This is a book of essays about hell. It is edited by Stanley N. Gundry, series editor and Preston Sprinkle, general editor. Four contributors wrote all the essays in this book. They are Denny Burk, John G. Stackhouse Jr., Robin A. Perry, and Jerry L. Walls. This book is the Second EDition of the earliest edition of this book The ditors open up by citing which Bibles were used for each of the essays. One of the editors begins this book with the Introduction, preparing the reader for what's to come and making it clear that despite diverse views, each of the contributors believes in hell and the Bible. Each of the contributors writes an essay. Each of these essays contains the written responses of the other three contributors to the main essay. One of the editors ends with a conclusion of thoughts and reflections on all that has been written. A Scripture index follows. It is followed by the subject index. That was concluded by an author index.
Hell is never a pleasant or comfortable topic. I know. Once, the topic of hell almost came up in a group. The small group leader responded by saying, "We won't go there." Yet Jesus "went there" in His teachings. Even in the Christian community, Christians disagree about the extent of the terrors of hell. In this book, I was introduced to the concept of purgatory for sanctfied beievers who still need to be purged of indwelling sin. That is, purgatory for sanctfication purposes. I have never, once in my life, recall hearing about purgatory for sanctification purposes. I know that there is a first time for everything! In this book, the Christian universalism view was also new to me. The contributor clearly respects the Bible and believes in hell but holds that all people will be ultimately brought to saving faith. His views were most desirable and comforting, but like the Christian purgatory view, I honestly can't find much Scripture back-up for their views. There are quite a few verses that suggest that after a period of time in hell. people will no longer exist. So the Christian annihilationist view is plausible and more appealing than eternal conscious torment. Unfortunately, I had to admit that the eternal conscious torment view seems to be closest to the Bible and this isn't because this is my preference. I can't remember the last time I heard about hell being preached on from the pulpit of a pastor. I can understand that this is an uncomfortable and depressing topic. I like how this book explores all aspects of this topic by including four poitnts of view. As suggested in the introduction, I tried to read all the essays with an open mind. My conclusion is that we can make the Bible say anything to fit our own ideas and preferences. We can do this if we take verses out of context. The bible is meant to be read as a whole. I finished this book with my view of hell unchanged. But I can see how sincere Christians can believe in Christianized forms of annihilationism, purgatory, and universalism. Hell is such a disturbing teaching that we're tempted to soften it as much as possible.
This book doesn't have broad appeal. I do recommend it for pastors, who need to be convinced in their minds about hell so they will be empowered to preach on it. I recommend this book for seminary students so they will enter their callings with their views of hell solidified. This book should be required reading in all Christian colleges and universities. As hell isn't preached on from many pulpits, college and university students in Christian colleges need to be informed about this topic. I don't recommend this book for new believers or for unbelievers. They may become confused or misled.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review of this book.
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