Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
-Matthew 19:16

Quote: “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven.”

Our President said that this week, aboard Air Force One. I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. (I never can)

This was shocking to me. (He always is) Not because I was offended, (I often am), but because I felt sorry for him. This isn’t mockery, it’s a little bit of heartbreak.

How incredibly sad is it for someone to believe in Heaven, but doubt very much that they’re headed there? Imagine believing in eternal life—and assuming you’re excluded.

It’s not just our President. I’m sure there are countless people out there who have done some seriously nasty things in their lives, decisions they can never come back from. They figure they’ve burned through every “get out of jail free” card they ever had.

Man, are they going to be surprised.

I’m a believer in something called apokatastasis (ah-po-ka-ta-STAH-sis). It’s a Greek word that means “the restoration of all things”. The idea is that all things, people, animals, plants, etc. will be not erased, not replaced, but restored to God. If all things can be restored, then no one is beyond hope.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. There will be consequences, and refinement, even judgement. But in the end, the God of Love will draw all things back to their Source.

A great many Christians would object to such a thought. Even my distant ancestor Jonathon Edwards preached about “Sinners in the hand of an angry God”. He must be rolling in his grave to see where I’ve landed.

Apokatastasis comes from the book of Acts.

“…Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration (apokatastasis) that God announced long ago.”

Ancient church “fathers”, like Origen and Gregory of Nyssa believed in such a theology. Later, some tried to bury it as heresy.

So maybe I’m a heretic. If it’s heresy to believe Love doesn’t give up, I’ll wear the label gladly. This philosophy, called Christian Universalism, is embraced by many many Christians. For me, I draw on my understanding of scripture, traditions like these, and reason to conclude that God simply isn’t in the business of discarding people.

My experience verifies this. I’ve seen so many of God’s children forgiven, redeemed, and changed by other loving people. If we were made in the image of God, such mercy and forgiveness must be a reflection of a greater Love.

But somewhere, somehow, there are folks who were taught to distrust, willfully ignore, or flat-out defy the concept of Grace. That makes me incredibly sad. That is a tortured soul, a corruption of who they were meant to be.

I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Not even the “most powerful man” in the world.

Grace is the trump card

Trump doesn’t even know he has.

Have a great week,

Mitch

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