Francis Chan, Erasing Hell or Not? Part 1
No, this isn’t an interview with Francis Chan, although that would probably be a lot of fun! Rather, it is a lengthy critique of Chan’s new book, Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we made up. Before this book was released, a promotional video was posted, to which we responded in part 1 and part 2.
Once the book was released, however, we read it, and are now ready to respond to the actual content of the book. (Please note that in the episodes responding to the video, we tried very hard to stay within the confines of only responding to what was in the video, and not what we thought Chan might write in his book. These two episodes now are a response to what is actually in the book.)
Chan writes some things in this book that disturb Ray and Steve, and they don’t hold back too much on their opinion about those things. And while ultimately, Ray and Steve do not endorse the teaching of the book itself, you are still encouraged to read it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Part 2 will be posted within a few days. Stay tuned. 
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July 14th, 2011 at 8:21 am
Bad news / good news evangelism is like that restaurant that serves dog doo appetizers; oh, but the steak taste great!
I used to be a prooftexting Bible parrot and I can no longer handle being or hearing that noise. Sounds to me like R.K. was annoyed by the audio version of the Bible birds from hell book.
July 14th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Thanks guys, I really enjoyed this. I appreciate that you are pointing out the heart of Francis, and his character. But as well, this so needs to be addressed. I am so sick and tired of God being portrayed as religion has been for so long.
I would LOVE to have Francis heart this podcast and would even love more to hear a conversation with him for a podcast. I wonder…….
Blessings guys!
July 15th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Jeff,
You said:
Bad news / good news evangelism is like that restaurant that serves dog doo appetizers; oh, but the steak taste great!
Too funny!
R.K. has a special ring to it, no?
Heather,
I was so hoping that we were adequately communicating that we believe Francis Chan is a good guy and really loves the Lord. I’m with you, I am so tired of how our Father gets portrayed. If we end up looking alot more merciful and polite than Him, we might want to start thinking about Him from scratch.
You said:
I wonder…
Well, you never know…
August 21st, 2011 at 4:02 am
I thought Erasing Hell had it’s pros and cons, but am glad to hear this podcast because after reading I was pretty bothered by the tone of God as almost being tyranical throughout the book. Yes, God does things we don’t always understand, but He was almost portrayed as a dictator who does seneless unjust things whom we’d better submit to OR ELSE… It’s nice to know I wasn’t alone in picking up on that. I don’t hold too strongly and am willing to be convinced either way on views like annhilation vs eternal conscious torment etc., but I do think Chan did a good job on elaborating the seriousness and gravity of hell, and rebuting some of Bell’s arguments.
May 15th, 2012 at 11:30 pm
I disagree when both of you said we are all children of God. I hope you can clarify that. especially because of John 1:12
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,