Christian Universalism, Restorative Justice, and God's Nature

Faith & Science Conversation
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I have always found myself drawn towards Christian Universalism, but for the longest time I wondered how it was compatible with both Justice and Mercy - both component’s of God’s Nature. While traditional views of Hell emphasize God’s Justice, most Universalist frameworks I have come across emphasize His Mercy. But I believe both are inseparable from each other.

While wrestling with these thoughts, I wrote an article titled:

“You Are Not Your Mistakes: A Case for Restorative Practice from Psychology to Eternity”

where I attempted to harmonize the two key components of Love (God) to explain the redemptive nature of Hell. I am very interested in hearing what you all think about this. I am especially grateful for this forum because I used a couple of scientific analogies to support my view, so I am looking forward to feedback.

Read here: You Are Not Your Mistakes: A Case for Restorative Practice from Psychology to Eternity

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The problem here is to distinguish between human justice and God’s justice. Human justice demands recompense and punishment, God’s justice does not…
Humans are always trying to impose their values onto God instead of recognising that God sees things differently. Human justice cannot understand forgiveness and no consequences… Humans cannot understand the concept of grace without payment or particiapation.
There is no such thing as God’s restorative justice. It is not justice : it is grace.

Richard

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While I somewhat agree with you, I think I differ in the sense that I believe God’s “Justice” is not a “consequence”. Before putting forward that argument, I spent a lot of time thinking about what heaven would actually be like, and came to the conclusion that if the sinful “self” as it is now is wholly and fully taken to heaven, then heaven would be no different from earth in terms of wickedness and evil.

The concept of restorative justice is not enact consequences, but rather, to teach - something Jesus did while He was on earth. To correct wrong behavior, so that the “self” which carries over to eternity is fully aligned with God’s Will. In Genesis, after the fall, man was not allowed to eat from the fruit of eternal life (whether the fruit is literal or allegorical is besides the point), because, in my opinion, he had awoken parts of himself incompatible with God’s nature (e.g, shame).

When I speak of restorative justice, it is forgiveness without consequence - but with correction, so that wrong actions are not repeated. In this way, I view the concept of Hell as a place of correction. A “burning off” of parts of the “self” we create on earth that are incompatible with God’s fundamental nature, which is Love.

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That sort of smacks of purgatory.

Pehaps it is best not to preguess the full nature of Heaven. It will almost certainly have little resemblence to the earth and life we now know.

Richard

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Probably, but considering how much emphasis Christ placed on the “kingdom of heaven”, and how much the “fear-of-punishment” view of hell informs the modern Christian view on salvation, I think it is important to try to at least paint a picture of what eternity “may” look like to inform how we live now.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the article if you have a chance to read it! I also touched on things such as predestination vs free will.

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I had a look but, for whatever reason it did not hold me.

I am a believer in free will and opposed to any sort of predestination so having seen you try and combine them You lost me.

Richard

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I really like this line:

scarcity brings in us a need to control outcomes.

It strikes me as true for just about everything, though the biggest scarcity is time!

Since God is Love, these two have to be aspects of love.

I also liked the Lenard-Jones Interatomic Potential illustration; I’ve heard it used to illustrate the psychological point that people tend to expend only enough energy to stay comfortable.

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This reminds me of how a number of Christ’s parables get misinterpreted. An obvious one is that where the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man finding a treasure in a field, and spending everything to acquire that field. The usual application is that we should “spend” every effort to acquire the treasure of the Kingdom, but that is not what the parable says – Jesus didn’t say that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure, He said that the Kingdom is like the man who found a treasure! The point is that we are the treasure and that the Kingdom is God doing everything possible to acquire us. The usual application is saying we can earn heaven somehow; the parable is actually saying how much we are worth to God and how far He will go to acquire us – He will “spend” everything.

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My older brother the mathematician says that mathematically the two can be reconciled, but he always lost me, too.

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I like that interpretation! And I agree with it. A similar thought process moved me away from my belief in an impersonal, deistic God to the view of God (Love) I have now. It’s clear how He is always working to draw us closer to Him, even when it doesn’t seem like it.

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I am between conditional immortality and universalism.

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Hi, Richmond - Glad you came forward to share and pursue productive engagement around a great topic! And if you search through past threads, you may discover this isn’t the first time it’s been brought up - though maybe you’ve already seen those.

I’ll admit I haven’t fully read through the book link you shared - busy day; but I don’t mind dropping in here just on the strength of what you share right here already in the forum. I too share in your concern over how justice and mercy need to work together, and how love is a key to all of it. I resonate with that myself.

I am curious if in any of your research or writings you have encountered George MacDonald’s work on this topic? I credit his written work (novels, and especially his unspoken sermons) with bringing me to where I am now in how I view God - as One in whom is no darkness at all! (1 John 1 starting at v. 5) Even if verses can be found (mostly - though not entirely) in the old testament that seem to contradict this, I yet take John seriously and with the conviction that if I ready any part of the Bible in such a way as to make it seem that God is wicked or evil or not like Christ - then I’m reading the Bible wrong. Period. You can read MacDonald’s quintessential sermon (Justice) for free online. But any of the sermons in that whole series are good - maybe try others first and work up to the specific one about Justice. That’s the sermon I think you’d really find an interest in as regards this topic. Just a warning - it isn’t light reading. But once you get into the flow of his conversationally styled prose, there is treasure to be had there. God is eternally and always merciful. And he is eternally and always just. And there is no conflict or contradiction between those things. If God is merciful, then it must be just to be merciful. And if God is just, then it must be merciful to be just. God is one.

I could mention other good authors too - but I’ll leave it here for now.

-Merv

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If that is true, does that mean that if God is merciful, then to be just He must always show mercy?

Richard

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I think it’s just a conviction that God’s attributes are never in competition with each other. So however we picture or imagine ‘mercy’ to look, if it includes injustice, then it isn’t really ‘mercy’, or at least not the perfect kind as God gives. And if we imagine ‘justice’ as something that ever includes being merciless, then it is not real justice of any Godly kind, but only of the fallen, vengeful, retributive human kind - which is neither just nor merciful nor Godly in any way.

It’s a way of raising the bar infinitely high. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. It gives us something to aspire toward, to aim at, and to continually ask for help as we inevitably fall way, way short.

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