A straw man argument often used against Universal Reconciliation is that it somehow denies freewill. The truth is that the Church fathers who argued for universal salvation did so on the basis of free will. The argument was that there is no rational reason to hate God, to choose evil over good, or to choose eternal torment over endless joy. If torment is really torment, it would be irrational for "free moral agents" to choose to remain in that condition forever (and to choose to do so, they would have to really hate God--which is also irrational.) Gregory of Nyssa would say that given enough time, all free moral agents must eventually chose good over evil. I believe he was right. It seems that to maintain a belief in eternal torment, one must either maintain that God strips those in hell of their rational free will, that those in hell eventually adjust to their condition--hell becoming not so bad after awhile, or that God Himself vindictively torments the damned forever. I've seen those who believe in eternal torment take all three positions, and all three deny some truth of scripture. A universalist can believe that hell is really hot, and stays that way for the duration of one's stay there. He can also believe that God is truly a God of Love, that all of us are truly free moral agents (in the sense of having our own wiils, and being able to learn from our mistakes), and that God never strips us of our free will.
Another straw man argument used against universalism is that we don’t believe in hell, or that our view implies that it doesn’t make any difference how we live our lives. These questions are answered well on Bishop Carlton Pearson’s FAQ page:
[FAQ’s]For some people Hell is simply the consequences of their actions here on earth. A person who spends every day getting drunk, will ruin their health, marriage, family and career; they will make their lives a living Hell. But that still falls far short of the chronic alcoholic being condemned by a just God to literally burn in Hell forever and ever. For others it may very well be that the punishment merited by their sins is greater than what they receive in this life. For those people perhaps there will be some kind of punishment after death, but we believe that it will be remedial and corrective rather than just punishment for punishment's sake… Sin will cost you. Sin is still Sin, still wrong, still a bad idea and not what you want to do. Sin will destroy you, your family, your finances, your health and more. Don't sin. You will regret it…Be reunited with God now, rather than after you have put yourself (and those you love) through Hell.
http://www.inclusion.ws/
Perhaps the most common straw man used against the teaching of universal salvation is that the Bible teaches eternal punishment. Here is the answer to that (from Prof. Keith DeRose, of Yale University):
The Greek adjective (and its cognates) that our English Bibles translate as "eternal" or "everlasting" (and their cognates), literally means "age-enduring" or "pertaining to an age", and can be used in such a way that it does not imply endless duration.
http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/univ.htm
God bless.
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