I was going to post this review on the If A Tree Falls in the Forest... thread, but becaue of it's length and possible interest to others, gave it it's own thread.
Enjoy!
Wow. Great review!
"The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him--for we can prevent Him, if we choose--He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said." (Mere Christianity, pp.174-75)
Behold, the Lords hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. Isa 59:1
I thought the author was heading in the right direction. Believing in universal salvation is simply a cunning way of saying everyone COULD go to Heaven. Mans in control and does the saving by reducing our salvation experience to some sort of intellectual decision. It nullifies grace.
This is not what the scriptures tells us and, as was point out by the author, this is not what the early church believed.
BTW-Several of these universal points I have read from Christians on this site.