From time to time one runs across posts which endanger evalggelization and the Gospel message, a sign of the diabolic. I just encountered one such today, the heresy of universalism--the belief that "everyone will eventually be saved no matter what. Universalism is a heresy because it is a half truth. Christ did die for all, but the universalist only holds on to that part of the truth. He denies the other half of the full truth, that not everyone will accept that grace and therefore some will go to hell.
It is a heresy because unversalism is not based on clear thinking or logic or the authority of Church teaching or the catechism or the Sacred Scriptures, for there is no support anywhere for universalism in the Catholic faith. Instead it is based on people's feeling that "God is too loving to send anyone to hell."
The effects of universalism on the church are catastrophic. If everyone is going to be saved, then why bother to go to Church? If everyone is going to be saved there is no such thing as mortal sin. If everyone is going to be saved there is no need for evangelism. If everyone is going to be saved there is no need to feed the hungry, become a priest, build the church and become a saint, let alone work for peace and justice....
Should you doubt the heterodoxy of universalism, I recommend Professor Ralph Martin's externsive study of the question here.
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