One view of heaven and hell is that everyone will end up in heaven. The thinking goes something like God’s love is so grand and overwhelming that he will eventually win us over in the life to come. This is because he both desires communion with us and has the ability to win us over, so he will.
Now, I don’t think this reasoning works. I think one could actively choose to not want a relationship with God for eternity. However, this is an additional problem.
In Matthew 12:32, it is written that “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”. I take the most natural interpretation of “age to come” is heaven.
A universalist would have to say that no one ever commits this sin. But if that is true, then why speak the warning in the first place? Perhaps the warning is why no one ever commits it, but that seems unlikely. If that is right, then this verse is a thorn for universalism.
Continue reading “A Problem for Universalism”