Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good logical summary of evidence concerning the resurrection, March 14, 2000
The book is geared toward answering difficult questions regarding Christ's resurrection and the afterlife.In the first 64 pages Hanegraaff defends the resurrection of Christ with valid logic and a moderate amount of historical and archaeological evidence. For a more detailed account of the evidence concerning the resurrection of Christ I would recommend "A Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel or "Jesus- the Great Debate" by Dr. Grant R. Jeffrey. The next 30 pages present a defense of an afterlife where souls live for eternity. I found this section to be groundbreaking- new and unique thought in an area not often covered. The remainder of the book (186 pages) presents answers to questions about the afterlife. The questions are often asked and thought about, but I have not yet heard definitive answers as Hanegraaff gives here. Overall it is good reading and a very enjoyable book. Critics and Christians alike may find Hanegraaff's book interesting at the least. I thought it was well worth my money. I highly recommend it.
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A little disappointed, April 29, 2000
Hanegraaff divides his book into 3 sections; defending Christ's physical resurrection, defending the certainty of heaven and hell, and tackling tough questions about what the resurrection will look like.His defense of Christ's resurrection was disappointing. As a Christian, I came away from this section a little confused as to who Hanegraaff's intended audience was. His defense was at a very top level, and I found it incomplete. An informed skeptic could attack this defense by raising more detailed objections that Hanegraaff did not attempt to address, as well as raise objections on other fronts that Hanegraaff never gets into. While agreeing with what Hanegraaff presented in this section, I was anticipating a more detailed and comprehensive defense of Christ's resurrection. Because he didn't do that, I remain confused about the target audience. I found little in his defense to bolster the arguments of the seasoned Christian, or to undermine the arguments of the seasoned skeptic. Section 2 was a little better than section 1, in my view. While I was still a bit disappointed by the top level nature of this section, Hanegraaff does present sound logic and firm Biblical basis to advance his arguments here, particularly in the area of eternal torment. While still lacking the kind of comprehensive treatment I had been hoping for, I found this section to contain more useful information than section 1. Section 3 was better than section 1, but not as good as section 2, in my view. For better or worse, when scholars attempt to grapple with the issues that Hanegraaff tries to deal with in this section, an inevitable degree of speculation is in order. So while Hanegraaff tries to ground his views with Scripture (and does a pretty good job), I still walked away from that section feeling as if the answers to these issues won't truly be known until we get to the other side, because Scripture is not iron clad on many of these questions. Hanegraaff's views in this section may very well be right, but the reader should understand that because Scripture does not hit these issues head on, Hanegraaff's opinions are just that, opinions based on a certain degree of speculation. Overall, I will consult this book on an occasional basis when presented with objections from skeptics. But I would not recommend that the Christian base their entire apologetic knowledge on this book, nor would I recommend this book to non Christians that I might witness to. The information contained in the book is good for as far as it goes. In my view, it did not go far enough, nor dig deep enough to be considered a top apologetic resource on this topic.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I was pleasantly surprised., April 5, 2001
When I was handed this book by a devout evangelical friend, I was a bit skeptical that he was doing so in an effort to "witness" me and my Catholic faith. Soon after getting into this, I realized that the subject matter at hand was instead something dear to both of us (and to all of us united in Christ). Since that time, I have become somewhat of an admirer of Hank Hannegraff. His sincerity and charity, even in points of disagreements, are true models of what the Church should look like.That being said, there was almost nothing in this book that I disagreed with. As a matter of fact, it was literally FULL of positive citations from Catholic sources (Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, several different works by Peter Kreeft, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, etc). Theologically, he does an admirable job in offering his apology for the doctrine of the resurrection. On the theological side, I applaud him for emphasizing the importance this event has on the Christian faith. I hope that modernists and liberals take notice of the fact that if they reject this doctrine, they reject their entire faith, as Paul so clearly said. The reasons that Paul said this make total sense after reading this book. Concerning historicity, the book is slightly weaker, though he does raise some very valid and thought provoking philosophical and probable arguments in favor of the resurrection. While not bound to convince well informed skeptics, it will serve as an excellent starting point for those skeptics who may be persuaded to dig a little deeper into the subject. For those who have already been bestowed with the gift of grace, it will serve to deepen their convictions, and grow in their walk with God. The last section, the Q&A section, was well written, as one would expect from the "Bible Answer Man." He covers a lot of great questions, again basing some of his answers on one of my favorite Catholic writers, Peter Kreeft (the work that Hank often cites, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven, but Never Dreamed of Asking" is a very worthwhile and informative read. The only part I "object" to was a very brief treatise on sotierology :) Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.
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