Erasing Hell

What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up

Francis Chan, Preston M. Sprinkle

• Publisher: David C Cook
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780781407533
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

How could a loving God send people to hell? Will people have a chance after they die to believe in Jesus and go to heaven?

With a humble respect for God's Word, Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle address the deepest questions you have about eternal destiny. They've asked the same questions. Like you, sometimes they just don't want to believe in hell. But as they write, "We cannot afford to be wrong on this issue."

This is not a book about who is saying what. It's a book about what God says. It's not a book about impersonal theological issues. It's a book about people who God loves. It's not a book about arguments, doctrine, or being right. It's a book about the character of God.

Erasing Hell will immerse you in the truth of Scripture as, together with the authors, you find not only the truth but the courage to live it out.

Chapter 1

Does Everyone Go to Heaven?

Does everyone go to heaven?

Based on what I hear at funerals, the answer is an overwhelming “Yes!” How many funerals have you attended where this was even in question?

What we need to do is get down to what the Bible says about the matter. Questions about heaven and hell are too important to leave to our feelings or assumptions. But before we examine the biblical answers to these things, we have to settle an important question.

Do you want to believe in a God who shows His power by punishing non-Christians and who magnifies His mercy by blessing Christians forever?

Do you want to? Be honest.

Do you want to believe in a God like this? Here’s my gut-level, honest answer:

No.

No way. I have family and friends who reject Jesus. I do not want to believe in a God who punishes non-Christians. Okay, maybe He should punish extremely wicked people—that makes some sense. But punishment in hell for seemingly good people, or those who simply chose the wrong religion? That feels a bit harsh, at least according to my sense of justice.

But let me ask you another question. Could you?

Could you believe in a God who decides to punish people who don’t believe in Jesus? A God who wants to show His power by punishing those who don’t follow His Son?

Now that’s a different question, isn’t it? You may not recognize the difference immediately, but read them again and you’ll see that these two questions—do you want to? versus could you?—are actually miles apart.

The problem is that we often respond to the second question because of our response to the first. In other words, because there are things that we don’t want to believe about God, we therefore decide that we can’t believe them.

Let me be more specific and personal. I want everyone to be saved. I do. I don’t want anyone to go to hell. The fact is, I would love for all people to stand before Christ on judgment day and have a chance to say, “They were right all along, Jesus. You really are the Savior. I am so sorry for not believing in You before, but I believe now. Can I have a second chance?”

I want to believe in a God who will save everyone in the end.

But is this what God says He will do? Do the Scriptures teach this? Despite what we may want to believe, we’ve got to figure out what God told us to believe in His Word. That’s what this chapter is all about. We’re going to tackle the question: Does the Bible say that everyone will be saved in the end?

Universalism: A Brief Survey

Throughout history, some Christians have not only wanted God to save everyone but have gone on to argue that the Bible says He will. This view is called Universalism.1 The most famous proponent of Universalism was an early church leader named Origen (ca. AD 185–254), who seemed to teach this, though his views were very complex and not always consistent.2 Origen’s beliefs were later deemed heretical,3 but this didn’t stop others from embracing the view that everyone will be saved—though advocates were always a minority. In fact, for over 1,600 years, hardly any major theologians argued that everyone will be saved. This all began to change in the 1800s, when several thinkers resurrected Origen’s beliefs and put them back on the table. Today, there are a growing number of confessing Christians who reflect in one way or another the views of Origen on matters of salvation and the afterlife. Even some evangelicals, such as Thomas Talbott and Gregory MacDonald, have argued that God will end up saving everyone in the end.4

Most recently, author Rob Bell finds this view compelling. With creativity and wit, he sets forth a similar position, though he avoids the label Universalism. Nevertheless, Bell suggests that every single person will embrace Jesus—if not in this life, then certainly in the next.5 He writes:

At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most “depraved sinners” will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.6

It’s important to understand that Universalism comes in many shapes and sizes. This is why we have to be careful about slapping the label Universalist on people who say that everyone will end up being saved. The term Universalist is about as specific as the term Baptist. If you call someone a Baptist, all you’ve said is that they don’t baptize babies—beyond this, it’s pretty much up for grabs. In the same way, all Universalists believe that everyone will end up being saved, but this belief is expressed in a variety of ways.

For instance, there are non-Christian Universalists. Sometimes called Pluralists, these people believe that Jesus is one of many ways to salvation. Pluralists believe that all religions present equally valid ways of salvation—Christianity is simply one among many.

Then there are Christian Universalists, some of whom call themselves hopeful Universalists. They believe that Christ is the only way, but they hold out hope that God will end up saving everyone through Christ in the end. But they go beyond simply hoping this will happen (don’t we all?). They’re hopeful, and they see strong biblical support for this view, though their view is often tempered with caution.

The least cautious Christian Universalists call themselves dogmatic Universalists. Like the previous group, they believe that Christ is the only way, but they go a bit further and say that the Bible clearly teaches that all will be saved. They find the view not just possible, but the most probable: They believe that the Bible clearly teaches that all will be saved through Jesus in the end.

It’s important, then, to understand that Christian Universalists (hopeful and dogmatic) believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone. There’s nothing untraditional about this. The difference is that they believe people will have another chance (or many chances) after death to believe in Jesus and be saved.

Universalism in the Bible

But how do they arrive at these views? As attractive as this position is, does anything in the Bible support the idea that God will end up saving everyone?

Maybe. At first glance, some passages seem to support the notion that everyone will be saved. But after taking a closer look, it doesn’t appear that they do. We don’t have time or space to cover every passage used to support Christian Universalism, so we’ll take a look at a few of the big ones: Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Timothy 2, and Revelation 21. We’ll then conclude by looking at what the Bible says about choosing Jesus after we die.

Every Knee Will Bow

If you were on a deserted island and you uncorked an empty bottle containing Philippians 2:9–11, you would probably be a Universalist. After talking about Christ’s humble life, death, and resurrection, Paul says:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The key phrase here is “every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (vv. 10–11). By itself, this could mean that every single individual who ever lived will embrace Jesus—if not in this life, then surely in the next.

But all we would need is for the rest of the Philippian letter to float ashore in order to see that Philippians 2:9–11 doesn’t teach universal salvation. In Philippians 1:28, Paul says that those who oppose the gospel will face “destruction,” while those who embrace it will be saved. There’s a contrast here between believers and unbelievers; each have very different destinies. In Philippians 3:19, Paul refers to the enemies of Christ whose “end is destruction,” while followers of Jesus look forward to resurrection and glory (3:20–21). Once more, there’s a contrast. A contrast between believers and unbelievers and their individual destinies (note the word end in 3:19), which follow the decisions they make in this life.

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