Cheaters win

Over the years I’ve tried to read and respond to the best exponents of universalism. Today I got around to skimming Keith DeRose’s case for universalism, just in case he had something novel to add to the stock arguments for universalism.

As I’ve noted in the past, there are many parallels between arguments for Arminianism and arguments for universalism. Therefore, when a Calvinist reads the case for universalism, there’s often a sense of déjà vu. Many arguments for universalism have no particular traction for Calvinists, because we’ve already been over the same ground with Arminians.

For now I’d like to single out one basic problem with DeRose’s case for universalism. He tries to defect objections to universalism which appeal to Bible passages about eternal punishment by resorting to standard annihilationist strategies. But there are two problems with that move:

i) By blunting the force of passages about eternal damnation, you simultaneously blunt the force of passages about eternal salvation. So that strategy is self-defeating.

ii) But I’d like to focus on a broader issue. A running theme in Scripture is the admonition that what we do in this life makes a difference. Scripture presents two divergent destinies. The godly and the ungodly don’t share the same destiny. What you think and do in this life matters to how you end up in the long run.

This is a running theme in both the OT and the NT. It cycles through many different books of the Bible. Many different genres bear witness to this theme.

It’s broader than specific language about your eternal destiny. Rather, it’s a general statement about two different paths leading to two different outcomes.

Universalism cuts against the grain of this pervasive Biblical theme. Universalism is fatalistic. For if universalism is true, then all paths lead to the same ultimate destination. It makes no difference what you think, say, or do in this life. This life is irrelevant to the afterlife. Whether you live for God, suffer for God, die for God, center your life on Christ–or whether you live a thankless, godless, spiteful life, has no effect on how things finally turn out for you.

The problem for universalism isn’t limited to some standard prooftexts for everlasting punishment. Rather, the Bible places massive emphasis on the importance of how, and for whom, we live in the here-and-now as that affects the hereafter.

Universalism trivializes everything we do or fail to do in this life. This life becomes aimless, frivolous, pointless. The faithful and the faithless share a common destiny. It makes a mockery of faith, fidelity, and self-denial. There’s no motive to live one way rather than another. No incentive to aspire to a life of godliness.

Universalism is idealistic, yet it cuts the nerve of idealism. It’s a recipe for cynicism.