There has been much speculation about this letter since I announced it last Friday.
One person suggested it might be political; that perhaps it promoted Ron Paul. And while I have promoted Ron Paul in the past, that is not what the letter is about.
Another person suggested it might be religious. This guess was closer to the mark, but the letter is not religious at all. No organized religion believes what I believe. In fact, what I believe is a threat to organized religion and the traditions of men.
The fact is, the letter is about my spiritual journey over the last five years. It is about questioning long-held beliefs and discovering new ones. This is one reason it was difficult for me to write the letter. It is also a reason why I’ve been hesitant to share it with you. (Fact: I’ve been thinking about sharing it with you since last July, but it has taken months of writing and rewriting to deal with some of my own heart issues.)
Nevertheless, I believe the timing is right. So, finally, I’m going to share this letter with you today. If the discussion of spiritual matters disturbs you, then I politely ask you to refrain from clicking the link below. But if you do have an interest, and can tolerate some viewpoints that may be different than your own, then I invite you to click the link below and read the letter…
==> The Greatest Love Story Never Told
Be blessed.
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. Another comment came in this morning. “Awesome letter dude! I just sent your URL to a list of friends. I hope they all read it! Thanks!” –T.M.
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13 comments ↓
Ryan, you have this wonderful knowing within … where God and man are one. If every book on the face of this planet were destroyed tomorrow, you would still KNOW.
It gives you a different worldview … every man, woman, boy and girl ever born are your brothers and sisters. Some just haven’t experienced their reconciliation with God yet. But they will.
Your Brother in Christ,
Alex
Hi Ryan, interesting letter. I don’t find it that surprising or unusual. I believe we all have a soul, heart, conscience, or whatever you want to call it - something inside us that God has given us to guide us. I believe the Bible is inspired by God, and I believe we have to take its meaning as a whole. How could God be less forgiving than we are? If there is a hell, I always thought it would be very sparsely populated. You sound like you have a good heart.
Alex - As you said, it absolutely changes your world view. And it changes how you treat other people… for the better. Speaking of reconciliation, Paul writes about that in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.
Pat - I like what you wrote: “How could God be less forgiving than we are?” If only everybody would ask questions like these. Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for reading the letter.
Ryan–Thanks for making the letter available. I’ve got to say that I totally disagree with your conclusions. But I respect you for being open with your beliefs. Too many people keep their faith under wraps, fearing what other people will think of them. That’s not a good way to live.
Keep up the good work!
Ryan,
I commend you for posting the letter but I must respond to a few points:
If I read your letter & understood it correctly, you are saying that there is no hell for anyone to fear, right? The Bible clearly teaches us about a real place called hell - Haven’t you read Luke 16 and the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus? Hell is a real place where we will have all of our senses (the Rich man clearly “saw” Lazarus, he was thirsty for a touch of water on his tongue, etc.) The parable shows us that family members of the Rich man won’t believe in God even if he is resurrected just as those who saw Jesus rise again on the 3rd day won’t beleive in him either. And Revelation 20 clearly reveals that Satan will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. God is love… but we still must make a choice. Heaven or Hell…
I have a lot of respect for you Ryan but… there is a hell… and we can’t sugarcoat it! Thanks for the opportunity to respond!
Todd
Ryan,
Your letter did shock me, but not in the way I had expected it to. I mean I didn’t know what to think, but the way youprepared everyone to be shocked made me think that if it was about religion, it would not be something as banal as switching from one version of Christianity to another.
Honestly, just before clicking on your letter, I thought, ‘If this is about religion, maybe Ryan has finally woken up and become an atheist’. Boy was I wrong!
Reinterpreting the Bible is no news. It’s been done already, more times than the Bible has pages. But nice work on creating the suspense. I enjoyed that! =)
Peace,
Nettlea
P.S. If you believe in a just God, you don’t even need to read the Bible to come to the conclusion that all will be saved eventually. Logic alone is enough! A just God simply cannot mete out an eternal punishment for a finite amount of wrongdoing. It’s that simple. I figured that out when I was six or seven, but my religious conditioning made me discard it as a ‘mystery’.
Richard - Thanks for your comment. And thank you for responding to my email. I’ll reply back shortly.
Todd - Thanks for sharing your perspective. To answer your question, I have read the parable in Luke, but I interpret it differently than you do. If you’d like, I can email you separately with my analysis.
Nettlea - Sorry to have let you down. I suppose for an atheist, what I’ve written comes as no surprise. But most believers have never heard or studied the perspective that God will save all.
Over a year ago when I shared some of this information, I was attacked quite viciously, which is why I created the anticipation. I must have more reasonable readers on this blog since nobody has written anything like that.
You said: “A just God simply cannot mete out an eternal punishment for a finite amount of wrongdoing.” I completely agree with this. This kind of reasoning is often what leads people AWAY from God, since most churches teach that eternal torment is a form of justice.
HI Ryan
I am a relatively new reader to your blog and recently came across this entry “The Greatest Love Story Never Told”.
The title, of course, piqued my interest but I was saddened to read the content.
I have a few questions for you in regards to your interpretation that there is “No Hell”.
I firmly disagree.
A couple of things that you wrote about stood out to me. First was you mentioned that 95% of man kind would go to hell and only 5% would make it into heaven. Where did you receive that statistic? I have read the bible and have never seen a statistic such as that. Yes, the bible states that the way is narrow and few are those that find it but it never gives a statistical account (Matthew 7:13 AB). Few are those that find it because mankind does not want to accept the free and perfect gift of salvation, Jesus Christ. Not because God is unjust.
If you think that Satan is the winner then did you miss the passages where Christ says “It is finished” while on the cross (John 19:30 NAT) or when it is declared in Romans 6:9 (NAT) “that death no longer has any power”
You mentioned that different translations can interpret words differently. But you must be aware that most scholars and preachers do not use a translation such as The Message but rather NKJV, KJB, NASB, NIV and even NLT. To use “The Message” as an example is not truly accurate. There is a great difference between a bible that is a literal translation and not a paraphrase.
Throughout your letter you reference that God is indeed a loving God and a just God.
Yet, you question how He could be have those attributes if He passed judgment on those that did not receive His son as their savior.
With that in mind I pose these questions to you.
Do you think that every parent that has a wayward child is responsible for that child’s behavior?
If you have one child that has been well-behaved, a role-model and an asset to society and another that has committed crimes, is involved in drugs, and whatever other ill you may think of.
Do you as a parent love them less? Do you “wish” evil or torment on them?
Of course not! and neither does God …but…if that child should die or be jailed because of their behavior then it was their “choice” to live that life. We, as parents, do not choose that for them. They chose that lifestyle for themselves.
God gave us freewill in which we have the right to “choose” whether we will walk with him in fellowship and accept his Son as the one and only road to Salvation or we can “choose” to turn from God and be separated from Him eternally. You can not blame God for giving us the freedom of choice. Nor can you blame Him for those individuals that “choose” not to live their lives as followers of Christ.
You mention that you do not believe that Hell is an eternal place of judgment but rather a temporal one. Well, just exactly how long do you think that will be? A day, a 100 years….
and then after that time What happens? You mention that “all” will be brought to God?
You are correct in your statement that “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Romans 14:11 AB) but to make the assumption that every tongue will be praising the Lord when they make this confession is wrong. It merely points to the fact that as some point in each individuals existence they will realize that Christ is indeed the Savior and Son of God.
For some it will be a wonderful experience. It will be the elation and cumulating point of their walk with Christ. For others it will be said in defeat and regret.
Have you ever played sports or participated in any kind of competition? At the end of the game you have to acknowledge the winner regardless if you are the winner or the loser.
Does the losing team acknowledge it the same way as the winning team? No, but they do acknowledge it. Yes, every knee shall bow….all mankind will one day know the truth and proclaim it…but not all mankind will rejoice in that truth.
I gather by your log is that you are suggesting that those that do not accept Jesus as the Son of God will spend “some” time in hell but then they will be reconciled to the cross? Then please tell me what was the point in Jesus’ suffering if there was another “way” to get to heaven?
Do you truly think God the Father (or any father for that matter) would allow their son to be tortured? Let’s put reality where it is. Jesus Christ was tortured on the cross. This was not a humane murder by lethal injection. His suffering was outright murder and torture. He had nails pierced through His hands, thorns thrust on His head and He was whipped beyond the point of death. His suffering was so severe and intense that He should have died before He was even crucified. Yet, He withstood it because of you and me and whoever should believe in Him as the Son of God.
That’s not narrow…that’s not 5% that’s is clearly saying “Here I am! Believe in Me, Love Me, Follow Me! (Proverbs 14:27 and 16:25 -NABS) state “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death”
Do you truly think that God would have allowed that to occur had there been another way or a different way. What would have been the point of the death and resurrection of Christ had there been a different or alternate route?
You cite so many references that praise and point to Jesus Christ as the Savior of the World but then you turn in your thought to say for God to be a God of love and justice then there must not be an eternal hell.
But Ryan there is. Reread the books of Matthew and Mark. Read 2 Peter, you will see there is a distinct place of judgment and it is not a temporal one. Hell was created for Satan and His demons. It was never created for mankind. But God allowed us to have freewill and if we choose not to have Jesus as our Lord and Savior then we will be separated from God eternally. (Isaiah 59:20 NABS, Matthew 3:12 NAT, Matthew 13:49 NAT, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 NAT)
If two people were drowning and you tossed both of them life jackets and one grabbed it and put it on and was saved but the other refused it over and over and eventually drowned…could you be blamed? Was it your fault? No, it was the person’s choice to not accept your life saving help…and that is exactly what happens to many people in the world.
When I read your blog my heart was so saddened by your words. There is a Satan and he is trying to gain as many souls as he can. It is a spiritual war and it is not something you can take lightly. I wonder as I reread your blog if you have been blindly slightly by him. Isn’t it interesting that your Uncle in law had to have one to many in order to discuss this with you.
Isn’t it interesting that whether you admit it or not you are endorsing the behavior of “eat, drink and be merry” …after all it will only be a temporal judgment and eventually we’ll all get to heaven and be with Jesus and God.
You can not claim that “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6 NLT) but…..in case you missed it there will be a second chance coming along”. That’s now how it works and that’s not what the bible says.
Don’t diminish what Christ did on that cross for mankind, don’t diminish all that He had to endure while your name was on His mind and don’t diminish that God is just and infallible and we are a creation that is fallible and sinful. Had there been a different way our omnipotent, omniscient God would have declared so.
I know this is a long post and I know that many won’t like what I have to say…but that’s okay.
Being a Christian is not about popularity or being perfect but there does come a time when you need to stand up and speak.
I know this is rather long and you may not wish to post it. That’s okay. I just felt led to write to you. I wish you all the best and will continue to read your blog. You will be in my prayers and I definitely in my heart.
NOTE: If you are not a Christian, what follows may not interest you. Let the reader use discretion. -RMH
Christine: A couple of things that you wrote about stood out to me. First was you mentioned that 95% of man kind would go to hell and only 5% would make it into heaven. Where did you receive that statistic?
Ryan: The number is completely arbitrary. It could be 50/50 or whatever. Doesn’t really matter. The point I was trying to make is that most Christians believe and preach that millions of people are going to go to hell. (There are millions living in the 10/40 window right now who have never heard the name of Jesus.)
Christine: If you think that Satan is the winner then did you miss the passages where Christ says “It is finished” while on the cross (John 19:30 NAT) or when it is declared in Romans 6:9 (NAT) “that death no longer has any power”?
Ryan: Please read more critically, Christine. I don’t believe Satan is the winner. I suggested that *IF* a Christian believes millions will go to hell while only a few go to heaven, then Satan is the real winner. I personally don’t believe this; modern Christians do.
Christine: But you must be aware that most scholars and preachers do not use a translation such as The Message but rather NKJV, KJB, NASB, NIV and even NLT. To use “The Message” as an example is not truly accurate.
Ryan: Yes, I am aware. I was illustrating a point: translation matters. My point in no way suggests the Message is used by most preachers. (Although it is read widely by many Christians.)
Christine: Throughout your letter you reference that God is indeed a loving God and a just God. Yet, you question how He could be have those attributes if He passed judgment on those that did not receive His son as their savior.
Ryan: You must not have read my letter, Christine. I specifically said God would judge people. Judgment doesn’t diminish God’s loving character. I simply questioned how a loving God could condemn a person to eternal torture in hell. There is a big difference between judgment and eternal torture.
Christine: Do you think that every parent that has a wayward child is responsible for that child’s behavior?
Ryan: A parent is partly responsible for a child’s behavior, no matter if it is good or bad. Are you suggesting that how a parent raises a child has no impact on the child’s life?
Christine: God gave us freewill in which we have the right to “choose” whether we will walk with him in fellowship and accept his Son as the one and only road to Salvation or we can “choose” to turn from God and be separated from Him eternally. You can not blame God for giving us the freedom of choice. Nor can you blame Him for those individuals that “choose” not to live their lives as followers of Christ.
Ryan: It is clear we have a fundamental disagreement. I believe in the total sovereignty of God. I do not believe in free will. You speak of choice and boast that you have chosen correctly. But Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)
Christine: Have you ever played sports or participated in any kind of competition? At the end of the game you have to acknowledge the winner regardless if you are the winner or the loser.
Ryan: Paul says, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” I believe Paul is admonishing believers to do and be their best. I don’t believe it says anything about life being a game with winners and losers. If you interpret it this way, you must also conclude that only one person is going to make it into heaven.
Christine: I gather by your log is that you are suggesting that those that do not accept Jesus as the Son of God will spend “some” time in hell but then they will be reconciled to the cross? Then please tell me what was the point in Jesus’ suffering if there was another “way” to get to heaven?
Ryan: Yes, those who reject Jesus in this life will be judged, but eventually reconciled to God through Jesus. They will not be tortured for eternity. In other words, there is purpose to the judgment. The purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross was to redeem mankind. No man can be saved apart from Jesus. There is no other way. I simply believe what Jesus said was true: “‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.”
Christine: Do you truly think God the Father (or any father for that matter) would allow their son to be tortured? Let’s put reality where it is. Jesus Christ was tortured on the cross.
Ryan: I think you’re saying that God tortured his son Jesus. But I’m not sure what your point is here.
Christine: Do you truly think that God would have allowed that to occur had there been another way or a different way. What would have been the point of the death and resurrection of Christ had there been a different or alternate route?
Ryan: As I’ve already said, Jesus is the only way to be saved. There is no other way. We agree on this point. This is also plainly stated in my letter.
Christine: But Ryan there is [an eternal hell]. Reread the books of Matthew and Mark. Read 2 Peter, you will see there is a distinct place of judgment and it is not a temporal one. Hell was created for Satan and His demons. It was never created for mankind. But God allowed us to have freewill and if we choose not to have Jesus as our Lord and Savior then we will be separated from God eternally.
Ryan: I have read those books, and more than once. I do not find evidence for an eternal hell. It is a matter of mistranslation and misinterpretation. If you quote the story in Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus as evidence for hell (as many do), then you will also have to argue that heaven is literally in Abraham’s bosom. (For the record, I don’t believe the parable in Luke 16 has anything to do with hell.)
Christine: Isn’t it interesting that your Uncle in law had to have one to many in order to discuss this with you.
Ryan: This is your interpretation, Christine. He was not drunk, if that is what you are implying. One glass of wine can “loosen the tongue,” but one glass of wine will not make you drunk. I had many conversations with my uncle, not just one.
Christine: Isn’t it interesting that whether you admit it or not you are endorsing the behavior of “eat, drink and be merry”… after all it will only be a temporal judgment and eventually we’ll all get to heaven and be with Jesus and God.
Ryan: Did you really read the letter? Your statement is very assumptive, especially since I specifically address this perspective in the letter. Please refer to the very last paragraph in the letter, as well as the last link to the article, “If God Saves All, Then Why Serve Him?”
Christine: You can not claim that “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6 NLT) but… in case you missed it there will be a second chance coming along.” That’s now how it works and that’s not what the bible says.
Ryan: Based on your comments so far, I believe you’ve either misunderstood or rejected most of what I wrote. So I’m not sure anything I say will persuade you otherwise.
Christine: Don’t diminish what Christ did on that cross for mankind, don’t diminish all that He had to endure while your name was on His mind and don’t diminish that God is just and infallible and we are a creation that is fallible and sinful.
Ryan: I don’t diminish Jesus’ sacrifice in the least. Rather, I magnify it. His sacrifice was so complete that it covers all mankind, not Christians only. Praise God.
Ryan,
I’ve been coming to this same conclusion myself. The only thing we might disagree on is the terminology about hell. I believe that God corrects us, and that can include a hell, but I do not believe that it is permanent or even necessarily fiery (remember, satan has a fire burning inside of him. Burning from the inside-out. I’d consider that pretty hellish.). However, it all comes down to purifying the dross from the silver, not eternal damnation. I Corinthians 13:5.
That’s my thinking at this point.
Here’s a link that you might find interesting.
http://www.sigler.org/audio-pearson.htm
This guy caught all kinds of flack when he preached this sermon series. It’s too bad that too many believers are more concerned about protecting their belief system than they are for the Truth. They shall not know us by our systematic or institutional religion. They shall know us by our love.
- John
John - In the Bible, the Law is called the “fiery Law.” And the Holy Spirit is also compared to fire. In the New Testament, “tongues of fire” rested on the disciples’ heads at Pentecost.
So my belief is that the fire of God is not to torture, but to purify, just as Paul suggests.
Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Also, what is your basis for concluding that satan has a fire burning inside of him? Just curious.
Ryan
Ryan,
I agree with you that God’s fire is for correction/purification and not for torture. I did not mean to convey that I meant otherwise.
As for sigler.org, I don’t agree with everything on that site (it is a rather large site with lots of pages and both audio and text), but there is some good information on Christian Universalism there (which is different from Unitarianism, in case there is a question. They are not the same at all.). Have a look around on that site. You’ll likely find some other interesting information there.
As far as the reference to Satan burning on the inside, see Ezekiel 28:18. This passage is generally considered to be in reference to Satan, the fallen Lucifer, and, whether that burning is literal or figurative, it does give a rather unpleasant image of the state of his existence. Of course, the burning inside of him could be the same kind of burning that we feel inside of us when we resist the drawing and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You can think of it like a burning inside. The same? I don’t know, but I think the feeling could be similar. After all, our God is a consuming fire.
Just my two cents.
- John
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