The differance is that God calls sinners to repentance. I think this is what Universalism is missing. As mentioned, God wants to save us all, and we are all indeed bad. The problem is that the majority doesn’t want to be saved, and God’s not going to force salvation upon anybody. Seems fair by our human standards, right? The Universalists seem to appeal to people who want to fit God into their box, to define God’s judgement by their own opinions. Note the sales pitch for the book, “Do you wish God could be more loving and forgiving? Do you wish those who die in their sins or unbelief could have another chance at redemption?”

God sent Jesus to give us the option to be saved, show us how to be saved, and make it possible to be saved. In his ministry, while many accepted his salvation, some also rejected it. Take the “rich young ruler” for example (Luke 18:18-29). The young man wanted eternal life (salvation), yet not enough to obey Jesus. Jesus then laments at how great an effort rich people must endure to enter God’s kingdom. If Jesus were a Unitarian, I imagine he would have been cool with the man’s decision. “Naw, it’s cool, man. I was kinda just hoping you’d sell all you have and give to the poor. You didn’t really have to. You’ll be saved anyways. Thanks for the question! See you later!”

In Acts 16:30, a ‘bad’ person asks “what must I do to be saved?” I imagine if Paul and Silus were Unitarian they might say something like, “DO?! Oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to DO anything! God’s going to save you anyways!” But they weren’t Unitarians, they were Christians, who believed in what Christ says. They told the man to “Believe on the lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Requirement #1: Be a Christian.

Our fellowship very recently did a study on the works of the flesh in Galations 5:19-21. Verse 21 says that if we practice these things, we can’t get God’s kingdom. In fact, in the end there are indeed people who will burn in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).

Most Christians tie the kingdom of God with salvation, whether you believe it to be a literal place or not. Yet even salvation from sin requires work on behalf of the one being saved. To be free from sin, we must be Jesus’ diciples (John 8:30-36).

God kicked man out of paradise because man chose disobedience (Gen. 3). The Universalist claims that he will seek out every last remnant of mankind and transform them to be acceptable to Him and welcome them back into eternal paradise. So why did He even give mankind the choice to disobey in the first place, and why put the people who choose to obey Him now in a world ruled by Satan and inhabited by evil (Food for thought, promises about eternity: Psalm 125:3, Rev. 21:27)?

God invites all the ‘bad’ people to the wedding feast (Matt. 22: 1-10), but it’s up to us to be dressed properly, otherwise we’ll be rejected (v. 11-14). Sorry, Universatlists, some people just aren’t fit for salvation.

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Be blessed.

But the verse about “turning the other cheek”…

Most of the time reading that passage or hearing it preached we are taking it to mean an act of physical violence, such as somebody starting a fight.

First, just being real here – who slaps somebody to really attack them or to start a fight? Isn’t that a wimp thing to do? If you really want to hurt a guy or attack them – you punch them in face, not slap them! Slapping is more a sign of disrespect or insult than an actual attack – and always has been.

So what is this passage actually talking about? Well I’ll admit my research is second hand, but consider this: In the first century Jewish context the average Jew lived in a theocratic society – one in which the Judaic religion of the nation was intimately intertwined with the daily lives of it’s people. You were not an Israelite without being a Jew.

This is not like in America where we are considering ourselves a “Christian nation” so most people are Christian but many are not. This is NOTHING like first century Palestine. When we talk about Israel being a Jewish religion – that means it was the official religion of the country, and to not be a Jew meant you were not part of Israel.

So enter the practice described by Jesus in Matthew 5:38-39 of being slapped on the cheek…

If you were a Jew at this time and ever you did something horrible enough that the Jewish religious leaders (also very much political leaders of that culture) wanted to kick you out of society, how they would do it is when you were in the temple they would ceremonially kick you out with the symbol of a physical slap in the face as you were kicked out. The implications of that were you would likely become jobless, a social outcast, if you were unmarried it is very likely you would not have been able to get a Jewish wife from your culture, etc. (not unlike believers who convert to Christianity in Muslim societies throughout the world even today*).

So for Jesus to say this to his followers – they were realizing the implications of what he was referring to that had nothing to do with violence – it had to do with being outcast because of the Gospel. Again, something which our 21st century Western minds simply cannot even identify with in our cultural setting.

Jesus was warning his followers there is going to come a time when you are going to be kicked out of “God’s house” in the name of God, because of the Gospel. And when that happens, you are not to defend your righteousness or to object, but to accept that form of rejection and suffering as the will of God and a testimony to those who have not yet accepted the Gospel, in hopes that they may eventually be won to it.

I’m almost positive that it has nothing to do with actual violence.

These are the words of a person that is ashamed of the Gospel. The words of someone who simply doesn’t believe that the truth pertaining to the kingdom of God is “the power of God unto salvation.”

listen:
http://www.fireonthealtar.com/compilations/igy/dontgivein.ram
or
download:
http://www.fireonthealtar.com/compilations/igy/Dont%20Give%20In%20To%20The%20Pressure%20-Michael%20Brown.mp3

Either way, good post.
(Surprisingly) reminds me of a sermon jaaaaaam!
http://www.fireonthealtar.com/compilations/igy/Dont Give In To The Pressure -Michael Brown.mp3