I sent my husband a copy of the email to Ray, that Sandy posted, for his review and this is his reply:
Hello Paula,
I currently believe that the core Universalism Extortionist idea (all dogs go to heaven) is something that should be discussed and debated in Christendom however it should not be an issue we should divide over. From my perspective there are three sides to this coin.
Tails Side: If people have options after death then thats a pretty heavy subject to discuss and debate. With everything you and I have discussed to date, I am not persuaded to believe along these lines. I admit that I am not perfect and could be wrong however I work with the overwhelming information that I have to believe that this is not an option. I would suggest that you take a position that you could be wrong as well.
Heads Side: Most of Christendom currently believe that we do not have options after death. Because of that belief, it becomes a matter of life and death (spiritually speaking) that proper decisions for Christ are made and transacted before one dies.
Error Side: This is this logical side to all of this. If one did not know anything about God and his purposes and was, for the first time, told of all this with both lines of thought. a) That people who accept Jesus on this side will go to heaven and, b) the rest will go though a non-eternal hell fire AND then be welcomed into heaven. What do you suppose the average person would ultimately decide? I strongly believe that under these circumstances, MANY, would opt for the path of least resistance, selecting the Tails option and slide through life on the thought that they could reject Christ here, during their lifetime, but God will make them right sometime after they die. From a purely LOGICAL analysis, one will always have a nagging thought, what if I am wrong!!! Well, I contend that in these situations; if you were wrong with option Tails but selected Heads, Christ would welcome you into heaven. If however you choose option Tails and rejected Heads AND you were wrong, Christ would sadly inform you that He never knew you and have you eternally removed from his presence.
Hope this helps,
Tony