You keep ‘contending’ UR believes in Judgment, punishment, and hell, and UR does, but UR is avoiding and redefining the mortal implications of the language and intentions of God, who demonstrated exactly what He will do to sinners if they do not repent and believe. CI believes God wrote, warned, and followed through with His Judgments so there could be no mistake in understanding Him.You see? This sentence makes sense by itself, but it clearly makes no sense in the context of the debate, since it makes no point that your opponents would be unwilling to make themselves. Universalists are very aware of God's track record of judgments, and generally would agree that there are lessons to be learned from them. There is nothing in this information to challenge restorationism in any way. Your inability to recognize this, after so many patient attempts on the part of others to inform you of this, is what concerns many here (Steve)
UR, and yourself contend that all these OT verses can’t be taken as serious statements about Gods eternal intentions, since UR says they only refer to the temporal, or specific situation, or whatever. Ironically, UR utterly wipes out all verses that imply God will indeed wipe out and utterly destroy with complete destruction those who refuse His command to repent, yet this is exactly how God defines His own character. UR says Gods everlasting love and patience means His offer to repent will be for ever and ever, all the while denying that (punishment or) death is everlasting. Yet the context of the quotes again are from the 'supposedly' temporal context of the OT (?). What does this mean? Well it means you don't reinterpret by picking and choosing what you like, if you want the blessings and promises of the OT to apply post-mortem, you need to accept the curses and warnings have application and intent for the post-mortem also (otherwise they are meaningless, or reduced as you say: "to lessons to be learned from them" above).
You cant remove all the promises of future blessings and promises from the OT, if you start dissecting bits and parts from the contexts referring to utter destruction and keeping only parts of restoration and punishment, they are tied together.
The only way to keep it all in tact, context, and order is to believe what God says;
"But from eternity to eternity the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him, and His righteousness toward the grandchildren 18 of those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His precepts. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name" (Psalm 103)
"We are His people and the sheep of His pasture... For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations" (Psalm 100)
Note forever, yes, but God makes a point to say: to those who fear, keep His precepts, keep His covenant, and note that they are already his sheep and they enter the courts which is synonymous with gates, which speak of belief. You can't avoid the additional conditional part of the everlasting love verses when you try to apply them to the post-mortem. Conditional immortality (like ET) on the other hand has no problem taking every single verse describing Gods intention and character in the Old Testament and ‘believing it truly’ does indeed describe Gods character and intentions, for ever and ever.
Eternal death on sinners, UR contends it can’t be taken literally, why not?
You are ignoring the fact that God does not change. That the judgments and punishment are coming from the same God. God does kill and at times violently. The wicked, are depicted as getting worse and more stubborn, but somehow this all changes post-mortem?.
The killing, violence and language is pretty consistent all throughout scripture, from Genesis all the way through to the last prophet. The same language is picked up again by John and Jesus and repeated by the apostles. The warnings include implications of utter annihilation. You don’t seem to comprehend that since God is the one doing the judging and punishing in the OT, and since God will be the one doing the judging and punishing in the future, then you can expect it to be just the same. God didn’t change from 1500 BC to 700BC, or from 500BC to 300BC, or from 300BC to 70AD, and God hasn't implied He will change at anytime from now to eternity, or has He?
The persons being judged and killed by God throughout scripture all have something very much in common – they were all sinners, and many disbelieved Gods warnings.
I suppose if I read all the UR writers arguments and your book also, it will convince me I was wrong to believe that God does not change, and that His character and intentions will not change either. I suppose I have been foolish for believing 'all' that the Prophets and Moses have spoken, I suppose a new God awaits me on the otherside when I become so enlightened. And yes I am ordering your new book, I suppose there I will find why God keeps Himself hidden, how there is a ruling class in heaven, why death means life, and why there is but there is not a final judgment, etc.