Literalist evangelical Christians who are universalists
(this blogpost can very well be read to this beautiful Russian pop song)
It's true, there are literalist, traditional, old-fashioned bible-believing (people who believe that everything in the Bible is the word of God) Christians who are universalists. This is a very strange fact (so strong the traditional hell doctrine has been in church history), and it is, really, a very joyful and heartwarming fact. It is indeed one of the most lovely facts I know of.
I know so much about church history, that I can say that Adolph E. Knoch (1874 –1965) was one such*, a believer and a theologian who came from the literalist Christian cult Plymouth Brethren (which he departed from because of doctrinal issues). He wasn't just a universalist, he also denied the dogma of the Trinity in this book.
This pattern of denying both the eternal hell and the dogma of Trinity, is a recurring pattern among believers and theologians in church history. Often the one leads to the other. So was the fate of a whole movement, the Unitarian Universalist Church, when one delves into its history. So it has been with me. I know of Finnish evangelical Christian house church members, in my circle of friends (people like Vesa Virtanen), who have begun on this path.
The Syrian theologian and bible translator George M. Lamsa, who translated the Aramaic Peshitta Bible (which was the first Christian Bible) to the English language, also ended up in ideas similar to those of unitarian universalism, much thanks to his cultural heritage (the Eastern Church has always been more unitarian and universalist than the Western Church, think about the Christian cult Islam [yes, you read correctly, I regard it as a Christian cult] and the universalism of the Russian Orthodox Church). See regarding Lamsa's unitarianism, this article, and regarding his universalism, this article, where it is stated, in the end of the text below the headline "Lamsa And The Bible": "and he again implies there is no eternal punishment (p. 363)".
Louis Abbott (b.1915) was a literalist evangelical Christian who spent 50 years studying the Greek New Testament and the words pertaining to universalism and hell in the Bible. The results of his studies are published in the book "An Analytical Study of Words" (2018) that can be read freely on the internet, and is also sold at Amazon, here.
Louis Abbott was probably a Christian fundamentalist, which makes his universalism very interesting. Here is a YouTube interview with him by Gary Amirault. It is worth its weight in gold.
Here is Gary Amirault's (the founder of the universalist website "Tentmaker", and also a pretty traditional evangelical Christian) preface to Abbott's book above:
"Louis Abbott was born in 1915. In 1928, he received Christ. One day, while pastoring a church, a man challenged Louis regarding his teaching about eternal torment. Louis accepted the challenge.
For three years Louis searched the Scriptures, searched the Greek and Hebrew words behind the English words "Hell," "eternal punishment," "everlasting destruction," etc. At the end of those three years, he realized he had been taught error regarding the ultimate fate of mankind. Feeling he could not longer preach the doctrines of his denomination, Louis gave up the pastorate, but he never gave up studying.
Taking Greek courses from Moody, Loyola University, and other places, he finally came to the place where, in order to get further, he had to teach himself. At the present day, his personal library consisting of thousands of Bible references books, probably has more reference books on the New Testament Greek than many Bible Colleges and Seminaries.
For almost 50 years now, Louis has been spending many of his evening hours and weekends studying the subject matter of this book. There would be few in the world today who would have spent as much time studying these words as Louis has.
Louis has given me some of the books in his personal library. On the inside cover, he would put the date he finished the book and note the pages on which he made notations. I am amazed at how many reference books he has read. Most people, including scholars usually use these kind of books to look up a subject when needed. They usually do not read these kinds of books from cover to cover making notes along the way. But that is how Louis read many of these very difficult books.
Louis gathered manny quotes from dozens of different sources and authors on the subject of this book. He put these writings into a paper which we expanded into a book.
Among the early believers were both literalists and allegoricists both coming to the conclusions contained in this book regarding the fate of mankind. Diodore, from the school of Antioch was of the literalist persuasion, Origen was of the allegorical persuasion. Louis Abbott would have sided with Diodore. I, the editor, would have found myself probably in Origen's school. Bringing this work to book length has allowed me to add here and there thoughts which reflect the allegorical side of the subject Louis has spent many years looking from the literalist point of view. I hope the blend becomes a pleasant mixture which will bring crystal clear vision to the reader.
Whether the reader will be given the grace to see the wonderful truths contained in this work, is up to the Holy Spirit. I only want to make it clear in this introduction to Louis Abbott, that the research contained in this book comes from over 50 years of thorough, dedicated years of "searching to see if these things be so." Louis Abbott has come to the conclusions in this book, not because of his religious background, but because he was willing to test his traditions. May the reader be given the grace to put "fear of God" above "fear of man and his traditions" and read this book with an open mind and willing heart.
Gary Amirault, editor"
For three years Louis searched the Scriptures, searched the Greek and Hebrew words behind the English words "Hell," "eternal punishment," "everlasting destruction," etc. At the end of those three years, he realized he had been taught error regarding the ultimate fate of mankind. Feeling he could not longer preach the doctrines of his denomination, Louis gave up the pastorate, but he never gave up studying.
Taking Greek courses from Moody, Loyola University, and other places, he finally came to the place where, in order to get further, he had to teach himself. At the present day, his personal library consisting of thousands of Bible references books, probably has more reference books on the New Testament Greek than many Bible Colleges and Seminaries.
For almost 50 years now, Louis has been spending many of his evening hours and weekends studying the subject matter of this book. There would be few in the world today who would have spent as much time studying these words as Louis has.
Louis has given me some of the books in his personal library. On the inside cover, he would put the date he finished the book and note the pages on which he made notations. I am amazed at how many reference books he has read. Most people, including scholars usually use these kind of books to look up a subject when needed. They usually do not read these kinds of books from cover to cover making notes along the way. But that is how Louis read many of these very difficult books.
Louis gathered manny quotes from dozens of different sources and authors on the subject of this book. He put these writings into a paper which we expanded into a book.
Among the early believers were both literalists and allegoricists both coming to the conclusions contained in this book regarding the fate of mankind. Diodore, from the school of Antioch was of the literalist persuasion, Origen was of the allegorical persuasion. Louis Abbott would have sided with Diodore. I, the editor, would have found myself probably in Origen's school. Bringing this work to book length has allowed me to add here and there thoughts which reflect the allegorical side of the subject Louis has spent many years looking from the literalist point of view. I hope the blend becomes a pleasant mixture which will bring crystal clear vision to the reader.
Whether the reader will be given the grace to see the wonderful truths contained in this work, is up to the Holy Spirit. I only want to make it clear in this introduction to Louis Abbott, that the research contained in this book comes from over 50 years of thorough, dedicated years of "searching to see if these things be so." Louis Abbott has come to the conclusions in this book, not because of his religious background, but because he was willing to test his traditions. May the reader be given the grace to put "fear of God" above "fear of man and his traditions" and read this book with an open mind and willing heart.
Gary Amirault, editor"
* We have Swedish counterparts in the church leader E.J. Ekman (1842-1915) (whose book on universalism I'm translating nowadays) and the theologian Madeleine Wallgren (b. 1952), both traditional bible-believing Christians, Wallgren being even a charismatic, belonging, I think, to the Vineyard-movement. She has also published a book on universalism, called "Tidens fullbordan" together with her spouse Peter Wallgren (2017).
