POPULAR MEDIA TOOK NOTE RECENTLY when one of film’s most recognized and celebrated stars passed away. As a successful actress since the age of three, Elizabeth Taylor had virtually defined Hollywood’s Golden Age, embodying an image of beauty for a generation of moviegoers. In later years, even though her many marriages became fodder for late-night talk show hosts, she became well-known for her humanitarian work on behalf of HIV and AIDS victims.
Sinner and saint, convert to Judaism, Taylor likely never professed faith in Jesus Christ. Dare one ask: Is she in hell now?
Two months later, the world’s most notorious terrorist leader was killed by a team of U.S. operatives in suburban Abbottabad, Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden had eluded capture for nearly a decade, issuing periodic threats against Israel and the West by tapes leaked to Middle East news outlets. As the founder of Al Qaeda, his criminal résumé included numerous mass-casualty attacks, including the 9/11 plane crashes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
Reviled and revered, a spokesperson for radical Islam, Bin Laden likely never professed faith in Jesus Christ. Is he in heaven now?
Asking such questions about people’s eternal destinies tends to make most of us uncomfortable. Even more so, perhaps, when talking about those closer to home — a beloved relative, a former coworker or business associate, a longtime friend of the family. As the opening chapter of this book will show, looking too closely into someone’s fate after death is, today, considered tasteless at best. At worst, it can appear hateful.
A book entitled Who Goes There? A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell found that our culture’s outlook on the afterlife has evolved to the point where most now assume that the majority of people end up in a place or state of eternal bliss. Only a very few—the Pol Pots and Hitlers, the child molesters and pyramid-scheme architects — are thought to be elsewhere.
It comes as no surprise, then, that traditional Christian teaching on hell is under fire. The very idea of eternal, conscious torment for those apart from God runs in opposition to much of what the modern world values. So, too, does a wrathful God and any talk of judgment. So what are Christians to think?
Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven?
Contributors: Timothy Keller, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., J.I. Packer, Robert W. Yarbrough. – General Editors: Christopher W. Morgan, Robert A. Peterson. – Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. – 112 p.
ISBN 978-0-310-49462-1
Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? – Contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Preface
- Chapter One Is Hell for Real?
- R. Albert Mohler Jr.
- Chapter Two What Jesus Said About Hell
- Robert W. Yarbrough
- Chapter Three Three Pictures of Hell
- Christopher W. Morgan
- Chapter Four Three Perspectives On Hell
- Robert A. Peterson
- Chapter Five Does Everyone Go to Heaven
- J. I. Packer
- Appendix Preaching Hell In a Tolerant
- Timothy Keller
- Conclusion Christopher W. Morgan and
- Notes
- Further Reading
- Contributors
- About the Authors
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
- Share Your Thoughts
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