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Humphrey Bogart
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2003
Total Posts : 205

Posted 3/15/2006 10:22 PM (GMT -6)

Hi guys.

I was just in a Bible Study in which someone stated emphatically that John Sanders is not a Christian because he is a universalist. I was suprised, and asked what this was based on. They told me some story he had told about each religion being a shelter on a different island from the storm or some such.

I had to back down, because for all I know maybe he is. But anyway, I know I could just look it up, but to save me the hassle, do any of you guys know if he is really a universalist?

Thanks!

And Mephi: No comments about the ignorance of people who think universalists aren't Christians please

Tom
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353

Posted 3/15/2006 11:23 PM (GMT -6)

Sanders is NOT a universalist. He provides a chapter in Reitan's book (2004 I think) on Universalism arguing against the position. So unless he's changed in the past year or two, he's not a universalist. But since this person seems to think Sanders is a universalist because of his inclusivist claims, it's not likely that Sanders has abandoned his belief in eternal conscious torment. Looks like this person is just misinformed or ignorant, or both.

Tom

Lee Merrill
booted

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 723

Posted 3/16/2006 7:26 PM (GMT -6)

Yes, Sanders has a chapter in "Universal Salvation? The Current Debate" (published in 2003), in which he argues against universalism, from a free-will perspective...

Blessings,
Lee

==================================================
"Even now we seem to have dim glimpses into regions
from which we receive no word to bring away" (George MacDonald)

Tom
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353

Posted 3/16/2006 10:15 PM (GMT -6)

That's the book, yeah. Parry & Partridge, eds., not Reitan. Reitan just contributes a chapter.

Tom

Humphrey Bogart
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2003
Total Posts : 205

Posted 3/19/2006 5:01 AM (GMT -6)

Thanks guys! I'll have a look at the book you mention.

I thought it would be unlikely, that's why I was so caught unawares. When this guy said John Sanders wasn't a Christian, I thought he was having a go at him because of his open theism. So I got upset, but then the guy said no, it's because of his supposed universalism. But I'll be more well informed next time!

Corey
Five with a Four-wing

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1893

Posted 3/19/2006 9:45 AM (GMT -6)

In his book, "No Other Name: An Investigation into the Destiny of the Unevangelized", Sanders explicitly deals with universalism, and ends up rejecting it in favor of "universal evangelization"... post-mortem evangelism. Maybe that's where the confusion is coming in.

Corey

"You are too skilled in the art of talking in generalities about everything without letting yourself be personally involved." SK in Either/Or.

Post Edited (Corey) : 3/19/2006 9:00:51 AM (GMT-6)

Teachable
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 1

Posted 3/23/2006 12:56 PM (GMT -6)

That would be along the same lines a saying someone isn't a Christian because: The don't believe in rapture, they don't believe in a literal Hell, they don't believe that God operates with complete foreknowledge; and so on. Most of the things we say or judge others by would be best thought out first---I know, in my younger "zealot" years I said some real peaches. To say someone isnt a Christian because of *anything* less than rejecting Christ is almost the height of ignorance or immaturity....you choose.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Groucho Marx

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