Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle
I really wanted to be interested in this book, but man. I have to admit, it left me feeling uninspired and bored.
I read Rob Bell's controversial offering Love Wins a few years ago. I was totally fired up about how much I disagreed with pretty much everything in it, so when I heard Francis Chan had written an "answer" book, I added it to my to-read list. And then promptly waited 3 years to pick it up.
To be fair, I wasn't a fan of Chan's Crazy Love, either. He's a big user of flowery prayers and conversational bro-isms, and it just doesn't do much for me. I do agree with his assertion that Bell's universalist theory -- no one will ever go to hell, and in fact, Hell the place doesn't exist -- is absolutely, 100% incorrect, but I feel this book does little to answer any questions. It's a lot of "we can gather from this passage that Jesus meant..." or "we don't know much about the customs of the time, but scholars do think that...", but no concrete answers.
And I get it. It's such a tough, heartbreaking subject. It's absolutely not a fun book to read, so I'm sure it was a chore to write. I think the publication was rushed in an effort to maximize sales while the Bell Controversy was raging, and that was a huge disservice to the topic at hand.
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