To Heaven Or To Hell

Over half of Americans believe in a literal heaven, in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. Ehrman shows that eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament, and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. He recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. Ehrman shows that competing views were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. -- adapted from jacket

A riveting portrait of a rural Pennsylvania town at the center of the fracking controversy Shale gas extraction—commonly known as fracking—is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet—whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the very land beneath our feet—is largely a private choice that millions of ordinary people make without the public's consent. The United States is the only country in the world where property rights commonly extend "up to heaven and down to hell," which means that landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Colin Jerolmack spent eight months living with rural communities outside of Williamsport as they confronted the tension between property rights and the commonwealth. In this deeply intimate book, he reveals how the decision to lease brings financial rewards but can also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, to communal resources like air and water, and even to oneself. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell casts America’s ideas about freedom and property rights in a troubling new light, revealing how your personal choices can undermine your neighbors’ liberty, and how the exercise of individual rights can bring unintended environmental consequences for us all.

Bestselling and award-winning author Lee Strobel interviews experts about the evidence for the afterlife and offers credible answers to the most provocative questions about what happens when we die, near-death experiences, heaven, and hell. We all want to know what awaits us on the other side of death, but is there any reliable evidence that there is life after death? Investigative author Lee Strobel offers a lively and compelling study into one of the most provocative topics of our day. Through fascinating conversations with respected scholars and experts--a neuroscientist from Cambridge University, a researcher who analyzed a thousand accounts of near-death experiences, and an atheist-turned-Christian-philosopher--Strobel offers compelling reasons for why death is not the end of our existence but a transition to an exciting world to come. Looking at biblical accounts, Strobel unfolds what awaits us after we take our last breath and answers questions like: Is there an afterlife? What is heaven like? How will we spend our time there? And what does it mean to see God face to face? With a balanced approach, Strobel examines the alternative of Hell and the logic of damnation, and gives a careful look at reincarnation, universalism, the exclusivity claims of Christ, and other issues related to the topic of life after death. With vulnerability, Strobel shares the experience of how he nearly died years ago and how the reality of death can shape our lives and faith. Follow Strobel on this journey of discovery of the entirely credible, believable, and exhilarating life to come.

A visceral, first-hand account of the afterlife. Laurie Ditto's life was forever marked when she experienced supernatural visions of hell. She knew these encounters were meant as a wake-up call for herself and others, so she has made it her mission to share this message with the world. The Hell Conspiracy is a somber warning. It records harrowing accounts of souls enduring endless torture and eternal separation from God. It also reveals terrifying secrets of the afterlife in Hell, including... The five pains of hell: water, bone marrow, breath, agreement, and the garment. The activity of demons. The connection between unforgiveness and eternal torment. The ultimate destination and fate of the condemned. The changing shape of people's bodies in hell. But this book is also a beacon of hope! These horrors are contrasted with the glorious hope of Heaven. Those who receive salvation through Jesus escape torment and experience an eternity of life as it was meant to be: as renewed bodies, souls, and spirits in perfect relationship with God. The alarm is sounding! Heaven and Hell are real. Where will you go?

In 40 Questions About Heaven and Hell, Alan Gomes surveys the Old and New Testaments to present a comprehensive picture of the afterlife. The question-and-answer format makes it easy to find answers to specific questions on heaven, hell, the intermediate state, the final judgment, and life in eternity. Readers will find solid answers to many vital questions: · What should we conclude about those who claim to have seen heaven or hell? · Is it possible for us to communicate with the dead? · Is there such a place as purgatory? · What will our resurrected bodies be like? · What will we do in the eternal state? · Will there be animals in the eternal state? · What is hell like? · How can a God of love send people to an eternal hell? · Did Jesus "descend into hell" like the Apostles' Creed says? Study notes point to additional resources for learning, and reflection questions at the end of each chapter make the book ideal for small group studies.

Will you enter a state of nothingness? Will you completely cease to exist? Will you be reincarnated? Will you go to purgatory? No, a million times no. The Bible clearly teaches that heaven and hell exist and that everyone will go to one or the other after death. Please read these pages to make sure you go to heaven and escape an agonizing eternity in hell. If you are already a believer, this book will make both hell and heaven more real to you and help you find the rest and joy God promised you.

A New York Times best-selling scholar's illuminating exploration of the earliest Christian narrated journeys to heaven and hell “[An] illuminating deep dive . . . An edifying origin story for contemporary Christian conceptions of the afterlife.”—Publishers Weekly From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated into the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory. Drawing on Greek and Roman epic poetry, early Jewish writings such as the Book of Watchers, and apocryphal Christian stories including the Acts of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and the Apocalypse of Peter, Ehrman demonstrates that ancient tours of the afterlife promoted reflection on matters of ethics, faith, ambition, and life’s meaning, the fruit of which has been codified into Christian belief today.

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans: a must-read for anyone on the journey of doubt, deconstruction, and ultimately faith reborn. Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. In Faith Unraveled, Rachel recounts growing up in a culture obsessed with apologetics, struggling as her own faith unraveled one unexpected question at a time. In order for her faith to survive, Rachel realizes, it must adapt to change and evolve. Using as an illustration her own spiritual journey from certainty to doubt to faith, Evans challenges you to disentangle your faith from false fundamentals and to trust in a God who is big enough to handle your tough questions. In a changing cultural environment where new ideas seem to threaten the safety and security of the faith, Faith Unraveled is a profoundly moving, fearlessly honest, and relentlessly hopeful story of survival. This book was previously titled Evolving in Monkey Town.

Inside the pages of this book you will discover a captivating man's story of life growing up poor in West Virginia. The son of a coal miner, drifting after graduation trying to find his way in the world, moving with his family back to the State of Texas and leaving behind the girl he planned to marry. Life for him was tough and only one could imagine how in the world one person could encounter the difficulties that seemed to follow him wherever he went. The breakup of his first love, the ended romance in Texas, he could take no more, leading him to join the Marines for a life of hell that would cause the injuries that he lives with today. Returning home, drifting and trying to become successful in life, using his fist as an amateur boxer, managing to win the West Texas Golden Gloves Championship. Beating the odds was nothing for this man because he fought them his entire life. Something you only see in movies? No, not this man. They say he has lived the life of twenty men. From being poor to working his way up in the business world of sales he would own and operate several retail businesses that would make him a millionaire. This sounds pretty good until you get to the part that he loses it all. Pain and hunger, love and divorces, poor then wealthy, romance and heartache, sexual assaults and murder, custody battles that granted him full custody of two children and co-custody of one...enough, not a chance the story has just begun. What you read in this book you will not believe happened, but it did! This is just a sample of this one man's life. Readers say, "It's addictive." Once you start reading this unbelievable story you can't put it down. Step into this man's life as he tells you in his words the life as he knows only to be, "From Hell to Heaven to Hell."

Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news"? Troubling questions—so troubling that many have lost their faith because of them. Others only whisper the questions to themselves, fearing or being taught that they might lose their faith and their church if they ask them out loud. But what if these questions trouble us for good reason? What if the story of heaven and hell we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if what Jesus meant by heaven, hell, and salvation are very different from how we have come to understand them? What if it is God who wants us to face these questions? Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined. Love wins.