Dialog with a Christian, Part III

It’s been a long time since the last Dialog post, and I’m sorry about that. It’s been a very busy month, very intense. Meg and I have continued to dialog, at a slower pace (she’s in classes and all, too). If you missed the first two posts, you can find them: here and here. We'll wait while you go pour yourself your favorite beverage and settle in for a good read...
Most recently, Meg asked:

According to Universalism, is everyone really saved at the end of time, going to heaven?

If so, I don't get how I could even defend God's justice, or even the broader moral category of justice, to a survivor of Auschwitz, or Sudanese genocide. It'd be like, "Well, hey, don't worry about it, God's going to forgive Adolf and the two of you can hold hands and skip through a meadow for eternity!" I don't see the comfort in believing that somehow right and wrong are going to be punished in the next life and that God is going to bring justice.

And if everyone isn't really saved at the end but the efficacy of Christ's life, death and resurrection is removed, by what standard are people in or out? Its always seemed to me that the decision gets moved from the Divine onto the particular person and, as Anne Lamott says, "You can tell you have created God in your own image when God hates all the same people you do."

Well, this is one of the big questions, isn't it? How is it that all are saved and justice is satisfied? My reply, which was nowhere near comprehensive, included the following:

"Universalism is a little more complicated than what you describe - but the quick & dirty answer is "yes," Universalism meant Universal Salvation originally. If Christ's sacrifice was for the salvation of humanity, then all of humanity is saved. There were two points of view - the "death & glory" Universalists, who believed everyone immediately went to heaven after death, and what I think were called "redemptionist" Universalists, who worked out some sort of system where people could be redeemed after death for their evil actions during life. But, everyone eventually makes it to heaven/the kingdom of God. As I understand it, much of Universalism was a reaction to Calvinist perspectives, the notion of the elect in particular."

By the time the Universalists merged with the Unitarians, I think Universalism had broadened beyond the Christian universal salvation concept to a notion of a universal religion. I'm a little fuzzy on this point, though. Then I asked:

As for justice, does this have to include someone "paying a price?" Because that's what I've always wondered. Why is it justice if someone dies because they killed someone? Why is it justice if God sends perpetrators of heinous evil to hell, but gathers all the victims to heaven? And, my big question: why must there be an "in" crowd and an "out" crowd? Isn't there room enough for everyone in heaven?

In her reply she first discussed a point about forgiveness (which may be in the next dialog post), then returned to Universalism:

My concern with universalism is that it doesn't hold people accountable for the way they've lived their lives. It says, in essence, that the way you live doesn't matter anyway because God will wink, sigh and say, "humans will be humans" and have everyone over for a party. (a couple sentences deleted) What difference does it make how actualized I become and how nice I am to others after all? Whether I responded to the call to live into our God-likeness (here we definitely agree - we are created in God's image) or not holds no eternal consequences and those who've spit in the face of the Divine - in themselves, others and the world - are forced to spend eternity with the entity that they want nothing to do with. In that respect, how is universalism that just or fair?

To which I say here that I don't think that's quite the case. My personal view is that there is no being waiting to judge us - or to welcome us into an eternity of cake and ice cream, or even Big Rock Candy Mountain. However, my religious forbears did believe in an eternity with God. I think they also believed that if people truly understood the doctrine of Universalism that the reaction would be a greater desire to make 'Heaven on Earth' a reality. In other words, the good news of universal salvation was to encourage all to live up to the best of their potential -- not to sink to the lowest common denominator.

I have a feeling I've just skimmed the surface of Universalism, and I may not have highlighted some important points. I know - I haven't done all the required reading yet. But, I also know there are some folks out there who are still more Universalist than Unitarian Universalist. I'd love to hear from you. And - there will be another post soon, on justice, forgiveness, and the "in crowd." Forgiveness is one of my favorite themes.