Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hell, Hope, and the New Jerusalem Paperback – Illustrated, November 30, 2005

The writer gives excellent reasons for why salvation is for all humans. The idea that there is eternal torment or annihilation the writer shows that sin an evil win, not the love of Christ. He shows the teaching that all are eventually saved is the teaching that is of Christ to redeem and restore all creation to what God desires. An excellent read on universalism.

This is the most thoughtful and well researched challenge to eternal punishment that I have read. The author is not a rigid universalist. But he does take his own advice "not to stand over the scriptures as we read them, but to stand under them". If you do this you will find that a dogmatic position in either direction is very difficult to stand on.The great New Testament scholar William Barclay says "the truth of God should be penetrated deeper and deeper in our passing generations". "All things are possible with God", does today's church really believe this. Bradley Jersak proves that early church fathers such as Origen and Gregory of Nyssa believed it. They believed that God would eventually redeem all mankind through redemptive punishment and correction. Augustine's eternal torment doctrine was a direct rebuttal to the theology of total restoration. In light of Augustine's own dramatic born-again experience he felt that men would not seek true redemption if they would eventually be restored anyway.One negative I find in such works that are trying to presume what God will do with each and every person is the breeding of spiritual pride and arrogance. Men like John Calvin were so sure of their theological position that they would resort to murder to fend of heresies. The truth is that no man knows for sure. At the end of the sermon on the mount Jesus warned that not everyone who calls him lord will enter in, but he who actually does what He says. That should be humbling for every professed believer.The author does an in depth analysis of Revelation 21 and 22 showing that even after the elect enter into the New Jerusalem and sinners are cast into the Lake of Fire, there are still sinners standing outside the city after the fact. Also, why does John(the author of Revelation) name what type of sinners are standing outside the city? Shouldn't it be anyone who did not believe? Perhaps the Lake of Fire is a purifying fire and perhaps God's mercy and love does endure forever.All in all Bradley Jersak does a tremendous job to move infernalists off or at least gets them to think about what they are professing. At the same time he challenges a simple universalist position. As for me I am going to continue to pray for lost souls that are possibly in hell, for it is God's word that allows this.

I first heard about Bradley Jersak through the documentary "Hellbound" (which I certainly recommend). What struck me about Jersak was his calming presence in the interviews that were shown of him and his grand knowledge of Gehenna and the history behind the Valley of Hinnom.My context: I come from an fairly conservative evangelical background in which I had little to no interest in a theology that allowed room for ultimate redemption or universalism. I remember when the book "Love Wins" by Rob Bell came out, just about every evangelical Christian was stirred up and many books were published in opposition to its message. I read "Erasing Hell" by Francis Chan when it came out a few years ago and was fairly satisfied with the information provided and continued on in my belief in eternal conscious torment. I am currently a Christian Scripture undergrad major.Now, the book. This is perhaps one of the best books I have read this year. Being a topic of interest for myself (and anyone who is reading this review) I dove headfirst to see what information Jersak would provide. He did not disappoint. He goes in-depth on each word translated as Hell in English translated Bibles, moves into the historical framework of the Valley of Hinnom, looks at the beliefs surrounding Jesus during his lifetime, and moves into responsible exposition of Revelation 21-22. Also, a plus for some people (including myself), is that it is not written in exquisite scholarly language. He writes from the heart and with great rhetoric. This book is both solidly founded in scholastic research and written in an engaging fashion; this dichotomy can be hard to find.I have come out of reading this book with a more full understanding of the Christian universalist or "ultimate redemption" viewpoint. Jersak's arguments are quite convincing and I look forward to reading the books he recommended concerning each side of the conversation.All in all, this book deserves a 5-star rating. Buy it, take notes on it, pray about it, and continue your research on this exciting topic!

I found Brad's book a bit hard to read from cover to cover. Several times I've attempted to read the complete book, but find myself getting bogged down and disinterested after the first hundred pages or so. He makes some good points, but jumps around so much in trying to present so many facts and viewpoints without arriving at any concrete conclusions that I eventually find myself losing focus and interest, just as one would do if trying to read through an encyclopedia on a dryly presented topic. Perhaps I've been spoiled after having read several other books on this subject recently that grabbed my attention from the get-go and never let go! Books that are wonderfully written that have arrived at a definite conclusion regarding universal salvation, and have backed up that conclusion from the scriptures and the original Greek translations. Those books are Ferwerda's "Raising Hell," and Talbott's "The Inescapable Love of God."