"**Rowland Croucher**" <rccroucher@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
in
message news:474ca967$0$23258$afc38c87@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>A friend wrote:
>
> >> It seems to me that Universalism
> >> >> is oppressive - anti-freedom. The Universalist god
> >> >> takes the Atheist's "no" to mean "yes" - or at least
> >> >> "well, OK then, if you insist"...#
>
> My response:
>
> Yesterday I had my weekly special-time with our two-year-old
> granddaughter. I do the weekly shopping with her, and part of our ritual
> is for her to eat a couple of beans, a few grapes, (how do I pay for
> them at the register? Check-out chicks have an interesting time with
> that :-) a cheese-stick etc.
>
> Yesterday she wanted more beans: how many beans should a two-year-old
> eat at one sitting? I said 'No' and began talking about numbers. She
> soon accepted my 'No' and was smiling and chatting again...
>
> Now, naughty me, I over-rode her freedom to eat what she wanted. What
> kind of grand-father does that make me?
>
> I remember reading C S Lewis' The Problem of Pain about five times
> (summarized here - http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1174.htm
) when a
> young theological student, and was mightily impressed with his argument
> about God allowing humans freedom ('With their will or without it?'
etc.)
>
> As he revised a lot of things after his marriage to Joy, and observing
> his own grief when she died, and his step-fathering experiences, so
> would I these days...
>
> I'm not a universalist as such (I don't think anyone can be definitive
> about something where the Scriptures aren't absolutely clear - see the
> many articles on the subject on our website) - but I wouldn't be
> surprised at all if God is :-) !
>
> --
>
> Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
>
> http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
(20,000 articles 4000 humor)
>
> Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
>
> Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
>
> Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/
>
>
I'm not sure of your interpretation of universalsim, but I tend to agree
with you on this point.
Many would argue that universal atonement violates a person who chooses
not
to believe in God's will, but in reality it does not. Just because you
don't believe is an invalid argument as believing is not part of the
essential formula for a universal system. And perhaps only those that
willfully and wantonly refuse God and shake their fist in his face
defiantly
and intentionally will be denied atonement for their sins.
Willy
|
