Publishers Book Description
- For two millennia many have preached and taught notions of an eternal conscious burning hell for evildoers. But does the New Testament itself actually support such a view?
- This helpful book examines the relevant texts in their contexts and makes a strong, clear case for a final judgment that leads to destruction rather than ongoing torment.
Author’s Introduction – Is This Important?
- This booklet considers two distinct questions:
- What happens immediately after death, and
- What happens at the final judgment to those who have remained unrepentant.
- Why are these important issues to think about?
- Immediate post-death experience may well be something on which you have wondered at some point. Are dead friends and relatives conscious and able to see us? What will the immediate post-death experience be like?
- The second issue, the final end for the unrepentant, should concern us all. It reflects on the nature and character of God himself. Does God, as some believe, consign all who die without faith, including for example Hindu children who never heard of Jesus, to unending suffering without hope? This is so horrendous a picture that, if they believe it is what Christians teach, some may refuse even to consider faith. Also, some Christians may be anxious about much loved close relatives and friends who died without faith. Are these eventually to suffer an unending torment without hope, and can we really be happy in a heaven believing that this is so?
Contents
- Some Background – 3
- New Testament Teaching on the Nature of ‘Hades’– 6
- New Testament Teaching on the Final End of the Unrepentant – 10
- Parables and Outer Darkness – 17
- The Book of Revelation – 20
- Conclusions – 24
- Notes – 26
The Author
- The Grove Website (Grove Books: Paul Marston) has : Paul Marston is a recently retired university academic, a lay minister in the evangelical Free Methodist Church with an MA in theology. He has published various UK and USA Christian books: 7 solo and 13 co-authored with evangelist and church leader Roger Forster. Some are now free on his website Paul Marston: Home Page
- Paul Marston: About has further information, including his academic qualifications and career: I studied originally in London University’s LSE, including courses under philosophers like Karl Popper, and have had a lifelong interest in philosophy and theology. Along the way I collected masters in the history and philosophy of science (London) and in holiness theology (Manchester). My PhD concerned the interaction of science, methodology and Christian faith in the development of geological science. … I have long been a member in the UK group Christians in Science and served for a while on the committee. …. I finally retired in August 2024 after a long spell as a full time and then part time Senior Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire.
- I've downloaded a couple of his free Papers:-
→ "Marston (Paul) - After Death: The Intermediate State"
→ "Marston (Paul) - Can Dead Believers Interact with the Living?"
Book Comment
- Grove Books Limited, Ridley Hall Rd Cambridge CB3 9HU, December 2024.
- Purchased and printed off the ‘downloadable version’ – pdf. Converted to HTML for reading on my Kindle.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)