Annihilationism & Universalism

So we were recently learning in College about these two beliefs that exist within the Christian church, and they've been going back and forth in my head. Now universalism seems easy to dispute, because if everyone does in fact end up at heaven in the end whether they come to Christ in this lifetime or not, then surely it makes Jesus an immoral liar, bluffing people into the Kingdom of God with scary stories of torment in hell. It also renders our evangelism and outreach useless, as living a salvation lifestyle for the benefit of others doesn't make a difference: they are already saved. Annihilationism is slightly harder to combat. In fact it is far preferable for those who have had friends and family pass away without salvation to think that in Hell they are destroyed rather than punished. But again this belief conflicts with scriptural text (Mark 9:46-48, 12:38-40 etc). Now I do not think that the images we are given in the Bible of hell are to be taken literally; they are offered in such a way that humans can apply understanding to something that is outside our own world. But it still seems clear that these views are not how Christians are meant to percieve salvation and life after death.

The point where it becomes difficult however is when we think about why these beliefs originated in the first place. The problem people of these faiths have is that to our eyes it is morally unfair to punish someone infinitely on the grounds of finite sins that occured in this lifetime. It doesn't seem to measure up. Furthermore it seems strange that when God has conquered evil and has emerged victorious after the final chapters of the story, that He will install a place of torture and suffering in the new ordered Kingdom. It seems incompatible with the God of Love.

I have thought about this problem at some length over the last while, and I am still no closer to a conclusion.

While it seems sometimes to be the Christian's cop-out answer, I guess I have to lay my faith in the fact that God's sense of love and justice is far greater than my own. My love is based on personal relationship, trust and such human concepts as these, while the love we talk about with God is a totally different thing, something far beyond my own understanding. Perhaps a place of infinite punishment clashes with my idea of justice purely because my idea of justice is plagued by human emotion.

For example, if a close friend of mine is killed, I would see justice being done in the killer paying for his action. Now, does that justice have to be wrought upon the killer himself? If someone else paid the life sentence in prison (as Christ paid our sentence) would I see justice as being done? Of course not! I would want the one resposible to be held accountable. But God does not see the world in this way. While I may not understand it, if God is willing to account for mankinds sin by allowing someone else to suffer for it, then His sense of judgement and righteous suffering is far different from my own. And if I truly accept that God is Lord of earth and has saved me by His grace, then I must be willing to accept that His view is to be trusted, not my own.