Interesting regarding "another bus coming". A few years back I was happy to know an elderly gentleman had become a Christian. When telling me about his commitment he commented "I didn't want to miss the bus". Leaves you wondering about his decision had he been informed that there would be an endless opportunity to get on the bus.
I think it is tragic how many people (even Christians) see Jesus simply as the bus that takes people to heaven. Once the Gospel starts to be preached consistently with the biblical claims of Christ's kingdom and lordship, and people are called to serve God for His own glory, we might begin to see the church producing authentic disciples again. What a revolution that would cause in the Church! The world might even see genuine Christianity, as in the days of the early Church.
It would be interesting to know how many people are universalist when they become Christian as opposed to the number who are believers and evolve into universalists. And also how many evolve further into the "many paths to God" universalism.
I think it differs with different cases.
Our friend mdh, here, was not able to want God or Jesus until he rejected the eternal torment view. He is now an evangelical universalist. I don't know if that is the view he switched to prior to his conversion. I would say that, if every Christian that people met exhibited the Spirit of Christ as much as that brother, the world would have very few grounds for criticizing the church.
Others gravitate toward universal reconciliation as a result of maturing in their knowledge of God and the scriptures (I know that the more I contemplate Jesus and His revelation of the Father, the more I consider universal reconciliation as credible).
So, in some cases, universalism may be what brings a person to Christ initially, and, in other cases, it may result from decades of Christian growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Even if universalism proves ultimately to be incorrect, no one need fear that God will be angry at their having given Him the credit for being the very kind of God that Jesus described. I, as a father, would be more grieved if my children underestimated my compassion and goodness than if they overestimated it. I would not be the least surprised if universal reconciliation turns out to be correct, since it is, without question, the view that most glorifies God.
As for progressing to the view that "all roads lead to God," I think this is a concept needing clearer definition. Like the author of
"The Shack" I don't think that all roads lead to God, but I believe that God can travel any road to reach the seeker. None can be saved apart from Christ, and there is no religion (including
Christian religion) that saves anyone. Christ alone saves, and it seems to me that He can save any seeker He may wish to save, unless His Father is going to deprive Him of some that He died to save.
