Customer Reviews

23 Minutos En El Infierno (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Este Libro, es una bendicion para cualquiera que lo lea, porque, el escritor lleva el mensaje, y el espiritu santo se encarga de hacer lo demas. Compralo, Leelo y Pasalo...

It was boring for the most part. Only interesting parts are the one on the beginning. After it was BORING!

Un libro que te hara tomar una decision en cuanto si quieres que tu alma permanesca en el cielo o en el infierno por eternidad? Este libro es un mensaje de advertencia vivido encarne propia por este hombre de Dios, para toda la humanidad. Especialmente para despertar a aquel que duerme.. Es de grandiosa bendicion.

I give it 4 stars for the beginning 71 pages. The story is best when read a 2nd time through, the first time it felt a bit disjointed.

But after the beginning - then I give it a 0.

To me the rest was worthless as just his own personal belief system, just his interpretations of religion, which I personally completely disagreed with. For me it made me doubt the first part at first, but then I realized that people can meet God and still have to make up their own minds how they are going to follow Him and what they are going to believe; God never takes away our freedom. I'm not saying he himself is bad, I just say I completely disagree with his belief system and wish he had put it in a separate book instead. Let the experience stand on it own, which would have been much better.

This is based on the English version. Not sure I want to spend $10 for 71 pages; wish it were the same lower price as the English version.

I have seen Bill Wiese on TV and he is very credible also read his book "23 Minutes In Hell" Bill gives Scripture for everything he did and seen. I have no doubt of Bill's experience. I could not stop reading the book.

23 Minutes in Hell is Bill Wiese's account of his claimed trip to Hell, followed by attempts at explaining what he saw and the presentation of the Gospel message. His fundamental point is this: that Christians have a duty to witness to others. My review is that of a Christian scholar, and so presupposes the existence of God, Jesus, and afterlife.

The fundamental problem with 23 Minutes in Hell is Wiese's absolute lack of hermeneutical knowledge or approach. He doesn't understand the imagery of Hebrew poetry (which is in many cases not so different from our own modern poetry). Most scriptures are used out of context, a fact which Wiese himself admits from time to time. He also seems to have no clue about the Biblical languages. He also freely quotes any theologian that serves his purpose.

In the English Bible, there are several distinctly different words that are translated as "hell." In the Old Testament, the word occurring most often is Sheol, the underworld, where all the dead go. It is in no sense a burning, flaming hell, and would not have been imagined so by the OT authors, because at that point very little, if any, understanding of an afterlife had been developed. As such, Wiese uses nearly 100% of his Old Testament references inappropriately. The reader gets the feeling that Wiese just went through an English concordance and found what he was looking for.

There are certainly questions with Wiese's account. Maybe I'm just too cynical, but I was hardly unnerved by his account of hell, as so many have claimed to be. And pretty convenient how he "instinctively" knew how the stench and the heat were "a thousand times" more intense than on earth, and that it was too hot to survive in. The reader is forced to take him at his word (or not). Did he have that experience? Maybe. Maybe he had a dream. Maybe he made it up. But of more glaring concern is how he bent the Bible to make it fit his account.

The title certainly piggybacks on Piper and Murphey's 90 Minutes in Heaven. Also, Wiese mentions he got to know a man at his gym. Wiese says, "I discovered that he had won the World's Strongest Man contest in 1996" (p. 60). Well, I looked it up. The winner in 1996 (and 1991, 1994, and 1995) was Iceland's Magnus Ver Magnusson. He lives in Iceland. I was unable to find any evidence connecting him with Wiese (although I didn't try too hard).

In spite of the heaps of criticism this book has deservedly received, it does make a good point: Christians have a duty to witness to others, as the Bible is clear that there will be a final judgment. As Wiese says on the back cover, "Even if you don't believe my story, I hope you will believe the Scriptures and avoid hell just the same." Amen to that.

From a scholarly perspective, this book is a joke. There are other "I had a personal experience" books that are a lot more credible. It is rather unfortunate that formally-trained seminarians never seem to have these experiences. It would be great to see a book like this written credibly by someone credible.

NOT RECOMMENDED