Keith Giles - Jesus Undefeated: Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment

PRAISE FOR

JESUS UNDEFEATED

There is a growing body of work in Christian literature supporting the doctrine of universal reconciliation. Keith Giles Jesus Undefeated is indeed the perfect introduction to the idea that all shall be saved. Simply written without suffering from too much brevity, the author not only puts forth a convincing case that Universalism should be accepted at the theological table, but that it is perhaps the most likely answer to the question, Who then shall be saved?

MA t THE w j. DISTEF ano, AUTHOR of BOOKS AND CO-HOST of THE HERETIC HAPPY HOUR PODCAST

Citing scripture, ancient Church leaders, and contemporary biblical scholars, Keith Giles makes a compelling case against hell. What makes this book especially winsome is the accessible way Giles writes. The conversation is easy to follow and arguments compelling. This book is both an encyclopedic resource and conversation starter!

THOMA S J A Y OORD , A UTHO R o f GO D CA N t : H O w t o BELIE v E IN GOD AND L ov E AFTER TRAGEDY , ABUSE, AND o THER EVILS AND THE UNCONTROLLING L ov E of GOD

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover, or at least its title. Keith Giles newest book title says it all Jesus Undefeated: Condemning the False Doctrine of Eternal Torment.

The title is a messianic manifesto which boldly declares that Gods indefatigable will-to-all-goodness shall , without creaturely exception or divine reservation, woo and win all humanity to salvation. For many, this victory may come in this current earth age, or it may manifest in the postmortem ages to come. But, Keith assures us, come it most assuredly shall. Simply put, Jesus will to rescue, reconcile and restore all of us will not and cannot be eternally thwarted. Delayed sure, but never ultimately prevented. God is both an irresistible force and an immovable object on this vital matter. He always finds, rescues, and defends His lost sheep. After connecting the dynamic dots in his first three books of a flawlessly good natured God of light and love, Keith now confronts the remaining conceptual Goliath blocking the pass of Christian unity and growth. This inner Goliath, which stalks every human heart, is an irrational fear coupled with a toxic conviction that God eternally tortures and consciously torments those who never believe or receive Him during their earthly lives. Keith picks up the same Davidic slingshot used by the Patristic leaders of the early church to decapitate this Goliath once and for all. Jesus Undefeated takes us on a briskly paced survey of the early church fathers, the ancient Scriptures, and Keiths own folksy wisdom on this challenging topic.

Keiths writings are so accessible. Its one of his greatest gifts, along with his tight reasoning and honey-smooth prose. Just as in the famous fable of The Three Little Pigs where the straw and wooden houses couldnt withstand strong winds, so too do the two alternate views of Hell likewise collapse under Keiths sage scrutiny. These two alternate views of Hell are known as 1) eternal conscious torment (the lost are eternally tortured), and 2) annihilationism (the lost are incinerated into nothingness). Keith leaves these two theories in scattered piles of deconstructed debris as he presents the indestructible brick house of universalism which the early church built in the immediate centuries following Christs incarnation. And that house cant be blown down, no matter how rough are the winds of wrath which seek to assail it.

Jesus Undefeated reveals an early church corpus who, through their common sense and sacred intuition, knew what we moderns seem to have so inexplicably forgotten. They corporately knew God far too well to believe Him capable of ever creating such a bone-torturing Hell. After reading Keiths Jesus Undefeated, we too will know better than to believe in the antiGospel which promotes the double barrel shotgun threat of an endlessly Hellish torture chamber where the bulk of humanity suffers eternal conscious torment at the hands of God who claims to be only love and light.

This lie needs to fry. And Keith, as a master conceptual chef, does just that in his wonderful new book which I heartily recommend.

RICHAR D MURR AY , A UTHO R o f GO D v ERSU S EVIL : SCULPTIN G A N EPI C THEOL og y o f GOD s HEROI C GOODNES S AN D TH E

q UESTIO N o f HEL L

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

• Jesus Unveiled: Forsaking Church as We Know It for Ekklesia as God Intended

• Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible

• Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics to Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb

• The Power of Weakness: How God Loves to Do Extraordinary Things Through Ordinary People

• The Gospel: For Here or to Go?

• The Top Things Every Christian Should Know (But Probably Doesnt)

• Nobody Follows Jesus (So Why Should You?)

• [Subversive Interviews] Volume

• War Is Not Christian

• How To Start A Ministry To The Poor In Your Own Community

Available online at: www.KeithGiles.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Permission for wider usage of this material can be obtained through Quoir by emailing

Copyright 2019 by Keith Giles.

First Edition

Cover design and layout by Rafael Polendo (polendo.net)

Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright

1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com the NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.crossway.org.

ISBN 978-1-938480-48-5

This volume is printed on acid free paper and meets ANSI Z39.48 standards.

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Quoir

Orange, California

www.quoir.com

SPECIAL THANKS

Rafael Polendo, Steve Gregg, Richard Murray, Steve Kline, Michael Paul, Matthew Distefano, Mark Vanskiver, and Wendy Giles.

DEDICATION

To Gene and Joyce Giles, my parents, who have always supported me and encouraged me to keep writing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Brad Jersak

Introduction

1 A Light In the Darkness

2 Always Three Views

3 Contrasting Views of Hell

4 Eternal Suffering Examined

5 Is God A Monster?

6 Annihilationism Examined

7 Universal Reconciliation Examined

8 Who Is In Christ?

9 Why Follow Christ If All Are Saved?

10 The Gospel Rediscovered

11 Jesus Is "the Way" (To What?)

12 What Comes Next?

13 God of Wrath?

14 The Fruit of Universalism

15 Better Than We Think

16 All Made New