Chapter 14 – Refinery: Separation and Unification

The previous chapter offered an historical overview of Christian universalism. This chapter will focus on the biblical data. Separation If you’re ready to refute Christian universalism with a litany of verses, let me quickly concede that two outcomes, involving a separation between the righteous and the wicked, appear to be clearly expressed in certain passages. … Read more

Chapter 13 – Refinery: Historical Overview

To some extent my ignorance of other views of postmortem judgment makes sense. Since the time of Augustine, eternal conscious torment has been the dominate view of the Catholic Church. And John Calvin gave this view his stamp of approval for the Protestant world.[i] A Third View After I began thinking about annihilationism, I found … Read more

Chapter 12 – Descending to Hades

A friend who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy invited me to attend a service at his church. I knew that Eastern Orthodoxy, along with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, comprised the three main branches of Christianity. I also knew that Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism separated in AD 1054 due in part to different views of the … Read more