Is God Willing and Able to Save All People During This Life?

Universalism's most serious motivator for redefining the Gospel and the salvation process is that they don't believe God has given all people enough of a chance to accept Jesus during this lifetime. They are rebelling against traditional understandings of Heaven and Hell, traditional teachings about salvation and the Gospel, and against Calvinism, (which claims that God created some people for Heaven and some people for Hell and there's little if anything we can do about it).

However, Scripture paints a very different picture than either of these extremes. God "wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth," which is why Jesus "gave himself as a ransom for all people" (I Timothy 2:3-6). John 3:16 specifically talks about the "world" having the offer of Christ's salvation--not just a select few. Jesus said, that the "gospel must be first preached to all nations" (Mark 13:10), and Peter explains that, though Jesus seems slow to return, He's merely giving more people time to be saved while they are still alive and still have that chance (II Peter 3:9). 

Speaking of those who fail to testify to the truth, Jesus said, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40). Consider the parable Jesus told of the scattered seed, recorded three times in Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:3-8, and Luke 8:5-8. In each version, the seed of the knowledge of God is scattered widely and, though most choose not to believe, there is no place where the seed doesn't land.

Furthermore, we have many examples of people God called out of civilizations that seem completely devoid of God's truth: Abraham, Noah, Moses, Rahab, King Josiah, the Ethiopian eunuch, etc. If anyone seeks to know God, God promises they WILL find Him (Matthew 7:7-8).

Should Feelings be a Basis for Faith?

Perhaps you have come across religions who say something like this: "If you have a question about our faith and aren't sure it's really true or not, just pray and ask God to give you assurance. If you experience a burning in your chest through His Holy Spirit, then you know that these things can be trusted."

Or, perhaps, you have had some kind of heightened emotional experience connected with a religious belief and, though certain aspects of that belief seem to be contradictory, you are hesitant to question them because you do not want to dismiss the validity of that experience or admit that you could have been emotionally misled in some way.

Let me offer you these words of encouragement from the Bible: Test everything. Hold on to the good. I Thessalonians 5:21

God is a mysterious Being, to be sure, and our interactions with Him will undoubtedly be quite emotional from time to time; however, He wants us to have a faith based on knowledge, wisdom and committed love, not simply emotion. Psalms 119:66 tells says, Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. And, Proverbs 2:6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (See also: Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 11:9, Proverbs 20:15, Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 24:3-4, Isaiah 33:6, Phillipians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9, 2 Peter 1:5-11)

It's important to note that, while emotion itself is not a bad thing (it was given to us by God, after all), it was never intended as a means by which to determine truth. Why? Because emotions are deceptive and can be easily swayed and manipulated by various outside forces, not the least of which is Satan himself. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

So, if our own hearts (i.e. our emotions) can be deceptive, how do we know if what the man behind the pulpit is saying is true or not? How do we know if someone is trying to deceive us? How do we know if our past emotional experiences were based on truth or on lies? We do some digging! We study and pray and then study some more. Then, once we determine that the Bible can be trusted, we use it as a lens through which we test everything else. The Bible itself actually tells us to do so through the example of the Bereans: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

You may have also noticed that these same religions that encourage a reliance on emotion, rarely encourage deep, personal study of the Bible--even if they claim that the Bible is one of their accepted religious texts. Much more emphasis is given to other, extra-biblical writings, which invariably contradict the Bible (and, hence, lead to this need for emotional validation, since intellectual validation is unobtainable.) However, the Bible welcomes deep study and is fully capable of standing up under scrutiny. God also warns us in I John 4:1-3 to be wary of those who would seek to mislead us:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ [as defined in the Bible--added by author] has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Remember, don't trust in your emotions or in reason apart from study, but search out these things in God's Word. Proverbs 28:26 reminds us, He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be kept safe. And Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Also, II Corinthians 13:5 gives us some good advice: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

Let me also share one more short passage with you, which is one of my personal favorites:

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.


Remember, God desires to speak to us--to our hearts, yes, but also to our minds. God, who created us, including every aspect of our beings--our emotions, our intellect, our sexuality, our spirits, our bodies, etc.--can, therefore, speak to every part of us, fill every part of us and fully sustain every part of us. We don't have to close off our minds in order to experience God--quite the opposite! And, when things don't make sense, He wants us to ask for wisdom--which He promises to give to us in abundance without finding any fault in us for needing it. What a wonderful promise!

The Nature of Faith

Do you remember when Indiana Jones was searching for the Holy Grail? He came upon a test, called the leap of faith. In order to reach the Holy Grail, he had to cross a huge gorge--which he knew was much too wide for any man to jump. And, as always with Indiana Jones, time was running out. He had to either trust in the notes left to him by those who went before and step into what appeared to be mid-air, or face death at the hands of his enemies and allow them to capture the artifact (which, supposedly, possessed the power to grant immortality). So, at the last moment, Indiana took the leap--he stepped into mid-air, fearing in his gut that he would plummet to an ugly death upon the rocks hundreds of meters below. But, to his great surprise, he didn't fall. He was standing on an invisible bridge--an optical illusion--a plank painted to resemble the opposite canyon wall. I often think of this scene when the subject of faith comes up, but I have to admit, I don't think of faith in this way. Faith was never intended to be a leap into the unknown. But before we discuss what faith is, here are some things faith is not:

• The effort to convince ourselves to believe in something we kind-of know isn't true. Why deceive myself? Why put on an act? If there is a God and if that God is all-powerful, loving and interested in me, wouldn't He also be able to communicate with me and reveal Himself to me? So, if I want to have a relationship with this God, why should I try to believe in Him before I know Who He is? Shouldn't I first ask Him to make Himself known to me? Shouldn't I humble myself to recognizing that He is more than a belief, but a Being and may have His own way to touch my heart? Shouldn't I seek out what He says about Himself in the Bible rather than follow rumors?


• A hope that when we die we'll be on the winning side. I can't imagine anything more frightening than going to my grave, hoping somehow I'd done enough good deeds to outweigh my bad deeds. If God really loves me, He would have provided a way for me to be absolutely sure about the condition of my soul--otherwise I'm simply living in fear.


• A strong desire for something to be true. No matter how you slice it, I simply can't convince myself to believe that my desires have any effect on reality. I can sit here for hours, concentrating on believing that a large bar of dark chocolate will magically appear, but, sadly, it never works. I'm certainly not willing to stake my soul's eternal condition on that kind of foolishness.


• The decision to follow a certain set of beliefs in exchange for some physical or spiritual pay-off. Some people follow a religion, including Christianity, to escape Hell, make it to Heaven, get blessings from God in this life, etc. However, genuine love for God is about desiring God Himself. God's desire is for us. He wants to be intimately involved in a love relationship with us. And while we should desire the good things this relationship brings, like peace, love, joy, forgiveness, etc., it's a fallacy to assume that knowing God is going to make our lives easier, wealthier, healthier, or free from suffering.


• The decision to follow a certain set of beliefs until they prove themselves false or useless and then to implement plan B. This is not faith; this is a trial run. There is nothing real about this kind of belief system. It's like a marriage that can only take place if there is a signed, iron-clad prenuptial agreement in place, surrounded by a team of beady-eyed lawyers. Not for me, thanks. I want something real.


• Aligning ourselves with a belief system in order to please someone else. As much as I love my mother or my husband or the people in my community, I'm not willing to stake my eternal soul on what they expect from me. I doubt that when I stand before God on the day of my death any of them will be there to put in a good word for me. No. If the truth really is out there, it's up to me to find it for myself. Once I'm dead, it will be too late, and relying on anyone else in the meantime is one risk I'm not willing to take.

Looking back over that list, I see that these ideas of the nature of faith are nothing more than self-deception, fear and foolishness.

So, what is faith?

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is "being sure"? Faith is being "certain"? How can that be? You know, I've searched over 20 different translations of the Bible and didn't find the phrase "leap of faith" in any of them. In fact, I'm not even sure where that phrase originated or how it ever got applied to Christianity. Faith is not a leap! Faith is taking the hand of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

When I married my husband, that was not a leap of faith. It was the decision to continue and deepen the love relationship we had already begun. I didn't marry him for his money (which wasn't much). I didn't marry him so I would have security or a nice home or a father for my children. I married him for him. I wanted to be with him, to experience his love for me, and to express my love in return. I wanted to know him more deeply. I wanted us to share our dreams, our desires, and our lives. So, when I walked down the aisle, I was walking toward someone--not toward a belief or a cognitive process or a pay-off, though all of those were involved. I was walking toward him.

How does one describe falling in love? How does one calculate its value or plot the mysteries of love on a graph? How does one define the steps one must take to falling in love? We cannot. It is a mystery. And yet, I knew I was in love and I knew he was in love with me. My faith in him and in his love was not a leap, it was a secure knowledge and certainty. My faith in my husband was based in my intimate relationship with him--in knowing him. In fact, anything less would be rather barbaric. What would you say if I married my husband because I believed it would make me rich someday? What would you say if I married my husband because I sort-of hoped it would work out, but really believed it wouldn't. What would you say if I married my husband because my sister had assured me he was the right one for me? Obviously, none of these reasons is good enough to enter into that kind of binding relationship.

Yet, marriage is much less binding than death, is it not? What kind of relationship would it take to carry me through my final journey? It would take a deeply committed relationship to and with the only One Who has power over the grave--Jesus Christ.

So, how does one obtain this kind of faith? If it is falling in love, how does one go about falling in love with Jesus? Well, that's not something that can be defined exactly; however, if you were to hear of a wonderful person who you knew was deeply interested in knowing you, too, wouldn't you go out of your way to meet him or her? Wouldn't you read the letters they send you? Wouldn't you answer their emails and send them messages of your own?

God has given you all you need to learn about Him in nature, in the Bible, in the counsel of wise people--but He's willing to do more. He's willing to meet you exactly where you are, if you are willing to humble yourself enough to make yourself available. He's willing to speak to you and answer your questions, if you are willing to listen for His voice. He's willing to touch your heart, if you are willing to open yourself to His love.

Why Humility is Absolutely Essential for Salvation

"I've tried everything," he said. "I said the prayer, I went to church, I believed, but nothing ever made a difference. Finally, I decided religion doesn't work."

Have you ever heard statements like this one or, perhaps, made them yourself? When I hear this kind of thing, it breaks my heart--every time. I deeply sympathize with the first statements and would even go so far as to agree with the last one. Religion doesn't work.

I have had discussions with people and have heard these sentiments voiced. I have tried to explain how faith in Christ is not a religion, but a relationship. It is not a formula; it is falling in love. And, through all of these conversations, I have tried to figure out what exactly happens to make such a thing possible. How much do we do? How much does God do? What role do we play in that process of our own salvation? Surely, if we indeed have free will, we must do something. So, in thinking of this over the last year and in searching my Bible, I've made a few discoveries that I would like to share with you:

God has given us free will--a choice between life and death--and He greatly desires that we choose life through Him:
"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him...." (Dueteronomy 30:19)

We cannot understand nor accept Christ's sacrifice unless He reveals Himself to us through His Holy Spirit:
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Corinthians 2:14)

God is trying to reveal Himself to all of us:
"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

God's gift of salvation is available to all of us:
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)

Faith Comes from God:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

In fact, the rest of this stuff (and more) comes from God:

Salvation: Psalm 61:2 & Acts 4:12
Love: I John 4:7-8
Wisdom: James 1:5
Hope: Psalm 62:5
Joy: Psalm 16:11
Competence: 2 Corinthians 3:5
Righteousness: Romans 10:3
Peace: Psalm 29:11
Strength: Exodus 15:2
Perseverance: 2 Thessalonians 3:5

But there is something vital that we must do--We must humble ourselves:
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Why is that such an important first step? Why is humility so essential? Why is it that a person can seemingly go through all the steps, say the right prayers and attend church for a lifetime but never really experience a personal relationship with God? I think it is because in order to have a relationship with God, we must allow ourselves (or force ourselves) to recognize Who He is. If we do not humble ourselves, we will never admit that God is above us and is soveriegn over us. We will never submit ourselves to His will. We will never truly exalt His name over our own. We will never recognize His Truth, His Person, His majesty, His glory, His holiness or His power. In fact, we will never move from the concept that we are following a "belief system" into the concept that we are following a Being.

Humbling Ourselves is Very Difficult:
The kind of "humbling" we experience on earth is incredibly debilitating and hurtful. Most of us can recall a time we were embarrased--perhaps in school--when our friends pointed out our faults and laughed. Naturally, we will want to run from anything that seems to threaten such an experience. But this is not humility. This is humiliation and is completely different from what God wants from us.

So, what kind of humilty does God desire?
"Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the Lord. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2)

In fact, Jesus Himself, modeled for us the kind of humility we should have:
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:29

Furthermore, God promises,
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." (James 4:10)

When you humble yourself before God, He does not set your sins and faults up before you so He can accuse you and to mock you with them!
"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:9)


"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17)

When you humble yourself before God, recognize His offer of salvation and accept His payment through Christ for your shortcomings, God brings you into His loving arms of forgiveness! And, let me tell you, there is nowhere else a sinner like me would rather be!

Changing Perspective

Not long ago I was dressing up for some event and wanted to wear a certain pair of earrings. I went to get them from my jewelry box only to discover that one of them was missing. I looked all over the dresser and the floor, but couldn’t find the other one, so reluctantly chose a different pair. A couple of days later, I went through a similar search, but left frustrated. Later, I came back and decided to do a more thorough search. I searched the floor, felt under the cabinet and looked under the bed. I picked up everything on my dresser and looked under it. I rifled through every item there, but still couldn’t locate that crazy, rotten, little earring that now seemed to be hiding from me on purpose. I decided to give up again. I turned to go, but as I did so, took one last glance in the mirror. Suddenly, there it was! Right there, in the mirror, hanging from the backside of one of my glass candleholders, was my lost earring! How it got there, I didn’t know, nor care. I had finally found it!

Strange how we can be looking for something—even diligently searching for it—but it can still continue to elude us. I never considered using the mirror as a way to enhance my search—as a way of gaining a different perspective. And yet, even though I only changed my perspective for only a brief moment, my eyes immediately spotted the object of my search. I think our search for God can be very much like my search for my lost earring. We keep a picture in our mind of what we think He’s like, hoping that when we come across Him we’ll recognize Him. We look everywhere we think He might be hiding, only to discover He isn’t in any of those places. We become frustrated—even angry—that He is hiding from us (on purpose, of course) and decide to give up.

Consider for a moment, a different perspective on this issue. Consider the possibility that God isn’t hiding from us. Consider the possibility that God is actually trying to get our attention. Consider the possibility that the picture we have in our mind of what God is like is so flawed that we simply aren’t able to recognize Him when He shows Himself to us. I invite you to evaluate some of your ideas about God—recognizing them for what they are—and then try to think about them with me from a slightly different perspective. Perhaps, like my lost earring, God has actually been in plain sight all along.

Why Is The Bible So Confusing?

I can't tell you how many times I've heard non-Christians and Christians alike complaining about how confusing the Bible is and how it contradicts itself. I decided to try to shed a light on why there are so many differing opinions out there, why (in a belief system that is supposed to be about unity) there are so many different "Christian" theological ideas and why people see contradictions where there aren't any.

Sound like an impossible task? Believe it or not, it all is explained, actually, in one verse: (I Corinthians 2:14) "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." Did you get that? Where does spiritual truth come from? The Spirit of God alone.

(If, of course, you don't believe in God or in the Bible, consider this idea philosophically: If there were a God and He wanted us to come to love Him and know Him better, wouldn't He want to be intimately involved in that process? The Bible tells of a God Who works in just this manner--a characteristic that is also mirrored in how Jesus taught--through parables. The Bible teaches us that learning about God and spiritual matters is a two-way street. God doesn't force unwanted beliefs on us. He desires that we want to know Him.)

The Bible is full of spiritual truth, but it is not like any other book we will ever study. You can spend your entire life studying the Bible and never get it. It isn't like a mathematics textbook--something that, if you spend enough time and energy studying it, eventually it will make sense. No. The message and the wisdom in the Bible can only be revealed by the Spirit of God. No matter how hard we try to get it, we won't, unless God reveals it to us.

So, how do we ever understand? We ask Him to show us. We ask for Him to reveal His truth to us.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receiveds; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Mathew 7:7-8

So, how do we understand what the Bible is saying to us? We ask God to reveal it to us. How do we reconcile the "contradictions" in the Bible? We ask God to show us the passages in the Bible that will make its full meaning clear, and we keep reading, digging and searching while being open to His teaching. Why are there so many different theological sects out there? Because not everyone is open to the Spirit's leading to the same degree, too many people ignore the part of the Bible that says to avoid meaningless arguments (2 Timothy 2:23) and too many of us have allowed our focus to shift from Christ to politics, popular culture & lies.

The question you should ask yourself is this: are you honestly asking God to reveal Himself to you? And, when He does answer, will you be open to His Spirit? Will you allow yourself to learn what He has to say, or will you rely on your own limited ideas about what "He must be like"? Remember, God cannot be put into a box. He is not subject to human limitations, rules or expectations. God defines Himself. But, if you listen, He'll tell you Who He is.

10 Theoretical Statements Christians and Atheists Can Agree On

1. We cannot "conjure up" God. If there is a God--a Supreme Being of some sort--we would not define His characteristics any more than we get to decide what the stranger moving in next door is going to be like. God defines Himself.

2. It is wrong to try to convince ourselves to believe in God. If there is a God who is all-powerful and interested in humanity, He would be able to communicate with us. He would be able to prove His own existence to us. We don't have to pretend to believe in a God that has no real power to connect with us on an intimate level.

3. If there is a God that is all-powerful and all-knowing, we, as limited beings that exist within time, would never be able to comprehend everything about Him. We would only be able to understand what He enables us to understand.

4. If God exists and if God is perfect, He would also be changeless. Perfection cannot be improved upon. Therefore, God would have no need to change Himself (i.e. His nature.)

5. If God is perfect and if God loves us, nothing we could do would ever make Him love us any less and nothing we could do would ever make Him love us any more. If perfect love exists, it would be a changeless love.

6. If there is a God who made me and who is all-knowing, He would know my innermost thoughts and desires. I would be, in some way, accountable to Him. He would want to have some kind of influence in my life. He must, therefore, also be, in some way, accessible to me.

7. If God is truly good, He would be extremely grieved by the evil that is so prevalent in our world. He wouldn't be able to sit by and do nothing; He would have to do something about it.

8. If God is truly perfectly good, there is no way I, in my imperfection, could ever be with Him or figure out how to reach Him. If there is a way, He must have provided it. I could not come up with it on my own. It would be foolishness to think that, in a relationship between a perfect being and an imperfect one, the perfect being would expect the imperfect one to do all the work, make all the decisions and figure out on its own how to attain perfection. It would be like asking your newborn baby to build a vehicle out of the junk in your garage, get behind the wheel and drive to Malaysia. It's just not going to happen. We can't reach God--no matter what we do (or don't do). He has to reach us.

9. If a relationship with God is possible, the start of that relationship and the maintenance of that relationship would be strictly between God and the individual. In other words, no one else--not a pastor, a friend, a family member or a religious institution--could handle the responsibility of maintaining it. You are not spiritually accountable to anyone but God (unless you choose to be).

10. For the biblical account of the origins of the earth and humanity to be true, they cannot contradict proven scientific facts. If God set up the world and nature and science, His account of it, if taken seriously, would help explain things, not cause greater confusion.