As Christians, we must be aware and willing to fight against the attacks that face the church body and the minds of new believers. The Bible countlessly warns against false teachers, prophets and doctrines. The whole gospel of John was written to combat the new movement of gnosticism that was rising up and declaring a false Jesus. There is a new movement now. A movement that smudges the bold lines of what is right and was is wrong. A movement where tolerating others' way of living is peace loving. Where moral convictions are antiquated and thought of as narrow-minded. Where there are absolutely no absolutes. Where a good person goes to heaven in their own way. Where a loving God would never send anyone to Hell.
It is because of this movement and because of the book Love Wins by Rob Bell that Francis Chan with Preston Sprinkle wrote the book Erasing Hell. Chan sincerely admits to his own struggles of believing that God sends people to Hell. He openly admits that this is a subject many Christians avoid because it is uncomfortable. Who wants to hear that nice old grammy didn't make it to Heaven because she didn't know Jesus? No one does. As we quickly turn the channel when a starving child is displayed on TV, we quickly turn the idea off that there is a place of utter doom and punishment for people that reject Jesus.
The book is basically a study on hell - what it is, where it is, who goes there, etc. He does go into the exegesis of many verses and explains a lot of the character of God. The book also spends a lot of time on the holiness of God. He also writes about the history of hell and universalism. This book has a very serious tone as it should.
Read the following verses out loud: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The feeling you have after reading and believing that, well that is what you feel throughout the whole book.
The book is easy to read and every Christian that struggles with the idea of Hell should read it. It is a book that stirs your spirit to proclaim the Good News, the Good News that we don't have to end up in Hell, that God provided a way for us to be with Him through Jesus.
Not all will like this book because of the truth in it. Who wants to read a book that condemns the majority of the human beings on this earth to a place of torment? But, nonetheless, it is a book worth reading.
The book does spend some time addressing the length of time a soul is in hell. Mr. Chan does mostly side that Hell is forever, but he does leave room for the reader to make up his or her mind regarding the length of people's torment in Hell.
I recommend this book to Christians of all maturity levels and to those who are toeing the idea of universalism.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
If you would like to order the book, click here.
Here is a video regarding the book.
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