Clotfelter's Sinners in the Hands of a Good God

This is one of the best pieces of Christian non-fiction I have read. I admit to not having read a lot of Christian non-fiction, but this book is excellent. It covers some very technical topics and, regardless of whether or not you agree with Clotfelter, the author does so in a way that relative novices can understand. The book was, in my opinion, very easy to follow and strongly scriptural.

The back cover of the book summarizes the book as "David Clotfelter's reasoned and personal inquiry into the nature of divine justice." Early in his Christian life, Clotfelter tells us that he was a strong follower of the works of George MacDonald. He was led to MacDonald out of a love for the writings of C.S. Lewis as Lewis greatly revered MacDonald. MacDonald's basic belief was that God is the Great Father of mankind and reasoned that from the analogy of fatherhood all theology could be formed. This entailed a number of interesting positions. For example, MacDonald reasoned that a father would not punish his children by sending them to their rooms forever for a minor infraction. Thus, God would not send His "children" (humanity) to hell forever, but only for a time until they turned from their evil ways. It might be a long time, but certainly not eternal. MacDonald's views are very much about God's fatherhood and the importance of free will.

However, as Clotfelter grew in his understanding of scripture, he began to see this view as inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible. Clotfelter eventually moved completely to the other end of the spectrum and began to instead follow and highly revere the teachings of Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin. In this view, man's free will takes a back seat to God's sovereignty.

This book is a three part argument for viewing divine justice as the true revelation of God as given through the Bible. He divides the book into three parts: (1) Under His Judgment discusses why God must punish some men forever and why sin is such a bad thing, (2) At His Mercy discusses why God gets to choose who is saved and why that's a good thing, and (3) Within His Embrace discusses how this view of God is not only what the Bible teaches, but is also a great source of strength and confidence.

Prior to reading this book, I would have said I was a Calvinist. However, after reading this book, I think I have a better idea of what that means and feel a lot more firm in that belief. All Christians have to face the mystery of man's free will versus God's great sovereignty. This book gave a very excellent explanation of the Biblical basis for the Calvinist view of divine justice in pretty easily understood language. I think Clotfelter also does a pretty decent job of facing the different arguments and he's tried very hard to give a fair presentation of opposing views.

Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book.