Majoritarianism: The Coming "Judgment" and "Salvation" of Mankind and Selection of The Bride

Majoritarianism: The Coming "Judgment" and "Salvation" of Mankind and Selection of The Bride

Introduction

 

Lately, I've been learning to leave all results—“good” or “bad”—to God who alone is the fair and righteous judge of mankind. 

 

The debate about our fate as sinners in view of God’s grace and mercy is, in my view, almost a waste of time; time can be better spent by "letting your light" (witness of peacemaking and mercy, and "poorness of spirit"--meekness) so shine before men that "they may behold your good works and praise God."

 

Ultimately, "God is love" should, in some way, bias our view of His character and will toward humanity. And the way people perceive the love of God in the world is ultimately by us imitating His love. And what better plan, or blueprint, or example, to follow that that of His dear son, Jesus? After all, Jesus is that plan of, or logos of God, made manifest to us.

 

This is my current view

 

I'm technically an annihilationist, after having grown up believing in Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). This is what I believe the majority of the text teaches. But there are some interesting things being said by Jesus that I think lend credibility to the idea of some sort of postmortem correction with the intention of bringing forth repentance unto salvation. This said, I can say I'm also a hopeful universalist and lean toward a “majority” of sinners being reconciled, which I call The “Majoritarian” view (a term I might've coined to explain my personal opinion and how I reconcile different texts in light of my own personal difficulties of understanding "mercy" and "justice" and "judgment"--it ain't easy). I am a Majoritarian, and I know for certain that I'm not the only one with these leanings.[1]

 

We must be ready to shake the dust off of our feet and find the ones whose hearts are being opened by God to peace and following Jesus. We needn't spend much time debating with angry people. I've learned that by taking this method seriously, I've limited how angry I become when dealing with others. I've learned to "let it go" because, after all, "God knows." God truly knows all things.

 

The fact is that if you aren’t striving to love God supremely, to love your neighbor as you love yourself, to love your enemies, and to love the brethren, then you’re not a disciple of Christ, are wrong, and are in “danger of judgment,” (whatever that may mean I think depends on context). The point is that our only job as those who are striving to follow Christ alone is to plant the seed and walk away. We are not also the judge, jury, and executioner.

 

By God's grace, Jesus has been quietly teaching me, "Notice first, and remove, the plank in your own eye before you try to remove the splinter out of another’s."

 

One Haunting Parable: Matthew 18:21-35

 

As I mentioned, there are some interesting things I see Jesus saying that I don't know what to do with. One parable in particular haunts me--it swirls around in the back of my mind. In Matthew 18:21-35, we read,

²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.²³ Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.²⁴ And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.²⁵ But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.²⁶ The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.²⁷ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.²⁸ But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.²⁹ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.³⁰ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.³¹ So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.³² Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:³³ Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?³⁴ And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.³⁵ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Upon reading this, I couldn't help but recall something else Jesus had said about his Father and forgiveness: "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."[2] Doesn't there appear to be a contradiction? Jesus in one place says The Father won't forgive us our trespasses if we don't forgive others theirs. Yet, Jesus tells us to forgive 70 x 7 when someone repents. In our Parable, we find a Disciple of Jesus being sent to the "tormentors" until the "debt is paid." The scenario in the Parable is a judgment of a servant before his King; the implication is that at the judgment, a Disciple of Jesus is paying an unpaid debt--and it's revealed he won't be loosed until it's paid. Many questions immediately came to my mind: It's not clear from this parable that this particular servant "loses salvation," so...At what point is it paid? What if the man falls prostrate again, seeking mercy, with repentance as he did before...wouldn't Jesus then follow his own doctrine and forgive him? Even 70 x7 as he commanded Peter? The implications are amazing and hopeful. It is clear to me from the Gospels that there are real chances for people to suffer great judgment, up to and including total annihilation. But not for all sinner's. What this means is that it's not my duty to determine who among us will suffer the Second and Final Death; my duty is to cast the seed (word) of God into the world and let it fall on whatever soil it may fall upon. God knows and searches and tries the hearts of men.

It seems to me there are degrees of judgment and punishment; It seems to me that we are all going to appear before our Creator with unsettled scores and uncovered sins, and that all will be taken into account. It's clear to me that there are certain things a Disciple of Jesus just shouldn't be doing in accordance to God's law which, if done, will prevent one from being in The Bride. It seems there are even more heinous and wicked things that if not repented and ceased from will cost even "Disciples" a loss of salvation. It seems to me that God is truly the Perfect and Righteous Judge. It seems to me that you must be persuaded in your own mind and that you have free will to choose whom to serve and how.

Conclusion

 

Jesus said "many are called, but few are chosen" as well as that "those who will be first will be last; and those who will be last shall be made first." The degree and harshness of our judgment is based on the principle, "To whom much is given, much is required." Some in this timeline of humanity have had more light/ accountability than others for reasons we aren't privy to. Some have had total, unfettered access to God's word and plan than others. GOD KNOWS BEST. We should sit more at Jesus' feet like Mary did and do as Jesus said: "go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice." We too frequently push and shove past others in our efforts at entering this wonderful Kingdom, but this means that our entrance is at the expense of others. This is a horrific attitude. If we would simply learn to serve as Jesus did, and try to lay aside our pride. May the Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ help us and have mercy upon us all.

__________

 

[1] Groups like Bible Students, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and even some [Eastern] Orthodox theologians have suggested something like this. In my past, I was a "Teaching Elder" of a Baptist Brider group, which taught that "faithful Baptistic believers" will reign with Christ as his Bride over the "unfaithful believers" (Unfaithful believers include the unfaithful from broader Christianity and any converts during the Millennial Period.) The primary text used to support the claim is Revelation 21:23-27. I still hold to the "Baptist Bride" view, but I don't believe "The Bride" is exclusively Baptist; rather, the "The Bride" are exclusively JESUS ONLY followers, meaning we can't follow after other so-called prophets, thus excluding figures like Paul, Mohamed, Joseph Smith, and other charlatans pretending to have met Jesus, despite Jesus saying that secret meetings and visions of him would be impossible. I believe "The Bride" will be a patchwork of all faithful Jesus Disciples throughout all time; everyone else may be saved, but they will not "rule and reign" with Jesus or will be able to enter the Kingdom for one reason or another.

[2] Mark 11:26, KJV