Probing Heaven: Key Questions on the Hereafter

Rating:
Summary: A Celestial Experience
Review: Books about conditions in the hereafter generally promise more than they can deliver because the Bible tells us much less about heaven and hell than we would really like to know. The fact that the Scriptures reveal so little indicates that we don't need to know, but that reduces neither our curiosity nor the prolixity of Christian authors. Gilmore, although filling his study with intriguing chapter titles such as "Humor in Heaven?", "Memory in Heaven?", and "Recognition in Heaven?", would really have better served us to have written a commentary on the Biblical book of Revelation. He draws heavily from that portion of Scripture for his theses; nonetheless he has a difficult time answering the questions which he poses in his chapter titles, since the answers just aren't there to the depth nor the extent that we would like to have. Gilmore's eschatology is amillennial, which will make his views acceptable to many in the Reformed camp. His writing style is not always easy to follow, and this was a book I had to put down and take up again many times before I finished it. Dr. Gilmore is a Baptist pastor in Cincinnati, a graduate of Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and the uncle of Jim Gilmore, whom many of us know. His credentials are good, but as far as probing heaven is concerned, I have long since decided to wait and experience it first hand. Whatever it will be like, I am sure that it is infinitely preferable to the alternative, and that those of us who trust Christ will go through eternity without ever having the thought that we missed out on anything by having done so.

Rating:
Summary: A Celestial Experience
Review: Books about conditions in the hereafter generally promise more than they can deliver because the Bible tells us much less about heaven and hell than we would really like to know. The fact that the Scriptures reveal so little indicates that we don't need to know, but that reduces neither our curiosity nor the prolixity of Christian authors. Gilmore, although filling his study with intriguing chapter titles such as "Humor in Heaven?", "Memory in Heaven?", and "Recognition in Heaven?", would really have better served us to have written a commentary on the Biblical book of Revelation. He draws heavily from that portion of Scripture for his theses; nonetheless he has a difficult time answering the questions which he poses in his chapter titles, since the answers just aren't there to the depth nor the extent that we would like to have. Gilmore's eschatology is amillennial, which will make his views acceptable to many in the Reformed camp. His writing style is not always easy to follow, and this was a book I had to put down and take up again many times before I finished it. Dr. Gilmore is a Baptist pastor in Cincinnati, a graduate of Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and the uncle of Jim Gilmore, whom many of us know. His credentials are good, but as far as probing heaven is concerned, I have long since decided to wait and experience it first hand. Whatever it will be like, I am sure that it is infinitely preferable to the alternative, and that those of us who trust Christ will go through eternity without ever having the thought that we missed out on anything by having done so.