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

I think everyone who has ever thought through the issues of God being good and yet there being an eternal hell will benefit from this book. I found the author arguing from the Bible, not from philosophy. He also traces his own spiritual journey from not believing in hell, to believing in it because the Bible teaches it.Chapter 1 defends God's justice and our sinfulness. Hell makes no sense until we understand these things. Chapters 2 and 3 defend hell and eternal punishment. I was happy to see Clotfelter come to many of the same conclusions I have as I have thought this through.Chapter 3 goes through the various views of choice in regard to salvation. Chapters 5 and 6 defend the "TULIP" acronym: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints. The author attempts (with much success) to prove each of these doctrines from Scripture.Chapters 7, 8, and 9 talk about the "good news": that Christ died for sinners and by believing in Him we are saved from eternal hell. It talks about God's glory being the purpose that God created. It's not about US; it's about HIM!I recommend this book if you want to understand why hell must exist and why so many people go there. Being the only Christian in my family I wrestled with the doctrine when my dad died. But I came out the other side with a deeper appreciation for both God's justice and His mercy, and an unshakable knowledge that God is good and will do what is right, even if we don't always understand why He does what He does.Each chapter ends with a prayer, and I often found myself making it my prayer. Read the book, and pray the prayers as you go along. Make them YOUR prayer to God, not just the author's prayer.In short, the book makes a cogent argument for the whole of who God is - justice and mercy, love and severity, mercy and holiness - and it does it all using Scripture. Some of the things Clotfelter writes about can be hard to swallow, but you can't deny that it's what the Bible says. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open your heart to accept the truths the Bible teaches, no matter how hard those truths may be. I know the Bible says many things that are hard to accept; I have been through that struggle. But you will see God more clearly and have a deeper knowledge of Him on the other side of that struggle. You will love Him more than you ever thought possible.

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).

This book corrects one's view of the Santa Claus god of seeker-sensitive, felt-need, modern churchianity. With solid scriptural support it shows us how majestic, awe-inspiring, fear-inspiring, yet loving God is. The chapter on Hell is worth the price of the book tenfold. Most of us have a sentimental view of God and of humans, and this chapter destroys this view to show God and us as we are. When I read and understood the utter ruin of people in Hell, I felt awe at God and gratitude for Him for saving me from such a well-deserved fate.I looked for more books from the author on Amazon to buy but it's his only work. If it's his life work, then his life has been well spent!The person who lent me this book also bought several copies to give away. After I read it I couldn't help do the same and one of the people I gave a copy to is a coworker who is saved but doesn't know much about doctrine. She thanked me for this life-changing book She called it a magnum opus.

Great book covering seldom addressed topics of God's election and predestination. It does it in a easy to understand format. He covers too much of the various views, when the reader would like to understand his views more.

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