Sinners in the Hands of a Good God: Reconciling Divine Judgment and Mercy

by David Clotfelter

Book Overview

Are heaven and hell real? How does God's election correspond to our freedom? Why did Jesus have to die? Why doesn't God save everybody? These are questions most believers and seekers have asked, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802481604
• ISBN13: 9780802481603
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Well done...and quite convincing!

I was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Clotfelter's treatment of this controversial subject. I believe he handled himself with true humility and with a strong conviction to adhere to the Scriptures as the final authority on any given question related to the subject. His style was likeable and he wrote with clarity, avoiding deep intellectual arguments that seem to characterize many other works that deal with the "Calvinism versus Arminianism" debate. And finally, it was refreshing to see one with the keen desire to bring out the true nature of God and to glorify Him in the process. I must confess that I have been a strong believer in God's sovereign grace in election for many years, so I was biased from the start. But I had never read a work that was so convincing in clarifying this truth. His handling of various teachings ("Universalism," "Annihilationism," and "Open Theism") was masterful, and should serve to silence any advocates of these erroneous doctrines. It was also impressive to see him tackle some of the real hard questions, such as "Why will God confine some of His creatures to eternal punishment?" and "If God had the power to elect all to salvation, why didn't He?" I believe he did so with a compassion for man, yet also, as intimated above, with a strong desire to glorify God. I believe you will find his answers to these questions compelling, even though they might not completely satisfy your logic and human reasoning. In closing, I have recommended this book to many of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I would highly recommend it to you. If you are a true believer in Christ, I hope you walk away from it with a deeper appreciation for the grace of God that "chose you in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world," and for the tremendous cost that Christ paid to deliver you from the eternal destruction that you (we all) richly deserved. I also hope your thoughts of God will be raised to a higher level as you come to see more of His glories and excellencies, and that you will long for the day when we shall be in His presence forever where God will throughout eternity "show [us] the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

Professor of theology

How can God be good, yet send people to hell, and leave them there eternally? If he is omnipotent, why doesn't he save everyone? These are questions every thinking Christian has to face. The author, with graduate degrees from Yale, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Claremont Graduate University (Ph.D.), writes out of a personal struggle with such questions and traces his own journey from atheism to the view of George MacDonald, mentor of C. S. Lewis, who argued that a loving Father would never condemn his children to endless punishment, to what he insists is the more biblical view of Jonathan Edwards. This is not a book for professional theologians but for the ordinary reader who wants to see how the Bible's teaching on divine justice and divine mercy may be brought together and harmonized. Each of the three parts of this book consists of three chapters. The first, "Under Judgment," argues that God regards all human beings as guilty sinners and defends eternal punishment against universal salvation and annihilation of the lost. The second, "At His Mercy," argues for the Calvinistic view of predestination and election as the view most consistent with the Bible. The third, "Within His Embrace," argues that by his life and death Jesus fully satisfied the justice of God for his chosen people who are not only forgiven but given a title to eternal joy. In a final chapter the author attempts to draw all the threads of the discussion together. Each chapter ends with a prayer that reflects the author's personal struggle with the subject and the reasons for his conclusions. Every church library in the country would profit from the possession of this book, and hopefully every church librarian will be able to recommend it to every member. And all readers who want to think about this issue with an expert should consider buying this book.

Understanding the mind of God about heaven and hell

Highly recommended as an essential guide to understanding God's judgment and mercy. Clotfelter presents the differing views of serious Christian theologians, past and present and holds them up to the light of Scriptural evidence. This is a well-referenced work which offers a fair-minded, compassionate analysis of the concepts of heaven and hell from different schools of thought, always bringing the authority of the Bible to bear in the end. This is a scholarly, yet engaging and very readible treatise on the doctrine of heaven and hell, reconciling God's justice with his mercy. Can a discussion on this knotty theological issue be anything but tedious? In fact, this is one of the most encouraging books you will read in your spiritual journey. It will engage your heart as much as your mind as you read and inevitably will jump-start you forward in your spiritual journey. In the end, Clotfelter wisely notes that "to be a good theologian, you have to want even more to be a good Christian" How true.