What Does the Bible Really Say about Hell?

What Does the Bible Really Say about Hell?
Author: Randolph J. Klassen
Publisher: Pandora Press U.S.
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781931038027

Randy Klassen studies every significant reference to hell in the Bible, seeking an interpretation that both takes the Bible seriously as the very Word of God and harmonizes with the character of the God and "Abba" revealed through Jesus Christ.

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2021-03-23
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1501136747

Over half of Americans believe in a literal heaven, in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. Ehrman shows that eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament, and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. He recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. Ehrman shows that competing views were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. -- adapted from jacket

The Case for Heaven

The Case for Heaven
Author: Lee Strobel
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310358434

Bestselling and award-winning author Lee Strobel interviews experts about the evidence for the afterlife and offers credible answers to the most provocative questions about what happens when we die, near-death experiences, heaven, and hell. We all want to know what awaits us on the other side of death, but is there any reliable evidence that there is life after death? Investigative author Lee Strobel offers a lively and compelling study into one of the most provocative topics of our day. Through fascinating conversations with respected scholars and experts--a neuroscientist from Cambridge University, a researcher who analyzed a thousand accounts of near-death experiences, and an atheist-turned-Christian-philosopher--Strobel offers compelling reasons for why death is not the end of our existence but a transition to an exciting world to come. Looking at biblical accounts, Strobel unfolds what awaits us after we take our last breath and answers questions like: Is there an afterlife? What is heaven like? How will we spend our time there? And what does it mean to see God face to face? With a balanced approach, Strobel examines the alternative of Hell and the logic of damnation, and gives a careful look at reincarnation, universalism, the exclusivity claims of Christ, and other issues related to the topic of life after death. With vulnerability, Strobel shares the experience of how he nearly died years ago and how the reality of death can shape our lives and faith. Follow Strobel on this journey of discovery of the entirely credible, believable, and exhilarating life to come.

Rethinking Hell

Rethinking Hell
Author: Christopher M. Date
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2014-04-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630871605

Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

Heaven & Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach?

Heaven & Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach?
Author: United Church of God
Publisher: United Church of God
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2011-11-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0557682290

Most people believe the Bible teaches that we will go to either heaven or hell at death. They might be surprised at what it really says! -- Inside this booklet: -- The Biblical Truth About the Immortal Soul -- The History of the Immortal-Soul Teaching -- The Spirit in Man -- Will a Loving God Punish People Forever in Hell? -- Lazarus and the Rich Man: Proof of Heaven and Hell? -- Are Some Tortured Forever in a Lake of Fire? -- Will the Torment of the Wicked Last Forever? -- Does the Bible Speak of Hellfire That Lasts Forever? -- Is Heaven God's Reward for the Righteous? -- Ancient Pagan Belief in Heaven -- Paul's Desire to "Depart and Be With Christ" -- Did Elijah Go to Heaven? -- Was Enoch Taken to Heaven? -- The Thief on the Cross -- Are There Saved Human Beings in Heaven? -- The Resurrection: God's Promise of Life After Death -- Your Awesome Future

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut
Author: Brad Jersak
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630871281

Everlasting hell and divine judgment, a lake of fire and brimstone--these mainstays of evangelical tradition have come under fire once again in recent decades. Would the God of love revealed by Jesus really consign the vast majority of humankind to a destiny of eternal, conscious torment? Is divine mercy bound by the demands of justice? How can anyone presume to know who is saved from the flames and who is not? Reacting to presumptions in like manner, others write off the fiery images of final judgment altogether. If there is a God who loves us, then surely all are welcome into the heavenly kingdom, regardless of their beliefs or behaviors in this life. Yet, given the sheer volume of threat rhetoric in the Scriptures and the wickedness manifest in human history, the pop-universalism of our day sounds more like denial than hope. Mercy triumphs over judgment; it does not skirt it. Her Gates Will Never Be Shut endeavors to reconsider what the Bible and the Church have actually said about hell and hope, noting a breadth of real possibilities that undermines every presumption. The polyphony of perspectives on hell and hope offered by the prophets, apostles, and Jesus humble our obsessive need to harmonize every text into a neat theological system. But they open the door to the eternal hope found in Revelation 21-22: the City whose gates will never be shut; where the Spirit and Bride perpetually invite the thirsty who are outside the city to "Come, drink of the waters of life."

Four Views on Hell

Four Views on Hell
Author: John F. Walvoord
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2010-08-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310872375

Most contemporary Christians acknowledge the doctrine of hell, but they’d rather not think about how God punishes the wicked. The authors of Four Views on Hell meet this subject head-on with different views on what the Scriptures say. Is hell to be understood literally as a place of eternal smoke and flames? Or are such images simply metaphors for a real but different form of punishment? Is there such a thing as “conditional immortality,” in which God annihilates the souls of the wicked rather than punishing them endlessly? Is there a Purgatory, and if so, how does it fit into the picture? The interactive Counterpoints forum allows the reader to see the four views on hell—literal, metaphorical, conditional, and purgatorial—in interaction with each other. Each view in turn is presented, critiqued, and defended. This evenhanded approach is ideal for comparing and contrasting views in order to form a personal conclusion about one of Christianity’s key doctrines. The Counterpoints series provides a forum for comparison and critique of different views on issues important to Christians. Counterpoints books address two categories: Church Life and Bible and Theology. Complete your library with other books in the Counterpoints series.

The Formation of Hell

The Formation of Hell
Author: Alan E. Bernstein
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 150171175X

What becomes of the wicked? Hell—exile from God, subjection to fire, worms, and darkness—for centuries the idea has shaped the dread of malefactors, the solace of victims, and the deterrence of believers. Although we may associate the notion of hell with Christian beliefs, its gradual emergence depended on conflicting notions that pervaded the Mediterranean world more than a millennium before the birth of Christ. Asking just why and how belief in hell arose, Alan E. Bernstein takes us back to those times and offers us a comparative view of the philosophy, poetry, folklore, myth, and theology of that formative age.Bernstein draws on sources from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and Israel, as well as early Christian writings through Augustine, in order to reconstruct the story of the prophets, priests, poets, and charismatic leaders who fashioned concepts of hell from an array of perspectives on death and justice. The author traces hell's formation through close readings of works including the epics of Homer and Vergil, the satires of Lucian, the dialogues of Plato and Plutarch, the legends of Enoch, the confessions of the Psalms, the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezechiel, and Daniel, and the parables of Jesus. Reenacting lively debates about the nature of hell among the common people and the elites of diverse religious traditions, he provides new insight into the social implications and the psychological consequences of different visions of the afterlife.This superb account of a central image in Western culture will captivate readers interested in history, mythology, literature, psychology, philosophy, and religion.

All Things New

All Things New
Author: Peter Hiett
Publisher:
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2019-09-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781691567690

In several places, Scripture testifies to the idea that there is a reality in which everything is very good (Gen. 1:31); a reality in which all things are made new (Rev. 21:5); where "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them," praises God and the Lamb that was slain (Rev. 5:13); a place where Jesus, the Light, fills all things (Eph. 4:10 ) and every knee bows and every tongue gives praise (Rom.14:11, Phil. 2:10-11, Isa. 45:23). Well, if that's the case-and Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35)-then where the hell is Hell? I mean, how do we reconcile Scripture with "popular" notions of "Hell" ...an endless Hell?That question comes as a surprise for many; for we've been told that the popular view of Hell-a place where God tortures people or allows people to be tortured forever without end-is a biblical idea. The more I've studied it, the more I've become convinced that this "doctrine" is a very unbiblical idea... perhaps it's even a satanic idea.In the following pages, I'd like to just offer some assistance in constructing this new mental paradigm-a biblical paradigm that allows for an eternal day in which everything is good. In the first section, "Exegetical Paradigms," I'll examine the three leading views of Hell in light of Scripture and offer a set of ideas that has led me to embrace the idea of redemption for all. In the next section, "Theology," I'll suggest a few ways in which the idea of redemption for all may relate to one's current theological system. In the last section, "Pastoral Care," I'll suggest some reasons as to why I think all of this matters.-Peter Hiett

Erasing Hell

Erasing Hell
Author: Francis Chan
Publisher: David C Cook
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0781407257

Addressing a variety of views on hell, the Bible, and the character of God, offers an eloquent response to the recent media storm surrounding questions of eternal destiny.