Lutherans are Universalists

A few years before my father died at age 93 he asked me what we Lutherans believe about heaven. This is from a man who grew me up in the Lutheran church. I told him that I really didn't know but would find out. I read Sittler, Luther, Robert Marshall, Martin Marty and others and the real answer is that we Lutherans have no idea if there is a heaven.

I go to church assemblies and meetings a lot. A while ago, I began a very unscientific survey of pastors.When I meet new people, especially pastors, I will introduce myself and then ask,"pastor, I believe Lutherans are Universalists. What do you believe?"

In the 10 or so years I have been doing this, nine out of ten pastors I meet agree  that Lutherans are universalists. With enthusiasm.

In the early 2000's, Lutheran theologian, Walter Bouman, was the scholar in residence at my church in Houston. Naturally, I asked Walter this question and he equivocated saying that he really didn't know but he lived in the trust that there is a heaven but could not say who got into heaven.

Then in 2005, Walter was diagnosed with terminal cancer and wrote an open letter to the church which was published in the November issue of The Lutheran. I have included it at the top of this blog. This wonderful letter from Walter to all of us contains much needed advice and you will note that in his dying days, Walter came to accept God's Universal Salvation.

Joseph Sittler writes:

The Bible really has nothing to say about eternal life. That sounds like a shocking statement, but it's literally true: there is not a single clear and concrete word in the Bible about life after death. It affirms that life with God is life with that which does not die. But any specification about life after death is steadily avoided by the biblical writers. 


Paul made an effort to address the question, but it's a bum effort: 'What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernal, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals , another for birds, and another for fish.' (1 Cor: 15: 36-39) He tries by natural analogy to say something. Interestingly, he never tried it again.