But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. -- Luke 16:25
In the folded and tortured land of Appalachia, there exists
a group of people known as Primitive Baptist Universalists. The adherents are few in number, perhaps less
than 2000, and geographically isolated.
I thought Ralph Stanley was your basic Primitive Baptist, but Wikipedia
lists him as a well-known Primitive Baptist Universalist. The interesting thing about the PBU to me is
that they are derisively called ‘No-Hellers’.
Yet they do not deny that hell exists.
Their doctrine holds, rather, that hell is confined to this life.
I can see where that makes sense to people living a hard
life under harsh conditions. The
transition that comes through death would be seen as a release from what
amounts to purgatory. Here we are tested
and tried and suffer to make us fit for heaven.
As I write that, I’m having trouble seeing where I
disagree. I often say something like that, because, at times, this world is so wicked and perverse, I don't see how it could not be hell's extension center, at the very least. It is not until you have to
deal with people who have an easier life, who do not appear to suffer despite
the evil that they do, that holes begin to develop. To those who go to heaven, this earthly
sojourn will appear as a period of learning, development, and correction. If you are a Universalist, I guess that’s the
end of the story. If, like me, you are
sympathetic to Universalism and have a Universalist hero like George MacDonald,
yet remain uncomfortable with the idea, what do you do with all the idiots who
don’t ever learn a thing?
George Carlin once asked, if we are here to help others,
what are the others here for? We could
ask similarly, if suffering purges and cleanses us, what of those who do not
suffer? MacDonald would probably have
said that those who cling to their illusions and love this life too much will
go through something like a second death where they are freed from their
delusions and the grip of self in pain and anguish. You can see where reincarnation had a logical
appeal for those of a Transcendentalist, Universalist bent.
There is coming a judgment, as Revelation 20:12-15
describes: And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And
the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they
had done. Those whose names are not
found in the Book of Life suffer a “second death”, being cast into “the lake of
fire.”
In the end, these sorts of things leave me baffled. I can sense the truth being present, but I cannot
get at it, like trying to grasp a stream of water in my hand. The weak are as successful as the
strong.
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie,I don't want to go.If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie,I'd just as soon stay home.If they ain't got a Grand Ol' Opry,Like they do in Tennessee,Just send me to hell,Or New York City,It'll be about the same to me.
