The purpose of Heaven and Hell is to give the student reasons for believing in both of these as real places and giving them a vision of what Heaven might be like.
We will cover the following:
- to do a word study and get background material on the few words that are translated heaven (Hebrew’samayim’ & Greek’ouranos’) and hell (Hebrew Sheoul & Greek Hades, Tatarus & Gehenna) so that the student has a good idea of what these words mean.
- for the student to see how the doctrine of heaven/hell is developed chronologically from the OT, into the NT with its final treatment in the book of Revelation.
- as best as possible, to take people thru step-by-step, what happens when they die.
- to show people how the concept of resurrection fits into heaven/hell.
- to see if the modern view of heaven ( as either sitting on clouds or a church praise service 24/7) & hell(as a torture chamber & eternal fire, etc.) is biblically valid.
- to answer several questions such as:Hell…wouldn’t a loving God give us all a 2nd chance?…are there levels of punishment in hell?…is hell permanent or temporary?….what is hell like? Is it an eternal fire? Is it a real place? Etc.Heaven…do we just sit on clouds all the time?….is it an eternal church praise service?…do we know everything or do we keep on learning?….what is heaven like?….who gets to go there & why?
References:
Books:
Heaven by Randy Alcorn….this is the best book I’ve seen on the subject of Heaven!
Who Made God by Ravi Zacharias & Norm Geisler pgs 30-31
The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel pgs 169-194 on Hell
Sense & Nonsense about Heaven & Hell by Boa and Bowman
Across the Spectrum, chapter 18 by Boyd & Eddy
Websites:
Hell…. www.theopedia.com/Hell & www.apologeticspress.org, click on Doctrinal Matters, under Topics click on Hell or Eternal Punishment
Heaven… www.theopedia.com/Heaven
Teaching materials included in this 6-7 week class:
Class overview
Teacher instructional video
Teacher notes…very important for this class
Teacher handout
Student notes
Powerpoint presentation….very important for this class
Cost of class: $30
Student materials:
Teacher instructional video
Teacher handout
Student notes
Cost of class: $20