Hi can you please help me to understand the concept of universalism? I don't really understand how someone who doesn't have faith in christ will go to heaven or someone like trump, who is so heinous will go to heaven. I've also heard people saying that an eternity of anything sounds like hell. And about the anon who asked of humans suffering before the fall, I think they might very been talking abt the fact that millions of animals have gone extinct and went through pain before the first humans even appeared.
tbh I don't have like a really systematized belief around universalism. to me universalism is about trust in God to redeem all of creation in accordance with scripture, especially Romans 8.
@ohholydyke wrote a really lovely post about scriptural support for universalism which ends with "Not one shall escape Godās love. Not one shall remain in death."
My favorite quote on universalism is from Cardinal Kasper: "The prior reality of divine mercy must have the first as well as the last word. Jesus Christ as judge of the living and the dead is, indeed, the one who has died for all on the cross. We may hope that he is a gracious judge."
As for those who don't believe in Christ: I do not, cannot, and will not believe in a God who would condemn those who do not believe consciously in Jesus Christ to someplace called hell. First, faith is given by God. God can't elect some but not others, condemn the others and be just and merciful. Second, there are too many Christians who pose a stumbling block for others to come to faith (through oppression) and there are people who have simply never heard the story of Christ. These people can't be condemned by a just and merciful God.
While I do believe in the elect (this is the explanation for why some are called to faith and some aren't), the purpose of this election is for the salvation of the world (Rom 11:25-32) and for us to do God's work, not for us to be anxious about who is saved or not, not for us to lord over others our election, and not for us to threaten others with hell.
As for those who oppress others: I do find this to be the most challenging aspect of universalism. If there is no justice on earth, and universal salvation, when will justice be given? I don't know the answer. it isn't given to us to know. All I know is creation will be released from sin (Rom 8: 18-25) and that God is making all things new (Rev 21: 1-7) and anyone who is restored in salvation will be made new and will not be what they were on earth. What this will look like is a mystery; I know nothing about it and I only trust in God that it will be done.
Some people solve this issue with purgatorial universalism; some people will be purged of their sin after death before going to heaven. This is fine. I'm agnostic on purgatory because it isn't scriptural and I think it oversteps human knowledge to attempt to explain the mystery of salvation.
God wants all of creation to be reconciled to God. How this is carried out is God's work. My role is to enter God's creative work, to be transformed, and to be a worker of that reconciliation. I hope and pray for the salvation of all, which is all that I can do.
Edit: I originally mislinked ohholydyke's post with @idylls-of-the-divine-romance post which is also very close to my own mind (except that I probably do lean more towards universalism). Kaleb's ending points here are essentially the basis of most universalism (despite not being a universalist personally haha).
As for the fall: Again, the fall is not a literal event in chronological history. It doesn't go big bang, the first land animals emerge from the primordial sea, the dinosaurs go extinct, Adam and Eve eat the fruit. Genesis is not a historical or scientific text, it is a theological story that asserts the belief that God created the world for good and sin inhibits that good. Suffering just is. Some of it has a cause, some of it doesn't. God's goodness is in God's response to suffering.
