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Jesus Undefeated
- GenresReligion
Unknown Binding
Published November 9, 2019
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About the author
Keith Giles
65 books96 followersKeith Giles is the author of 5 books including his latest, "This Is My Body:Ekklesia as God Intended" which explores God's design for His Church according to the scriptures. The free e-book version has been downloaded by over 3,000 people.
He is the former Director of Sales and Distribution for Vineyard Music Group and formerly Marketing Coordinator for Soul Survivor USA. He has been writing articles on the Christian subculture, the house church movement, spiritual formation, compassion ministry and the Kingdom of God for over 20 years now.
His articles have appeared in over a dozen print and online magazines over the last 20 years, including Relevant, 7 Ball, Channel Advisor, Fuse, CCM, Worship Musician Magazine, WorshipMusic.com and theOoze.com.
Keith and his wife Wendy and their two sons are part of a house church community called “The Mission” in Orange, California. They planted this church in their home in 2006 in order to share 100 percent of the offering to help the poor in their community.
Feel free to visit him online at http://www.KeithGiles.com.
He is the former Director of Sales and Distribution for Vineyard Music Group and formerly Marketing Coordinator for Soul Survivor USA. He has been writing articles on the Christian subculture, the house church movement, spiritual formation, compassion ministry and the Kingdom of God for over 20 years now.
His articles have appeared in over a dozen print and online magazines over the last 20 years, including Relevant, 7 Ball, Channel Advisor, Fuse, CCM, Worship Musician Magazine, WorshipMusic.com and theOoze.com.
Keith and his wife Wendy and their two sons are part of a house church community called “The Mission” in Orange, California. They planted this church in their home in 2006 in order to share 100 percent of the offering to help the poor in their community.
Feel free to visit him online at http://www.KeithGiles.com.
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December 11, 2019
We like to think of ourselves as open-minded, even if we rarely revise our long-held beliefs. One such long-held Christian belief is that most of humanity is doomed to endless torture in the afterlife.
In his new book, Keith Giles challenges the standard Christian belief about Hell. He makes a compelling case for an alternative view of the afterlife, grounded in scripture, that is more consistent with God's boundless love and mercy and his will that none should perish.
Most Christians don't realize that the doctrine of Hell has changed over the centuries. The dogma about eternal suffering was not embraced by the early church. On the contrary, for the first 500 years, the church espoused Universalism or Ultimate Reconciliation. It is embedded in the words of Jesus and Paul, as well as by early theologians such as Clement, Origen, the Gregories, and Basil the Great.
None of the early Christian creeds, including the Nicene Creed, contained the doctrine about Eternal Suffering. Early Chriatians recognized that scripture was unclear about the afterlife, with conflicting verses, as opposed to clearly teaching one view. Giles contends that the scriptural support is weaker for eternal suffering than for the other two views. It's notable that The Old Testament contains not a single verse describing hell as a lake of eternal fire. It's a strange omission if eternal torment were the divine plan all along. If Jesus taught the eternal torment doctrine, then it's curious that his disciples did not preach it, since it's not mentioned in Acts.
Historically there have been three competing Christian vews of Hell based upon different Bible verses:
• Eternal Suffering or Infernalism, which is the most popular belief currently.
• Universalism or Ultimate Reconciliation under which those who die without Christ will pass through the fire before being reconciled.
• Annihilation or Conditional Immortality where the unsaved suffer in Hell until their sins are paid for, and then they will be destroyed forever.
All of these views agree that those who die without Christ will suffer in the afterlife; the disagreement is about the duration and purpose of that suffering.
There are several verses supporting Universal Reconciliation. God is the savior of "all men," according to 1Tim 4:10, which states, "for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe."
"All will be made alive in Christ," per 1Cor 15:21-22. "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
The same sentiment is found in Romans 5:18. "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."
Eventually everyone will gladly confess Jesus Christ as Lord, according to Phil. 2:10-11. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue gladly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Paul says in Romans 10:9, that those who confess the Lord Jesus "will be saved." Since everyone will so confess, then everyone will be saved.
Everyone passes through the fire, which is used to reveal and refine, not to torture and destroy. Even those with worthless works will be saved, "only as one escaping through rhe flames," per 1 Cor. 3:13-15. "It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
Hebrews 12: 6-11 tells us that God disciplines all of us, and does so "for our own profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." In other words, God disciplines for the good of his children, not to punish for its own sake.
The doctrine of eternal torment crept into Jewish thought during the 400 years between the end of the Old Testament scriptures and the coming of Christ. The notion came from Greek and pagan sources.
There are six main verses in the New Testament with references to eternal suffering. Perhaps the best known is in Matthew 25:41, 46. "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
The first verse tells us the fire is eternal, not that mortals will be there eternally. The second verse uses the word eternal that comes from a Greek word (aionius) that can also mean a very long time.
Mark 9:43-44, 47-48 states, "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out...It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"
Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 66:24, where the prophet was warning about what would happen to dead bodies, not a place of torment. When Jeremiah used similar language, he was speaking in a literal place called Gehena that subsequently did have dead bodies stacked and burned.
Jesus was actually warning about the destruction of the temple. It is more lilely that Jesus was referring to Gehena in the same sense as the prophets, rather than in the sense of the Pharisees. The prophets were using apocalyptic hyperbole, which they often did in their warnings of destruction. Hyperbole is figurative and poetic, not literal. It is also found in Revelations.
The words "eternal destruction" are used in 2 Thess. 1:9. “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…”
Destruction does not equate to endless torment. This verse supports the notion of annihilation rather than endless suffering.
Revelations has two verses referring to torment with burning sulfur (Rev. 14:10-11, 19:20-12). The first refers specifically to those who worship the Beast during his reign, not to everyone who dies apart from Christ. The second says the specific persons thrown into the lake of fire are the Beast and his prophet. The rest were killed, not sent to eternal torture.
Judgment using the book of life is briefly described in Rev. 20: 13, 15. "The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books...If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Verse 15 does not reveal what leads to a name not being in the book of life. Nor does it say that nonbelievers suffer forever.
One of the hardest things to do, Giles recognizes, is to convince Christians that the version of Hell they’ve been taught isn’t actually in the Bible. That's because they have never been told anything else and they’re convinced the Bible supports their view. In addition, they’ve been taught that fear is necessary for conversion. Unfortunately, some Christians "are more offended by the idea that God will save everyone than they are that God might burn the majority of peple for eternity."
One premise of the Eternal Suffering doctrine is that is God too holy to tolerate those covered in sin. That assertion isn't in the Bible. The closest verse supporting it is in Habbukuk 1:13a. "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong." But the next verse indicates that God does look upon the sinful: "why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?"
Is it desirable if faith is based upon fear, rather than upon "the good news of the kingdom"? The gospel, asserts Giles, is not "about a God who threatened to torture His children forever if they didn't love Him in return." The gospel is about reconciliation, not retribution, about love, not vengeance.
Our view of the afterlife should be consistent with the character of God as revealed through Christ. "If we see God as the "Abba" that Jesus revealed to us, then we may reject notions of a God who could torture His children for eternity and withhold His mercy from them forever." ###
In his new book, Keith Giles challenges the standard Christian belief about Hell. He makes a compelling case for an alternative view of the afterlife, grounded in scripture, that is more consistent with God's boundless love and mercy and his will that none should perish.
Most Christians don't realize that the doctrine of Hell has changed over the centuries. The dogma about eternal suffering was not embraced by the early church. On the contrary, for the first 500 years, the church espoused Universalism or Ultimate Reconciliation. It is embedded in the words of Jesus and Paul, as well as by early theologians such as Clement, Origen, the Gregories, and Basil the Great.
None of the early Christian creeds, including the Nicene Creed, contained the doctrine about Eternal Suffering. Early Chriatians recognized that scripture was unclear about the afterlife, with conflicting verses, as opposed to clearly teaching one view. Giles contends that the scriptural support is weaker for eternal suffering than for the other two views. It's notable that The Old Testament contains not a single verse describing hell as a lake of eternal fire. It's a strange omission if eternal torment were the divine plan all along. If Jesus taught the eternal torment doctrine, then it's curious that his disciples did not preach it, since it's not mentioned in Acts.
Historically there have been three competing Christian vews of Hell based upon different Bible verses:
• Eternal Suffering or Infernalism, which is the most popular belief currently.
• Universalism or Ultimate Reconciliation under which those who die without Christ will pass through the fire before being reconciled.
• Annihilation or Conditional Immortality where the unsaved suffer in Hell until their sins are paid for, and then they will be destroyed forever.
All of these views agree that those who die without Christ will suffer in the afterlife; the disagreement is about the duration and purpose of that suffering.
There are several verses supporting Universal Reconciliation. God is the savior of "all men," according to 1Tim 4:10, which states, "for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe."
"All will be made alive in Christ," per 1Cor 15:21-22. "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
The same sentiment is found in Romans 5:18. "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."
Eventually everyone will gladly confess Jesus Christ as Lord, according to Phil. 2:10-11. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue gladly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."
Paul says in Romans 10:9, that those who confess the Lord Jesus "will be saved." Since everyone will so confess, then everyone will be saved.
Everyone passes through the fire, which is used to reveal and refine, not to torture and destroy. Even those with worthless works will be saved, "only as one escaping through rhe flames," per 1 Cor. 3:13-15. "It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
Hebrews 12: 6-11 tells us that God disciplines all of us, and does so "for our own profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." In other words, God disciplines for the good of his children, not to punish for its own sake.
The doctrine of eternal torment crept into Jewish thought during the 400 years between the end of the Old Testament scriptures and the coming of Christ. The notion came from Greek and pagan sources.
There are six main verses in the New Testament with references to eternal suffering. Perhaps the best known is in Matthew 25:41, 46. "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...And these will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
The first verse tells us the fire is eternal, not that mortals will be there eternally. The second verse uses the word eternal that comes from a Greek word (aionius) that can also mean a very long time.
Mark 9:43-44, 47-48 states, "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out...It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"
Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 66:24, where the prophet was warning about what would happen to dead bodies, not a place of torment. When Jeremiah used similar language, he was speaking in a literal place called Gehena that subsequently did have dead bodies stacked and burned.
Jesus was actually warning about the destruction of the temple. It is more lilely that Jesus was referring to Gehena in the same sense as the prophets, rather than in the sense of the Pharisees. The prophets were using apocalyptic hyperbole, which they often did in their warnings of destruction. Hyperbole is figurative and poetic, not literal. It is also found in Revelations.
The words "eternal destruction" are used in 2 Thess. 1:9. “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…”
Destruction does not equate to endless torment. This verse supports the notion of annihilation rather than endless suffering.
Revelations has two verses referring to torment with burning sulfur (Rev. 14:10-11, 19:20-12). The first refers specifically to those who worship the Beast during his reign, not to everyone who dies apart from Christ. The second says the specific persons thrown into the lake of fire are the Beast and his prophet. The rest were killed, not sent to eternal torture.
Judgment using the book of life is briefly described in Rev. 20: 13, 15. "The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books...If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Verse 15 does not reveal what leads to a name not being in the book of life. Nor does it say that nonbelievers suffer forever.
One of the hardest things to do, Giles recognizes, is to convince Christians that the version of Hell they’ve been taught isn’t actually in the Bible. That's because they have never been told anything else and they’re convinced the Bible supports their view. In addition, they’ve been taught that fear is necessary for conversion. Unfortunately, some Christians "are more offended by the idea that God will save everyone than they are that God might burn the majority of peple for eternity."
One premise of the Eternal Suffering doctrine is that is God too holy to tolerate those covered in sin. That assertion isn't in the Bible. The closest verse supporting it is in Habbukuk 1:13a. "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong." But the next verse indicates that God does look upon the sinful: "why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?"
Is it desirable if faith is based upon fear, rather than upon "the good news of the kingdom"? The gospel, asserts Giles, is not "about a God who threatened to torture His children forever if they didn't love Him in return." The gospel is about reconciliation, not retribution, about love, not vengeance.
Our view of the afterlife should be consistent with the character of God as revealed through Christ. "If we see God as the "Abba" that Jesus revealed to us, then we may reject notions of a God who could torture His children for eternity and withhold His mercy from them forever." ###
January 29, 2020
Review:
Keith Giles, Jesus Undefeated - Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment, Quoir, Orange, CA (2019).
Contrary to the beliefs of most Christians, the Bible has very little to say about the afterlife. Moreover, the early church fathers placed very little emphasis on the afterlife. While such views received only minor attention, there were three views of “Hell” that were taught by various groups of early Christians during the first five or six centuries of Christianity.
· One (Ephesus) accepted Annihilationism (conditional immortality).
o Those who die without Christ are doomed to a season of suffering in Hell until they atone for all their sins, and then they will be destroyed forever and cease to exist.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Barnabus (70-130 A.D.); Mathetes (125-200 A.D.); Hermas (90-150 A.D.); Irenaeus (130-200 A.D.); and perhaps Justin Martyr (160 A.D.).
o Supported by passages: Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
· One (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked.
o Those who die without Christ will spend eternity in perpetual punishment.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Tertullian (160-220 A.D.); Augustine (354-430 A.D.); Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275 A.D.).
o Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
· Four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist.
o This view holds that those who die without Christ will pass through a purifying fire which will refine and restore everyone to a good relationship with God. Eventually everyone will be redeemed and restored. This view resembles the Roman Catholic concept of purgatory.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD); Origen (185-254 AD); Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 AD); Gregory of Nysa (335395 AD); Basil the Great (330-379 AD); Theophilus of Antioch (183 AD), Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD), Didymus the Blind (313-398 AD); Diodorus of Tarsus (390 AD); and numerous others.
o Supported by passages: Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
Most early Christians adopted the Universalist view. As the head of the church was Rome, the Roman view evolved as the belief of all Christendom.
The above outline details the views of Keith Giles as expressed in “Jesus Undefeated - Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment”. Mr. Giles challenges conventional wisdom about the afterlife and totally rejects the concept of eternal punishment. According to Mr. Giles, some of us will have already entered the Kingdom of God during our lifetime. Others will spend sufficient time in “hell” to change our attitude and bring us closer to God. After sufficient rehabilitation, we all will be permitted to enter the Kingdom of God.
The book is well researched, well written, short, and right to the point. If Mr. Giles’ points appear strange to you, I invite you to read the above-cited passages and decide for yourself.
Keith Giles, Jesus Undefeated - Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment, Quoir, Orange, CA (2019).
Contrary to the beliefs of most Christians, the Bible has very little to say about the afterlife. Moreover, the early church fathers placed very little emphasis on the afterlife. While such views received only minor attention, there were three views of “Hell” that were taught by various groups of early Christians during the first five or six centuries of Christianity.
· One (Ephesus) accepted Annihilationism (conditional immortality).
o Those who die without Christ are doomed to a season of suffering in Hell until they atone for all their sins, and then they will be destroyed forever and cease to exist.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Barnabus (70-130 A.D.); Mathetes (125-200 A.D.); Hermas (90-150 A.D.); Irenaeus (130-200 A.D.); and perhaps Justin Martyr (160 A.D.).
o Supported by passages: Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
· One (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked.
o Those who die without Christ will spend eternity in perpetual punishment.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Tertullian (160-220 A.D.); Augustine (354-430 A.D.); Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275 A.D.).
o Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
· Four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist.
o This view holds that those who die without Christ will pass through a purifying fire which will refine and restore everyone to a good relationship with God. Eventually everyone will be redeemed and restored. This view resembles the Roman Catholic concept of purgatory.
o This view was taught by early Christian fathers: Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD); Origen (185-254 AD); Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 AD); Gregory of Nysa (335395 AD); Basil the Great (330-379 AD); Theophilus of Antioch (183 AD), Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 AD), Didymus the Blind (313-398 AD); Diodorus of Tarsus (390 AD); and numerous others.
o Supported by passages: Supported by passages: Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10-15.
Most early Christians adopted the Universalist view. As the head of the church was Rome, the Roman view evolved as the belief of all Christendom.
The above outline details the views of Keith Giles as expressed in “Jesus Undefeated - Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment”. Mr. Giles challenges conventional wisdom about the afterlife and totally rejects the concept of eternal punishment. According to Mr. Giles, some of us will have already entered the Kingdom of God during our lifetime. Others will spend sufficient time in “hell” to change our attitude and bring us closer to God. After sufficient rehabilitation, we all will be permitted to enter the Kingdom of God.
The book is well researched, well written, short, and right to the point. If Mr. Giles’ points appear strange to you, I invite you to read the above-cited passages and decide for yourself.
January 11, 2020
A good book about hell and what it means to different Christians. As someone who does not believe in hell (not in any literal sense) it was interesting to read the different approaches to afterlife developed over time in Christian traditions. Honestly the read was more about Godly punishment for sin and whether it truly exists and is eternal or not. The author and I share similar stances I believe so I found nothing controversial in the book.
August 5, 2020
This is another great book that pretty much debunks the whole eternal-punishment-in-hell theory. He explains the mistranslations and the misinterpretations of prophecy to very convincingly make his case. One interesting point he makes is that "hyperbole" is used in the Bible a lot. (Had to look that up.) Now some of these verses do make more sense. My favorite point is one of the last in the book, a look at Rev. 21. The new Jerusalem descending from heaven isn't some future event; in Christ it has already happened. Blew me away- icing on the cake, and the cherry on top. Keith has pretty well sold me on the whole Universal Reconciliation concept.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews