‘Universal Reconciliation on the Rise’

Originally posted on June 14, 2007 – by Andre Piet

On the website www.vergadering.nu, a dossier has been created under the alarming (?) headline: “Universal Reconciliation on the Rise.” Vergadering.nu is a website aiming to inform about developments within the so-called “assemblies of believers,” and in doing so, primarily promotes the ideas of Dr. Willem Ouweneel. In Ouweneel’s recent jab at goedbericht.nl, Harry Sleijster (the man behind the website) has apparently found reason to intensify the warning. After some superficial browsing of goedbericht.nl, hetbestenieuws.nl, and inperspectief.com—and without being troubled by too much Biblical insight—the content of the mentioned websites is labeled “heresy.”

The doctrine of universal reconciliation has already been thoroughly refuted, among others by J.G. Fijnvandraat, who wrote several extensive articles (…) and Willem Ouweneel wrote the book “Alverzoening” (…).
Unfortunately, the arguments used by the universalists show no indication that they have read these thorough refutations.

“… have not read them”? I have not only read them, I have studied them carefully! And not just these booklets, but everything I could gather that is directed against “the doctrine of universal reconciliation.” My personal experience by now is that once you are granted to understand what “the Scripture says,” there is hardly anything that strengthens the scriptural conviction more than reading such anti-booklets! At the end I also read:

As has already been noted, there appears to be no indication that they have attempted to refute the many and strong counterarguments.

What becomes apparent here is that the author has not done his homework properly. Just to speak for myself: in the past I once annotated Ouweneel’s brochure with no less than 125 critical footnotes and also sent it to him (without ever receiving a response, by the way). In 1996, I conducted a series of study evenings in which I examined the last two chapters of this writing in great detail. And last April I held a study evening, specifically about chapter 2 (on “eternal” and “eon”). Of course, it is up to each one to judge whether I succeeded in the refutation, but the claim that there is no indication “that they have attempted to refute the many and strong counterarguments” is simply untrue. Has the author ever read the goedbericht FAQ sheet? All relevant objections are addressed there.

Anyway, aside from accusations, I have found little to no argumentation on the said web page. It therefore seems hardly worthwhile to go into it further.
Let the reader judge for themselves.

Meanwhile, I greatly rejoice that in our day—in which so much “gospel” is being preached that is no Gospel—more and more people are having their eyes opened to the fact that Jesus Christ is not merely the Savior for the world, but truly “the Savior of the world”!

Delen: