Eric's Thursday Sermon; Universalism
That little two hundred foot cliff to your left is at least 1 billion years old based on science.
What is Universalism
So seldom is it right to start out an article with a Webster's definition but in this case it is right:
universalism noununi·ver·sal·ism \ˌyü-nə-ˈvər-sə-ˌli-zəm\
Definition of UNIVERSALISM :1often capitalized: a theological doctrine that all human beings will eventually be saved.
Now what this sermon wants to get across is for you to ponder this notion without me telling you what to think about it. This is a most interesting subject and discussions are normally occasioned by yelling and screaming and condemnation being uttered and personal attacks.
The cool thing about universalism is that it presupposes that everyone has a soul that continues on after death. That is two things entirely. One that we have a soul and two that it lives on after death of the flesh. How cool are those two notions? Right on I say. Anybody arguing about universalism is in agreement on those two really important facts of theology and spiritually. I like it already.
The concept then is about what happens to the soul after it leaves all of us behind stuck in our bodies. No matter how hard someone tries they do not know anyone who has long term experience with their soul after they have died. And there is no scientific evidence that will tell us one way or another what happens to souls after prolonged death. (note we are not talking about the TV deal where she dies for 4 minutes and they use those cool paddles of electricity to "bring her back to life" of NDE's)
The first thing we have to consider in this fascinating area is "what is time to a soul?". I doubt souls have wristwatches. Time is so linear and seems so specifically designed for human bodies and even plants and animals and rocks that I just don't see how it could apply to a soul. So if we speak of "eternity" for a soul we are really just kind of being naive. Maybe a forever I could get or maybe and everlasting but eternity is like a time frame. But hey you decide that one for yourself.
I put in this song because it is a fun look at souls by Jimmy Buffet - don't know who wrote it and don't care. It is clearly from a musicians perspective and has a New Orleans feel to it so I just kind of think it fits here.
Cool stuff to think about and try to visualize
Next interesting aspect
Everybody versus only some people. Really every soul versus not every soul. So one side says only those souls who meet certain criteria while in their body get to live on well forever. And the other side says that bad stuff or at least neutral stuff happens to souls whose bodies did not live to a certain standard here on earth. The idea being that what we do in our body determines the forever for our souls. Now there is a third concept of "stages" for the soul depending on conduct here on earth -- kind of an Eastern kharma twist with a Christian slant. Quite intriguing. Kind of like levels of hell and levels of heaven.
Now the fun thing about this hub and article is that I am going to leave it at this for now. I will add stuff in a few days or maybe even for Sunday or maybe just do a Universalism 2.
Having fun thinking about this stuff and leave comments so we can decide where to go with additions or part 2. Hey regardless of eternity I love you today and if no one has given you a hug consider this a hug.
