1/25/2012

I've always loved author and speaker Francis Chan. I've been through numerous studies based on his books and have enjoyed many online messages he's given. The short video clip here is one of my favorites.

His tell-it-like-it-is style draws me in. He isn't tied to a particular denomination or theology as much as he is tied to the Bible. He is trying to read the Bible at face value and apply it to life in America today. He can read the pulse of the American church in a way that few others can.

Recently I read his newest book: Erasing Hell. This book is a response to a lot of discussion lately about whether there really is a hell. As usual, Francis Chan didn't disappoint. He provided solid biblical answers to common objections, but did so in a humble way.

Francis Chan has a very high view of God, meaning that he knows that God's ways are not man's ways. God is God, the Creator, the Infinite One. We're just the creatures He made. We can't understand Him fully. We have simple, finite minds. Therefore, it makes complete sense that there may be some things that God does that we don't get. But that doesn't make Him any less God or make the facts any less true. We may not like the concept of hell and may wish that there wasn't a hell, but that's not what the Bible says. So we have to come to grips with our humanity and God's deity.

The book is also a challenge to those of us who are Christians. If we believe in hell, then we should be openly sharing the Good News of salvation in order to keep people from going there.

This book is based on the Bible but isn't too heady or deep for the common person to read and understand. If you are a fan of Francis Chan or want to learn more about what the Bible does and doesn't say about hell, check out Erasing Hell.