Hell - A Final Word

The Surprising Truths I Found in the Bible

Edward William Fudge

• Publisher: Leafwood Publishers
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9780891127703
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Today, hell is a front-burner topic, thanks to media attention stirred by mega-pastors Rob Bell, Francis Chan, and others. But, between the sxtremes of universal salvation and everlasting torment, there shines a third view, known as annihilationism or conditional immortality, claiming the most biblical support of all. Now the man whose 500-page book, The Fire That Consumes, helped ignite the scholarly debate thirty years ago brings this exciting alternative viewpoint to the everyday reader in simple form. And--the story behind the book is now the subject of a feature film, "Hell and Mr. Fudge," due to releaswe in theatres in 2012 (and starring Mackenzie Astin and Kerri Lynn Pratt; see www.hellandmrfudge.com.While relating his own personal journey in understanding the nature of hell, Fudge leads the reder through the whole Bible to see what we have missed, then through church history to understand the origin of the other two views. Here are the basics: Life is short. Death is sure. Judgement is certain. Hell is real. And when John 3:16 says the options are eternal life or perish, we can take that at face value.At the end of the world, the good and bad aloke are raised to face judgement. The righteous enjoy eternal life with God; the lost are sentenced to hell. But the God who gave his Son to die for sinners does not keep them alive forever to torment them without end. Instead, those in hell suffer such precise pains as divine justice may require, in a process that ends in extinction. This is the second death, the wages of sin. Eternal punishment is eternal destruction.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• My invitation to you
• 1 Hell fire and hell fear
• 2 Enlarging the conversation
• 3 A primer on hell
• 4 Which hell do we mean?
• 5 Tough minds and tender hearts
• 6 Who goes to hell?
• 7 Will Davy burn forever?
• 8 Can we even talk about justice?
• 9 A nerdy kid and his courses
• 10 Exciting to walk by faith
• 11 The bottom falls out
• 12 An offer too good to refuse
• 13 A research project begins
• 14 Surprising pictures of divine justice
• 15 Two surprising previews
• 16 Prophetic Surprises: Broken pottery & battlefield victims
• 17 Prophetic Surprises: Unburied bodies
• 18 Prophetic Surprises: Total burnup
• 19 Four centuries
• 20 The Apocrypha
• 21 Rabbis, scrolls, and not-reallys
• 22 What did jesus actually say?
• 23 Why can’t words mean what they say?
• 24 Surprise: Perish and destroy can mean just that
• 25 Surprise: Teeth gnashing means anger, not pain
• 26 Surprise: Talking not the same as doing
• 27 Eternal punishment
• 28 Eternal (capital) punishment
• 29 Surprise: Eternal fire destroys forever
• 30 The Rich man and Lazarus (1)
• 31 The Rich man and Lazarus (2)
• 32 James, the brother of jesus
• 33 Where did hell go in the book of Acts?
• 34 Peter’s preaching of judgment
• 35 Paul’s preaching of judgment
• 36 Paul’s writings
• 37 Hebrews: Traitors beware
• 38 Beware of counterfeits: 2 Peter & Jude
• 39 John: Life or death
• 40 The lake of fire introduced
• 41 Unholy trio meet the lake of fire
• 42 Death and Hades annihilated
• 43 The lake of fire is human second death
• 44 Personal struggle
• 45 Refreshing our memories
• 46 Tertullian: Plato joins the church
• 47 Connecting the dots
• 48 Providential— Press and more
• 49 Doors open for the word
• 50 An evangelical climate change
• 51 By the greater weight
• For further study
• A most surprising quiz on hell
• Check your answers by the bible
• Endnotes