Reviews for Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You've Been Taught about God's Wrath and Judgment

The average rating for Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You've Been Taught about God's Wrath and Judgment based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-29 00:00:00 Sarith Lom In Razing Hell, Sharon Baker, who teaches theology at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, argues against the traditional Christian doctrine of hell. She argues that hell is not a place of eternal torment. Instead, she views the language of hell as largely metaphorical: the biblical passages that speak of hell refer to a purifying experience of judgment; although she does not state it explicitly, her view of hell seems to be, in some ways, similar to the concept of purgatory: hell cleanses us of our sins. Throughout this book, Baker's comments seem to imply that she is a universalist; however, at one point, she explicitly states that she is not a universalist: due to her respect for free will, she says that it is possible that some people, even when presented with the overwhelming experience of God's presence and God's love, will still choose to reject God and eternal life with God; such people, she argues, will not be tormented eternally in hell but rather will simply cease to exist. Still, in numerous other passages, one gets the distinct impression that she believes that no one will ultimately reject God and that everyone will be saved; thus, it might be best to describe Baker as a pragmatic universalist, though in principle she is not a universalist. Baker's main arguments against the traditional view of hell are arguments from justice--it is unjust to punish and torment eternally people for sins committed in a temporal realm and sins that do not have eternal consequences--and arguments from the character of God--God as revealed in Jesus Christ is the hermeneutical lens through which all Scripture should be read and interpreted, and in light of the love and life and teachings of Christ, the existence of hell as a place of eternal torment is impossible, for it is not consistent with the loving, merciful character of God as revealed in Christ. Baker writes for an evangelical Christian audience, so she accepts the authority of the Bible, and she often quotes at length from the Bible. Thus, quite often, this book reads more as a sermon than as a theological treatise on hell. For those of us who are not evangelical Christians, this can become rather tedious at times, but it is necessary that she respect and affirm this high view of the Bible in order to remain within her religious tradition and argue in favor of her unorthodox view of hell. As a former evangelical Christian myself, I recognize in Baker a kindred spirit, and I think that there are many, many evangelical Christians who, like Baker, are scandalized by the traditional doctrine of hell and are looking for biblically sound ways to re-interpret and do away with this horrific teaching of eternal damnation, and for those Christians, Baker's book (as well as Rob Bell's book Love Wins) provides a great argument.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-05-07 00:00:00 jose martinez vazquez Should I be nice and compassionate or brutally nasty? Hmmmmmmm? Mostly NASTY. :D I cannot believe that Sharon Baker is a professor of theology ANYWHERE. (Although it does say "assistant" on the back cover of the book.) In order to be a proper Christian theologian - you do have to deal with the Bible as a whole - and that is the problem with this silly little book. To sum up her thinking: There is no Hell or eternal punishment (mostly?). We would all realize this if we just read the Bible through Hippy Jesus' eyes - or "lenses" she likes to say. But what we really have here is a lady who thinks people should read the Bible through Sharon L. Baker's lens. She indeed has made a God in her own image. A hippy Jesus that just loves/loves/loves... The problem is: she has to ignore about a 3rd of the Bible to pull off this illusion. She claims the bad bits of the Bible are not what God intended. So verses like this: 2 Kings 10:17...30 And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, "The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life." 25 So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, "Go in and strike them down; let not a man escape." So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal, 26 and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. 27 And they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day. 28 Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel... 30 And the Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." So what exactly is in God's heart? Not what Sharon tells us in her book. Her God is not a sovereign and Holy deity that has carefully given his word to his people for centuries. Her pet god is a poorly thought out deity that ignores a great deal of scripture. Even New Testament scripture like: Acts 5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?4"While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Baker's Jesus would never murder someone for fudging on a bit of money. Hippy Jesus doesn't do things like that. I doubt Sharon has spent much time reading the end of the bible. Revelation chapter 19 and 20 don't portray hippy Jesus as very loving and all forgiving. It's fascinating that Sharon claims Hell could be standing in the presence of God and being cleansed by his fire. That's a possibility - Doesn't fit very well with luke 16 (Lazarus and the Rich man in Hell.) The problem is many other scholars try to say that Hell is Gehenna (like a burning garbage dump). That's not a very nice way to portray the presence of God. Personally I ignore both scholars in that area. Sharon really wants Jesus to be a pacifist. Yet Jesus made Satan, demons, fighting angels etc. And who presents the first weapon in the Bible? God and his angels. Genesis 3:24 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. I doubt very much that hippy Jesus would be running around handing out flaming swords to protect a garden and tree. :D Sharon sounds like a very nice compassionate person. But you can't have love without protection. I hate liberal Christian thinking...so annoying. And God protects his children.