You Are Not Going To Heaven And Why It Doesn T Matter

Honesty. Humility. The purpose and future of the church. Useful and not useful parts of the Bible. A doctrine of salvation that includes mosquitoes. These are some of the topics dealt with in this controversial book. Written for those who still have hope for the church as well as those who don't, Wes Bergen's aim is to cast a vision of the church beyond divine fire insurance. Bergen's contention is that salvation is something that either happens here and now, on this earth, or not at all. Salvation is something that happens to bodies. More importantly, salvation is something that either will happen on this earth or we risk making the world uninhabitable by human beings. Souls are irrelevant when the air is dirty, the water is undrinkable, and there isn't enough to eat. These are the things that the Bible really cares about and form the building blocks for the salvation that God offers. This is also why this book is not about heaven. The Bible is not a manual for getting to heaven. The Bible cares very little about heaven and neither should you. Salvation is about what happens to bodies on Tuesday rather than what we do Sunday morning or what happens to souls after the body dies. Forget about heaven. Either you trust in God or you don't. Now get to work helping salvation happen.

The editor of "St. Anthony Messenger" magazine for many years, Fr. McCloskey has answered many questions in his "Ask a Franciscan" column. He mines that wealth of material to find the most helpful questions and answers for readers to help them see the connection between their faith and their spiritual growth as disciples of Jesus Christ.

This is a new release of the original 1950 edition.

The mega bestselling book that started the heaven publishing phenomenon is now a major motion picture starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth and produced by Michael Polish. Don Piper's incredible true story continues to expand its reach to more people than ever before. After a semi-truck collided with Don Piper's car, he was pronounced dead at the scene. For the next ninety minutes, he experienced the glories of heaven. Back on earth, a passing minister felt led to stop and pray for the accident victim even though he was told Piper was dead. Miraculously, Piper came back to life, and the pleasure of heaven was replaced by a long and painful recovery. This special edition of Don's life-changing story includes a new preface from Don about the making of the movie, plus a personal update on the impact the book has had on him, his family, and the millions who have already heard his story. It also includes a note from the publisher, stories from readers, and Scriptures and quotations on heaven.

What happens when we die? Where do we go? Is there an afterlife? Does the Bible say anything specific about heaven? Are there streets of gold there? This book will answer those questions and tell you what’s up with heaven. By studying the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and studying a variety of topics, the curtain is pulled back—to the extent Scripture allows—to reveal the glorious and utterly amazing realm of heaven.

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

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.