IS HELL FOR REAL?
And other questions about judgment, eternity
and the God of love
By Erik Raymond
The Good Book Company. 96 pages. £3.99
ISBN 978 1 784 980 689
This little book, written by Erik Raymond, is the latest in the series Questions Christians Ask. It seeks to clearly outline the Bible’s teaching on hell and judgment in a simple and accessible style.
If you are looking for a short, easy-to-read book that seeks to explain the biblical basis for one particular view on hell (often referred to as eternal conscious torment) then this book will be helpful.
Raymond acknowledges the profoundly personal questions that hell raises – and is willing to tackle these head on. However, there are two concerns that I have about his responses in this book.
Misrepresentation?
The first is the way the author responds to other views about hell. (Annihilationism is the view that an experience of hell is finite; Universalism is the view that ultimately all people will be saved.)
While it is understandable that the book will want to defend the author’s own position on the subject, I fear it misrepresents these other views. It is not true that other views on hell are relatively modern inventions – there is plenty of evidence that they were widely held in the early church, until the time of Augustine.
It is also not true that Christian Universalists believe that all people will be saved regardless of repentance or faith in Jesus. (Rather, they hold that there is the possibility of repentance after death). Indeed, it is not necessarily true that people who hold to other views have simply allowed their own emotions to override the authority of Scripture.
Motivation to evangelism?
Secondly, while I accept that the book is primarily written for Christians, (as the series’ title implies) it would do little to help Christians articulate this belief to their friends who are not. In fact, it seems that, far from being a motivator to evangelism, such a view on hell can actually be a big hindrance.
I would have liked to have seen more of a response to the emotionally-based objections that both Christians and unbelievers hold, and a better explanation of why God’s judgment is actually a necessarily good thing, in light of the evil and injustice of our world.
