A review by alisarae
Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up by Francis Chan, Preston M. Sprinkle
4.0
This book is an explicit response to Love Wins by Rob Bell (I haven't read it), and it's quite good at meeting its objectives. At any rate, people don't go to hell for not believing in hell.
It would be much better if people would just say, "I know what the Bible teaches and I simply don't believe that part," than trying to stretch the words and ignore the context of passages to match up with their beliefs. At least Chan says (repeatedly...) that he wishes that there was no hell but he can't ignore what Jesus said. He also rightly says that "it is incredibly arrogant to pick and choose which incomprehensible truths we embrace."
I have always admired Chan and his contributions to contemporary Christianity. This is an accessible book that takes a systematic look at the theology of hell, and would be appropriate for both Christians and non-Christians who are honestly wondering what the Bible teaches about it.
It would be much better if people would just say, "I know what the Bible teaches and I simply don't believe that part," than trying to stretch the words and ignore the context of passages to match up with their beliefs. At least Chan says (repeatedly...) that he wishes that there was no hell but he can't ignore what Jesus said. He also rightly says that "it is incredibly arrogant to pick and choose which incomprehensible truths we embrace."
I have always admired Chan and his contributions to contemporary Christianity. This is an accessible book that takes a systematic look at the theology of hell, and would be appropriate for both Christians and non-Christians who are honestly wondering what the Bible teaches about it.