SALVATION, IT'S A MATTER OF CHOICE - OR IS IT?

 

Hard to believe, given the ‘turn or burn’ rhetoric that’s so common in many religious communities, that up until the late forth century historians tell us that the predominant belief in the Universal Catholic Church – and remember, the Reformation was still a thousand years in the future; no Prods or Catholic in those heady days – was that all of humanity was bound for heaven. These days, scorn is frequently poured on the notion of ‘Universal Salvation.’

The belief is that around 380 AD, Pope Damascus 1 was concerned that church attendance was dropping, and very concerned that coffers were fast emptying too. But since everybody believed they were bound for heaven – ‘...after all,’ the people argued, ‘Jesus came to save the world, didn’t he? Are you trying to tell me he failed? – the challenge of Damascus was to come up with a plausible argument to get the flock back to church.

In those days the Bible wasn’t as we know it today. Part of it was known as the Septuagint, bits of it were in Greek, some in Hebrew and scraps of it in Aramaic, and so Mr Pope commissioned a bishop called Jerome from a place called Illyria, in what is now the Balkan Peninsula, to bring the whole thing together under one cover and in one language. So far so good, except that there is more than a faint suspicion that there was a hidden agenda – bums on seats, and so, it is said, the concept of ‘turn or burn’ was born to frighten the disillusioned adherents back into the fold.

And how did he do that? Firstly, nowhere in the original texts will you find the idea of eternal damnation, it simply isn’t there, but Saint Jerome it seems conjured the notion up; for obvious reasons. He also succeeded in scuppering the widely held belief that Jesus wasn’t lying when he said, ‘I have come not to condemn the world, but to save the world.’

The subject of Universal Salvation is one that many people refuse to take seriously, often without any thought or research. My fundamentalist fathers taught me that if you’re not ‘born again’ you’ll burn forever, and yet didn’t Jesus say, ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself’? – did he mean all men, or did he mean some men?

And then there’s the Great Apostle Paul, venerated by the fundamentalists and yet his most radical statement is skipped over: ‘Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.’

People argue that it’s all about choice, but is it? Did all those people who were brought into condemnation by Adam’s sin have a choice? Apparently not, so maybe what Paul is saying is that all those who were brought into a right relationship with God by Christ’s one act of righteousness had no choice either!

I have to admit that this is ‘work in progress’ for me; I’m still struggling with it, for however much I reject my fundamentalist upbringing I’m not sure I’ll ever succeed in totally rooting it out. However, one thing’s for sure, this idea of terrorising people into church like a bunch of frightened sheep being corralled by a snarling sheepdog never was the Jesus way.