed in chapters three through five as I read about "faith."
The section comes across differently when one reads it from a Christian Universalist (CU) perspective instead of an eternal torment or annihilation perspective.
Carol, do you feel like writing out your introduction to CU?
Okay, let me see if I can give it a go without getting caught in the details...
Around September 2006, eleven months after leaving The Way, I was rereading for the umpteenth time the book of Romans in the Bible. But this time I was stopped in my reading tracks as I read Romans 5:12 - 18. This section compares the first Adam (of Genesis) with the second Adam (Jesus Christ).According to the Bible, the first Adam's sin brought death to all mankind. All, every single person (and maybe animals too?). And according to this section in Romans, the benefit of Jesus's accomplishments is so great in its undoing of what the first Adam instilled in all mankind (and im the earth itself) that it can't even be compared to the consequences of Adam's action. It's in a whole different league.
Wait a minute...
I reread the section again...
Wow. If that's the case - that Jesus's accomplishment is so much greater that it can't even be compared to the consequences of Adam's sin (which has caused the whole earth to continue in a state of groaning and travailing),wouldn't that mean that all is restored by Jesus' s conception, birth, life, sacrifice, death, resurrection, and ascension... even if one doesn't believe it? All. All. All. What Adam did affected the entire earth. To undo all that, wouldn't that mean that everyone, everyone, is redeemed? Is it really that big? If so, does that mean that Lucifer also is reconciled back to Elohim?
I brought this up with an ex-Way minister who visited our home at the time to teach a small gathering of folks who had recently left The Way. I don't remember his answer other than the beginning of it, "Yeah but..." I can't recall what he said after that, but I do recall what I felt - he was parroting Way doctrine which I already knew. In other words, I'd already thought of the "yeah buts."As I reread Romans and pondered the possibility of every single person being redeemed, I thought about "believing" and some ponderings I'd hidden in my heart, even while I was still a Way believer. Even though "unconditional love" was supposedly in the scriptures, I had a hard time seeing unconditional love in the scriptures. To receive God's blessing I had to believe; it was conditional, not unconditional. And believing can be hard work. Though I wondered about that (and a few other things that The Way taught as the rightly divided and only accurate interpretation of scripture), I'd tell myself what I'd been taught -- there must be something amiss with my understanding or with the translation of the scripture.Within about three months of seeing this in the scripture and thinking on it, I connected with someone on Greasespot Cafe, the online forum where ex-Way folks gather/ed, who shared with me about Christian Universalism (CU). I'd never heard of such. I thought, Wow. Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too? The only Universalism I was familiar with was Unitarian Universalism.I began to study CU. Some of what it taught lined up with doctrine I'd learned in The Way, such as no eternal torment. But The Way taught annihilation of the unbeliever, not eternal torment. A burning hell was in store only for death itself, the devil, and those born of the "seed of the serpent." But they won't burn forever; they (like the unbelievers who don't make it into the third heaven and earth) will cease to exist.CU teaches that everybody makes it in; every person will ultimately bow at the name of Jesus Christ - either in this earthly life or after the resurrections of all who have ever lived.My favorite book on CU is The Inescapable Love of God by Dr. Tom Talbott.
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I recently have been rereading the book of Romans again but from a different perspective than when I was a true believer. When I read the Bible now, I read it not as inspired by God but rather as written by mankind trying to make sense of the world and its happenings.
Could it be inspired by God?
What of other writings regarding beliefs outside of Christianity?
Could they too be inspired by God?
So, as I recently reread Romans 3 and 4 and 5 about faith and works and Abraham, something dawned on me. Perhaps instead of thinking of the word "faith" as "believing" would I be better served to think of "faith" as "trust." For me, this switches the emphasis from the works of the self to a trust in the other. Of course, that means the self believes in the other, yet trust is built over time. And for me, trust is more intimate than working to believe. Trust involves relationship.
From my journal, 3/29/2025...
What if the "key" to receiving is not believing, but rather trust?Believing puts the emphasis on mankind doing: to work to build one's believing.Trust puts the emphasis on the "other."Trust involves surrender and belief.In order to surrender I must trust and believe the other cares for me.Trust embodies humility
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I'm still chewing on these thoughts...
Pondering what "trust" means for me...
In what and whom have I trusted...
In what and whom do I trust...
Recalling the oh-so-many times of so-called "answered prayer"...
Answers that have so-often simply unfolded...
These have happened not because of me, necessarily...
Though I do have to at least show up...
Ask, act, accept, adapt...
Trust, trust, trust...
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