Why I closed the Universalism discussion board

CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY	www.carm.org	HOME PAGE

Why I closed the Universalism discussion board
on CARM

     Unfortunately, there has been a lot of false information from the universalists on different discussion boards (such as the old Tentmaker board) concerning why I closed the universalism discussion board here on CARM. Let me set the record straight here and call them to honesty and integrity.
     About two or so years ago, the universalists started coming to the CARM boards and posting about universalism. That was fine since the boards cover other false belief systems as well. However, the universalists started going to all the boards saying that all people would be saved either in this life or in the afterlife. This effectively undermined the Christians' who were witnessing to the lost since universlaism removed the urgency and need to come to Christ now. In other words, it gave the unbelievers the excuse to not worry about salvation because they would be guaranteed salvation in the next life. I then started to get many emails from Christians asking me to do something about the unies who were disrupting Christian evangelism. Therefore, I created a universalist discussion board and limited universalism discussion to it. Of course, they complained. A few even tried to tell me how to run my own boards.
     Nevertheless, it didn't take long for the unies to swarm to the board and start talking about how universalism was the way, the truth, and the life. It became evident that they were not concerned with converts to Christ. They were concerned about converts to universalism -- which they called "the truth." Please note that it was not Jesus who was the truth, or coming to Jesus as Savior that was the truth. Instead, "the truth" was universalism. This approaches idolatry.
     I pointed this out along with their interpretive errors and they gradually became increasingly belligerent. This is often the case when people's eyes are on an ideology instead of Jesus. In fact, it was interesting to watch the "Christian" unies, side with the non-Christian unies in their attacks against me. Rarely, and I do mean, rarely did one unie try to correct another unie for the hurtful and unChristian things that were said by them. It was obvious that insults were a standard method of attack by them and they were justified by talking about how Jesus was harsh to the pharisees -- of which I was labeled. To be honest, only one group of people has treated me worse than the universalists and that is the satanists.
    This disparity between profession of love and the actions of hate, combined with how they undermined the preaching of the gospel by other Christians, motivated me to write refutations of the universalist position. So, I created a universalism section on my website and tackled many of the issues they raised. This escalated the hostility from the unies even more. Many of them became increasingly insulting in their posts. After a while, I started keeping examples of their hate filled posts. The following list contains extractions from actual universalist posts that I have documented here. They are a sad example of some of the tactics and low-level attacks many of them tried to use to establish their doctrine that God is going to save everyone, no matter what they believe or do here.

I was compared to Bin Laden and that my belief in eternal damnation was satanic
I was called an idiot and a dope.
I was told that I should burn myself to death
I was severely mocked many times and told I had a sick and perverted mind
I was told that what I preach is a pseudo-gospel and that I openly hate and blaspheme God
I was told that my belief in eternal damnation was hideous and demonic
My children were used in a taunting manner against me
I was told that "my God" was an eternal baby burner
I was told I was a double-talking hypocrite
My name was made fun of
I was told that I was worse than a liar, was a tyrant, that my boss was the devil, that I was a sicko, and accused of loving to see my mother burn in hell.
I was compared to perverts
I was told I was a sadist and that I was demonically controlled
I was called a hypocritical, double-talking, condescending coward and that I do not know God
I was told that I was deceitful in the highest order
I was told I was obsessed with my own ego, that as a Calvinist, I would delight in watching people burn in hell, and that I have a sick and ungodly mindset

     Now, please understand that these are only some of the many insults that were thrown at me. The universalists as a whole were incessant and extremely unloving and after months of this, I had had enough, especially after many unies started attacking me personally in emails and were bringing my family into it -- up until then, only satanists had stooped to this low level. To my discredit, I allowed the unies to get under my skin and I became angry with them and said some things I shouldn't have -- especially after they started to involve my family. But, none of what I said compares to the denigrating level that they exhibited which became more frequent and severe. Because of this, I started to become fixated on battling them. In the process, my walk with Christ was being affected in an increasingly bad way. Finally, after a few months of bantering back and forth and after discussion with my wife and another trusted friend, I decided to terminate the board.
     Again, the universalists had been so insulting, so condemning, so rude, and so arrogant, that I was becoming preoccupied with them. It was not their arguments that gave me any trouble. I have refuted them -- even though they refuse to admit it. So, I repeat. I closed the board primarily because my walk with Christ was being badly affected by me trying to deal with their constant insults and personal attacks, not because I couldn't answer their objections and challenges.   I stated this on the board when I closed it but this information is routinely ignored by the unies who prefer to state that I closed the board because I couldn't refute their claims -- which is yet more misrepresentation of the truth. I am not surprised that they continue to misrepresent me so as to make themselves look better at my expense. Again, for verification of their skewed method of thought and approach to challenges, I seriously recommend that you to read some of their many insults.
     Since closing the board on CARM, I have lurked on different universalist boards on the Net and am not at all surprised to find that they still speak ill of me, still utter insults about me, still gossip about me, and still misrepresent the facts about why I closed the board. They simply acted worse than the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Muslims, the atheists, the evolutionists, etc. They were without question, the rudest and most insulting group of people I had to deal with -- except, as I said before, for the satanists.
     This saddens me to see so much hatred and intolerance offered by those who claim to have a loving gospel of universal reconciliation. I rarely see them speaking about people coming to Christ. Instead, they speak condescendingly about others who don't know the "true gospel" and that those who don't see it as they do are somehow less than sufficient Christians, less than open, less than intelligent, and somehow not as enlightened as they.  It is truly sad. In fact, it reminds me very much of some cults and how their members speak of Christians.
     Also, to clear a few things up, to the best of my memory, I have never posted on any unie site, even though some universalists routinely state that I post on unie sites. After all, CARM keeps me pretty busy.
     So, I hope this clears up some of the continued misconceptions perpetrated by the universalists. I also hope that they will drop their hatred and intolerance of those who don't agree with them and stop justifying their sinful behavior by using Jesus and His word to accomplish their ends.
     May the Lord point them to Jesus so that they may repent and leave the dangerous doctrine of universalism that nullifies the gospel.

Return to Universalism