I Wanna be a Universalist...

In case you hadn't already noticed, I've decided that the ellipsis (...) has fallen into considerable disuse. Due to its current underutilization, and to the fact that my fourth grader hasn't even been introduced to the wonders of the ellipsis, I've taken it upon myself to make it my punctuation of choice... Down with periods, commas, and semicolons!

I do a lot of driving. One hour every day is dedicated to simply getting back and forth to work. The radio stays on the only two stations that seem to make me think:

National Public Radio and the local Classic Rock station.

(Of course I keep the local Christian radio station programmed to appease my more conservative companions)

In the way home last week, words and notes suddently sprang into life...

(To the tune of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas")

I want to be a universalist Christian.
Only universalism will do.
Don't want no open theism, no silly gnostic ploy.
I want a theology I can live with and enjoy.

OkOk... So it's not all that great, and probably won't be on anyone's top ten list.

So...

I want to be a universalist. The concept of a God who loves creation enough to redeem it - all of it, makes me want to believe it could be true. I know it essentially destroys the concept of freewill, to which I'm firmly attached, but there's something about it that I can't dismiss.

I think the appeal stems from too much hellfire and brimstone preaching received as a kid, which painted a distorted "God doesn't like you until you pray the sinner's prayer" picture of God. A turning point for me was Brennan Manning's "Ragamuffin Gospel", which challenged me to see the universality of the human condition, our propensity to harm others and ourselves, and that the best we can hope for on our own is to "clean ourselves up" a bit, but we're all still really just Ragamuffins. He then paints a wonderful picture of God's grace that can truly transform us by accepting us unconditionally, warts and all...

It wasn't until recently that I was really exposed to those who would carry this concept to its logical conclusion. WNBC (Wednesday Night Book Club) recently worked through Gulley and Mulholland's "If Grace is True", which attempts to make a case for Universalism. Through a mainly narrative and pastoral approach, we're led down a road to meet a God who literallly will not let his creation go. The essence of this approach is that in the presence of God, finally coming face with who we are, and who God is, that we will be unable to resist such grace - even if it takes until we're in the afterlife to experience it.

I think it's been good for me to be introduced to folks who really believe this stuff. Their story makes me want for it to be true, even if I've come to the conclusion that I can't accept it on philosophical grounds. But what would the world look like if we lived like it were true?