Articles by Drew Costen

In my last post I hinted at the idea that the lake of fire will be relatively empty. This, of course, goes against the traditional ideas that most Christians believe, but then, so does nearly everything I write on this website, so that’s nothing new. So who actually does end up in the lake of… Continue reading Who ends up in the lake of fire?

The following is an amalgam of actual discussions I’ve had with real people, both in person and online: I didn’t intend to stop, but the street preacher’s words caught my ear and I couldn’t help myself. “As Jesus died on the cross, He cried out, ‘It is finished.’ He died for all of our sins,… Continue reading Dialogue with an evangelical

Pretty much no Universalist starts off as a Universalist. Nearly all of us first believed in either everlasting torment in hell or in Annihilationism. It’s normally only after someone challenges us to dig deeper to see if our soteriology is actually scriptural that we come to see just how clearly Scripture teaches Universal Reconciliation, and… Continue reading Why do most Christians believe in never-ending torment in hell?

As I’ve explained elsewhere on this site, it’s mortality (and death, for those who die prior to Christ’s return), as well as sinfulness because of that mortality, that Christ saves us from, not never-ending torment in “hell” or the lake of fire. As I’ve also covered, salvation under Paul’s Gospel is 100% based upon the… Continue reading The only part you play in your own salvation

It’s rare, but sometimes people ask the right question. Recently, a few people have asked, “if Christ died for our sins, why do some people have to pay for their own sins by going to hell?” The answer to this question is something that even most Christian Universalists get wrong. I’ll begin by saying, this… Continue reading Do people pay for their own sins?

As I’ve discussed previously, most people who read the threatening messages Jesus gave while He walked the earth completely misunderstand what He was talking about, thinking He was referring to never-ending punishment in a place called “hell” if they don’t become Christians before they die. Of course, as you already know if you’ve read much… Continue reading What is the furnace of fire?

A couple weeks ago I wrote about some street preachers here in Toronto who were inadvertently preaching a distorted “gospel” (I recommend reading that post first, before finishing this one). Of course, they didn’t mean to do so. They seem like very nice people, for the most part, who mean well. Unfortunately, however, not knowing… Continue reading Preaching a distorted gospel, part 2

Yesterday, I watched some street preachers using speakers to proclaim their understanding of the Gospel. This post isn’t about the ear damage that many street preachers in Toronto are causing to both themselves and to random passersby with the excessive decibel level they have their speakers cranked up to, though, because these guys were among… Continue reading Preaching a distorted gospel

There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings that come up anytime someone begins discussing “the Snatching Away” (which is what those of us in the body of Christ tend to call the event generally known as “the Rapture,” although, for the sake of familiarity, I’ll refer to it as the Rapture for the duration… Continue reading Myths and misunderstandings about the Snatching Away, aka the Rapture

There’s an old saying which goes something along the lines of: “A text read out of context is just a pretext for a proof text.” When discussing the topic of the final fate of individual humans, many Christians will share various texts from the Bible which they assume — based on presuppositions they’ve been taught… Continue reading Considering context, chronology, and consistency when reading passages about judgement