Why I Believe In Universal Salvation

What is Universal Salvation?

Also referred to as Universal Reconciliation or (Christian) Universalism, Universal Salvation is the theological doctrine that ‘all sinful and alienated human souls - because of divine love and mercy - will ultimately be reconciled to God’ (source). In other words, it’s the belief that everybody goes to heaven. Everybody. It competes with the more typical Christian belief that only Christians who have repented and believe wholly in Jesus Christ’s status as Lord and God will go to heaven when their time comes, and I have personally wrestled with both concepts, seeing both the Scriptural and moral reasoning behind the two.

Why do I believe in Universal Salvation?
I believe this for two reasons; morally and through the promises of Scripture. Firstly, Scripture.

Why wouldn’t everyone go to heaven? Well, in Isaiah 59:2, we learn that our sins have ‘hidden His (God’s) face’ from us. This implies that should we sin, God will turn from us and therefore nobody at all would go to heaven, as we all sin (see Romans 3:23). However, John 1:29 counters this idea in favour of heaven’s accessibility. ‘John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’. If Jesus takes away the sin of the whole world, then the whole world has no reason to be separated from God.

The next logical question is what does ‘heaven' mean? Descriptions and signs of heaven are prevalent throughout the entire Bible, so I’ve picked out a select few that I feel sum it up. Isaiah 54:8 says that ‘“in a surge of anger I (God) hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you”, says the Lord your Redeemer’. To me, this verse promises kindness both in this life and the next, as God and eternity are everlasting. The idea of eternity is echoed later, in the New Testament (John’s Gospel, chapter 17, verse 2 to be exact). This verse is a little tough to comprehend without context, so I’ve replaced the ‘You’s and ‘He’s with whom they are referring to. ‘For God granted Jesus authority over all people so that Jesus might give eternal life to all those God has given to Him’. If God has committed all things to Christ and Christ can give eternal life to all that God has given Him, then surely it makes sense for all things to have eternal life (in heaven). Revelations 21:4-5 are two of my favourite verses, as they provide such a vivid picture of heaven; ‘He (God) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’.

Then, we get to the tougher part: but is salvation for everybody? I think that Scripture says yes. ‘The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples… destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations… swallow up death forever… wipe away the tears from al faces… remove His people’s disgrace from all the Earth’ (Isaiah 25:6-8). For all people. All people. He will eliminate death and remove the stain of all people’s sin. This notion of ‘all’ is repeated in John 12:32 (‘“And I (Jesus), when I am lifted up from the Earth, will draw all people to myself”’) and 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (‘the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all people’). If God wants all men to be saved, can His wants be thwarted? One final comment on the ‘all’ is the Parable of the Wandering Sheep in Matthew 18, telling us that like the man who owns 100 sheep and is unwilling to lose even one, God is not willing to lose one single person.

As a final point on Scripture and to sum up the entire belief of Universal Salvation, Romans 3:3-4 (‘What if some were unfaithful (to God)? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all!’).


Phew. Thanks for sticking around. Here’s the much shorter but just as important reason for my belief in Universal Salvation; morals.
Not morals as in ‘I want everyone to be happy, so I want them to all be happy in heaven’, although that is true of me honestly. If that was my only reason, that wouldn’t make either haven or Universal Salvation real, that would just make me compassionate. I mean morals as in I know God’s heart, I know He is loving and forgiving, compassionate and kind, and I know He wants the best for every single person, because He created them. He is your protector and sustainer who does not want to see you go without. He is infinite and eternal, with you in your past and present and future whether you feel like you know Him or not. He is wise and just and faithful, He will strengthen you and help you if you only ask. But most of all, God is Love.

If you know love, you know God. And believe me, He knows you.


For a more comprehensive list of the Scripture that supports the doctrine of Universal Salvation, visit this link.

Religious Shaming

As a person of faith, all too often in church I hear the words 'you should be ashamed'. More often, it is implied rather than directly said, but the message is still the same.

You should be ashamed because you're gay.
You should be ashamed because you're not a virgin.
You should be ashamed because of who your parents are.

This humiliation and formation of some moral hierarchy really, really grinds my gears, particularly when it happens in the name of a higher power. Jesus didn't die so that I/you/anyone could be shamed for being themselves, He died so that we didn't have to feel ashamed. I know quite a lot of people who have rejected faith because they felt pressured and defamed by it, and who were actually made to feel inferior due to this integrated 'shame culture'.

Many pastors/church leaders seem to try and disguise this shaming with making people humble. Humility is not hiding who you are because you feel embarrassed. Humility is having a modest and rightful view of your own importance (which in the grand religious scheme of things is either not very important, as God is so much greater than us, or pretty important, as He did decide that the world needed one of you), which is very different indeed to shame.

Another way this religious 'shaming' is masked is as repentance. As a Christian, repentance is very important; confessing what you've done wrong to God and accepting His forgiveness. Repentance is, once again, not shaming. As a 21st-century human being, you do not need to repent for what is called 'original sin'; Adam and Eve's mistake of eating the apple. Original sin is a very difficult concept for me to understand, and I don't think that it is an issue that we should be dealing with nowadays, even as 'good' Christians (also wtf is a 'good' Christian? Any Christian is a 'good' Christian). If I have done something which I see as sinful, I will repent and ask for God's forgiveness. I told neither Adam nor Eve to eat the apple, so (assuming that the story is literal) why on earth should I be punished for it?

Jesus was (and is) all about forgiveness, all about compassion, all about love. Heck, He is love (see 1 John 4:8). I don't think it's very compassionate to force someone into feeling ashamed for something that they can't control, e.g. original sin or being gay, therefore it isn't very Christ-like to do so either. And we all know that the number 1 goal for Christians is to be Christ-like (see Matthew 11:29, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6, and the entire rest of the New Testament).

So I will not be ashamed for something I should not be ashamed for. I will boast in Christ, I will tell of His gifts and His love for me and for you, and I will not be silent because you have told me I should be.

So yes, the Bible does say that we're all sinners (Job 15:14). But also yes, the Bible tells us to 'Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed' - 2 Timothy 2:15. If your church/pastor/family is shaming you (especially in a religious context), feel free to come at them with any of this scripture. Or if all else fails, just tell them to stop being judgey. You know who's the only judge here? God.

Why Oversharing Is Important

Hi guys! Sorry this is going up today instead of yesterday, but yesterday I was surprised with free tickets to see Cliff Richard in concert that night! Crazy times... Anyways, today's post is about why is it so so so important to overshare.

Now, oversharing, by definition, is:

revealing an inappropriate amount of detail about one's personal life.

However, I don't think that oversharing is inappropriate at all! (For clarity, I am referring to oversharing within family groups, or groups of friends. NOT with colleagues/strangers/your boss.) I overshare massively with my friends, and they do with me. When one of us has awful cramps, or is worried about a spot on her boob, or isn't sure whether something she does is normal or not, we're all there to help her out. Without oversharing about your issues, how are you going to know how to solve them? I mean, of course, there's the internet, but it's a lot easier and more reliable to get the info directly from your friends. Plus, in the case of cramps, she'll probably give you some ibuprofen which she wouldn't have known you needed if you didn't overshare.

Secondly, oversharing is so essential to friend groups because it's important to know what's going on in one another's lives, and if you can help them out. If someone is going through a hard time with their friend/partner/parent/sibling/life, then knowing that will make you as a friend more wary of their feelings, and you won't be shocked and not know what's going on if they suddenly break down and cry.

Thirdly, almost every single person in the world worries that they aren't 'normal', especially in regards to the parts of us that we can't easily check. You know if your arm or your face is 'abnormal', because you can always see everyone else's and compare them, but when it comes to more intimate areas we don't have that luxury. Plus, when you're an insecure teenager (or adult, for that matter), you don't want to go to the doctor and see if everything's okay because what if they accidentally embarrass you? What if nothing's wrong and you're making a fuss? What if something is wrong? But, when you overshare with friends (preferably of the same gender for this one), you realise that you aren't the only one worrying about tiny things. Most likely, you're totally 'normal', but sometimes it's nice to be able to talk about the same issues without the prying ears of someone you wouldn't be comfortable talking about it with. Plus, if your problem is not suffered by at least one of your friends, maybe that's a sign to go to the doctor when you otherwise wouldn't have. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

In conclusion, not only does oversharing bring you closer to yourself and your friends, it could also save a life one day.

A Christian Woman Should Be

Hi guys, so today's post is a quite serious topic for me. Recently, I've seen way too many videos entitled 'Christian Women Should(n't) ..........'. The blank has been filled with various things, from Christian women shouldn't be seductive, to should always wear skirts, not trousers. I think it's about time someone put things straight, and told everyone what a Christian woman really should be.

A Christian woman can be young or old, black or white or Asian or Hispanic or any other race, straight or gay or bi or pan or asexual, tall or short or in between, blonde or brunette or redheaded or bald or have any colour hair she wants to.

Let's first tackle the issue of appearances, since that's what most people seem to be concerned with. As a teenage girl, I wear dresses and skirts a lot, because that's what I like to wear and feel comfortable in. Therefore, as a Christian teenage girl woman, I wear dresses and skirts to church a lot, too. Sure, the old people sometimes give me funny looks when my skirt is 'too short' or my top 'too low-cut', but those things by no means stop me from worshipping my God, which is what we're all at church to do. I'll be totally honest with y'all; Jesus does not care what you wear to church. He has a whole load of bigger things on His mind, trust me. Also, I'm 17 years old, so if you're a 60 year old man looking at my legs/chest/other body parts as sexual objects, I dare say you're the issue, not my clothing. Also, I feel a lot more confident wearing makeup (even to church), which seems to be looked down upon by a multitude of the more traditional Christians that I know. Again, Jesus doesn't care if I wear makeup or not! So why on earth should you?

Secondly, many people will tell you that a Christian woman must be 'beautiful but not seductive'. Pardon my French but what bollocks! If I want to be seductive, I damn well will (try to) be. If I don't want to be seductive, I damn well won't be! If I feel like I'm right with God, then unfortunately you have absolutely no say in what I do or what I wear, Mr. Judgey. If I feel unsure of whether what I'm doing is what God wants me to be doing, I'll pray about it and take it up with Him myself. And, if He has an issue with what I'm doing, I'm certain that He'll take it up with me, too. That's all parties that have a say in what I wear covered, so if you're not on the list of a) me and b) God, sorry but you should be worrying about your own walk with God and not mine.
(Check out Matthew 7:3-5 for more on being a hypocrite xxxxxxx)

I was going to dedicate a paragraph in retaliation to 'a Christian woman should never wear trousers, only skirts', but surely you see how ridiculous that sounds. I'm not even gonna bother stooping to that level crikey.

'Christian women shouldn't have a manly job'. There's no such thing as a 'manly' job. There are jobs whose staff are dominated by men, yes, but they are not at all therefore defined as 'manly' jobs. If a woman wants to be a housewife (Christian or not) she should be! If she wants to be a midwife or a seamstress or a cleaner or any other 'female' job, she should be! Equally, if she wants to be a lawyer or an engineer or a plumber or any other job formerly known as a 'manly' job, (guess what) she should be! Once again, this not only goes for Christian women, but all women. You should do whatever profession gives you the most enjoyment, and provides for you.

I've been told many, many times by people I know irl who aren't Christians that I'm 'not allowed' to do x or y or z because I'm a Christian, and that really angers me. Being a Christian does not limit me or what I can do, but what I want to do. I want to honour God, I want to make Him proud. And by all means, I can do whatever I darn well please. Please stop telling me how 'oppressed' I am, because I'm really not. I'm lucky enough to know a God who wants the best for me (and you, and everyone you or I or anybody else knows), and gives me an eternity of life, so does not aim to oppress me in the slightest.

In conclusion, a Christian woman should be right with God. That's it. That's all. Other than that, she should be whoever and whatever she pleases. And if you have an issue with that, take it up with God, not her.