What About the Very Evil?

Pedophiles, serial killers, and mass murders like Hitler – will they be reconciled to God?

Max Lucado asks, “Why are drug dealers allowed to get filthy rich? Why do sex offenders get off? Why do fakes get elected? Murderers get out? Cheaters get by? Crooks get in? Hypocrites get chosen?”

When discussing Universal Reconciliation, I am always asked questions like, “What about men like Hitler?” The thought of the very evil “getting off” offends the deep-rooted feeling that justice should prevail. The human impulse to make perpetrators of violence and crimes against children pay for their actions is a strong one.

The notion of a final reckoning, however, isn’t a popular one. Some see Judgement Day narratives, as typically presented by the church, a cruel teaching that is not consistent with a loving and benevolent God.

Certainly there needs to be a balancing, a time to answer for what we’ve done in this life. If there isn’t a judgement waiting for the Hitlers, Dahmers, and Epsteins of this world, then we fall into Nihilism and all of life is meaningless.

Yale Theologian, Miroslav Volf, a Croatian who has witnessed the violence in the Balkans had this to say:

“If God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make a final end to violence – that God would not be worthy of worship… The only means of prohibiting all recourse to violence by ourselves is to insist that violence is legitimate only when it comes from God…In a sun-scorched land soaked with the blood of the innocent, [the belief in a God that will judge is what keeps those who have suffered horrendous and senseless loss from taking vengeance from the hand of its rightful owner, God Himself].”¹

So, if the pedophiles, serial killers, and tyrant mass murders of our world receive a sentence of eternal torment in hell, are the unrepentant guilty of lesser transgressions sentenced to a prorated internment and subjected to torment that is not quite as excruciating? If the truly wicked are a thousand times worse than the rest, do the rest suffer 1/1,000^th the sentence? A fraction of eternity, no matter how small, is still an eternity.

Jesus, in Luke 12:47-48, described a situation where a servant, knowing his master’s will, yet didn’t act in accordance with it, would be beaten with many stripes. However, another servant, not knowing his master’s will and committing things worthy of stripes, would be beaten with few stripes.

The very fact that some are beaten with many and others beaten with few stripes points to a corrective event rather than a punitive one and completely leaves out the notion of eternity. Will there be those who are forever beaten with few stripes?

We could discuss the absurdity of forever well into the wee hours of the morning and when it is all said and done, we would be no closer to a resolution than we are now. But Jeremiah said:

For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

Lamentations 3:31-32

God is worthy of our trust. He has a plan and a purpose that was put into play long before the ages began. This plan is just, as it includes the Lake of Fire, a corrective action only for as long as is necessary, not a punitive one that lasts forever. His plan is created out of love, so it includes mercy, reconciliation, and righteousness. I think some of this plan can be ferreted out of the posts on this site. I wonder if you will prayerfully consider what the Biblical Universalist has to say.

God is merciful and He is just.

¹Volf, Miroslav, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Oneness, and Reconciliation, Nashville: Abington Press, ©1996, pp. 303-304