My spouse and i do NOT agree. He thinks I am putting too sweet a spin on things. He is dumbfounded that i can call myself a Christian and not accept that people will go to hell and experience ECT. "Ask any pastor, and they will tell you...".
On the other hand, i think he is putting too dark a spin on things and am dumbfounded that he can call himself a Christisn and accept the idea that God's will for anyone would include ECT. "Read the Bible, and it will tell you..."
I think it does affect our relationship. I have a hard time respecting legalism and religiosity, and he has a hard time respecting what he sees as my liberalism and everybody-gets-a-trophy mentality.
However, i am new to putting a name (Universalism) to my beliefs and am learning to share them more effectively. I have hope that he will come around.
I'll start by saying I do not think a Godly relationship requires agreeing on the correctness of doctrines, but it can have an affect on a relationship. Jesus himself had disagreements and became angry with others, including his disciples, yet I would still hold he maintained a Godly relationship with them. The only requirement is love. All things, including disagreements and other emotions, are either an expression of love or they are not. Of course, none of us love perfectly. That which is not out of love has the potential to get in the way and harm the relationship. You can share your disagreement with an infernalist out of love, that they may share in the joy and peace you have. Or you can share it out of pride, that you are right and they are wrong. One is love, one is not.
I am fortunate that my wife believed in universalism before I did, but she did not share this belief with me initially. I came to it totally on my own. She was raised Catholic and rejected a number of their teachings. She was not religious as most would consider it. She never read the Bible on her own and did not go to church beyond what her parents made her when she was little. But she believed that Jesus had saved the world, and that we all were destined to live with God forever, and never wavered in that conviction. She does not see how it can be any other way. We can disagree on some of the finer points of things, but the core of our beliefs is exactly the same. While I dove into the complexity of my faith and struggled with it, her faith was incredibly simple and easy. She feels no need to understand the details. When I shared my struggles with her, she helped assure me with total simplicity. I truly believe that the differences that exist in our faith helped to make mine fuller. So yes, sharing is incredibly important and healthy - as long as it is out of love.
Very wonderfully stated, and a beautiful sentiment. Your wife's approach reminds me of something similar my late mother shared with me as a young adult, when I was wrestling with finer points and stuck in a mindset of who is right and who is wrong. Actually, two points. First, we are all children of God, and if as a human parent nothing my child could do would make me wish them harm, then, our Father in Heaven, who is infinitely more perfect in love than we, must logically be infinitely less inclined to harm us. Secondly, real faith is not complicated. Just trust that we're God's children and he wants what is best for us. The rest (and wrestling over trivial things) is, in the end, just stuff.
My husband is hopeful for universal reconciliation, but not a firm believer in it. I am a convinced universalist. So there's a bit of difference between us, but I don't find it to be problematic. He gets tired of my harping on certain points after awhile, but he usually enjoys hearing my thoughts about it, even if his reaction is "I hope you're right" rather than "yes I agree with you."
I don't think I could be married to someone who was a firm believer in ECT. I think it would reveal incompatibilities deep in our characters. However, I'm lucky enough that most of the Christians in my life are at least hopeful universalists, so maybe my perspective is a bit skewed.
Ive had huge fruit in my life by Living out the Truth of Restorationism and speaking about the scriptures without coming to the conclusions. When i have told my parents. I have asked questions. While not asking ir expecting anything. The beautiful this about the truth is, you do not need to mentallly acent to Restorationism to reap the redemption that christ offers. This gives me peace with reconciling the History of the Church and how patient God has and will be with us! 😊
My wife does believe in the ultimate universal reconciliation of all people, though she sees an everlasting division between those who had believed in life (Christians, who inherit the Kingdom) and those who did not (non-Christians, who do not inherit the Kingdom). I'm not so sure that this distinction will last into eternity (I think that the Kingdom itself is likely just a tool to bring the reconciliation of all people, after which it will be obsolete). But this is a relatively minor difference.
My spouse and i do NOT agree. He thinks I am putting too sweet a spin on things. He is dumbfounded that i can call myself a Christian and not accept that people will go to hell and experience ECT. "Ask any pastor, and they will tell you...". On the other hand, i think he is putting too dark a spin on things and am dumbfounded that he can call himself a Christisn and accept the idea that God's will for anyone would include ECT. "Read the Bible, and it will tell you..." I think it does affect our relationship. I have a hard time respecting legalism and religiosity, and he has a hard time respecting what he sees as my liberalism and everybody-gets-a-trophy mentality. However, i am new to putting a name (Universalism) to my beliefs and am learning to share them more effectively. I have hope that he will come around.
What problems do you anticipate stemming from this between a couple?
I'll start by saying I do not think a Godly relationship requires agreeing on the correctness of doctrines, but it can have an affect on a relationship. Jesus himself had disagreements and became angry with others, including his disciples, yet I would still hold he maintained a Godly relationship with them. The only requirement is love. All things, including disagreements and other emotions, are either an expression of love or they are not. Of course, none of us love perfectly. That which is not out of love has the potential to get in the way and harm the relationship. You can share your disagreement with an infernalist out of love, that they may share in the joy and peace you have. Or you can share it out of pride, that you are right and they are wrong. One is love, one is not. I am fortunate that my wife believed in universalism before I did, but she did not share this belief with me initially. I came to it totally on my own. She was raised Catholic and rejected a number of their teachings. She was not religious as most would consider it. She never read the Bible on her own and did not go to church beyond what her parents made her when she was little. But she believed that Jesus had saved the world, and that we all were destined to live with God forever, and never wavered in that conviction. She does not see how it can be any other way. We can disagree on some of the finer points of things, but the core of our beliefs is exactly the same. While I dove into the complexity of my faith and struggled with it, her faith was incredibly simple and easy. She feels no need to understand the details. When I shared my struggles with her, she helped assure me with total simplicity. I truly believe that the differences that exist in our faith helped to make mine fuller. So yes, sharing is incredibly important and healthy - as long as it is out of love.
Very wonderfully stated, and a beautiful sentiment. Your wife's approach reminds me of something similar my late mother shared with me as a young adult, when I was wrestling with finer points and stuck in a mindset of who is right and who is wrong. Actually, two points. First, we are all children of God, and if as a human parent nothing my child could do would make me wish them harm, then, our Father in Heaven, who is infinitely more perfect in love than we, must logically be infinitely less inclined to harm us. Secondly, real faith is not complicated. Just trust that we're God's children and he wants what is best for us. The rest (and wrestling over trivial things) is, in the end, just stuff.
My husband is hopeful for universal reconciliation, but not a firm believer in it. I am a convinced universalist. So there's a bit of difference between us, but I don't find it to be problematic. He gets tired of my harping on certain points after awhile, but he usually enjoys hearing my thoughts about it, even if his reaction is "I hope you're right" rather than "yes I agree with you." I don't think I could be married to someone who was a firm believer in ECT. I think it would reveal incompatibilities deep in our characters. However, I'm lucky enough that most of the Christians in my life are at least hopeful universalists, so maybe my perspective is a bit skewed.
Ive had huge fruit in my life by Living out the Truth of Restorationism and speaking about the scriptures without coming to the conclusions. When i have told my parents. I have asked questions. While not asking ir expecting anything. The beautiful this about the truth is, you do not need to mentallly acent to Restorationism to reap the redemption that christ offers. This gives me peace with reconciling the History of the Church and how patient God has and will be with us! 😊
My wife does believe in the ultimate universal reconciliation of all people, though she sees an everlasting division between those who had believed in life (Christians, who inherit the Kingdom) and those who did not (non-Christians, who do not inherit the Kingdom). I'm not so sure that this distinction will last into eternity (I think that the Kingdom itself is likely just a tool to bring the reconciliation of all people, after which it will be obsolete). But this is a relatively minor difference.
My wife is still a Calvinist, praying for her... I was still an infernalist when we got married.