Chapter 1: Heaven and Hell

It may seem strange that I begin my book at the end. Isn’t the afterlife more of a destination than a starting point?

Well, I’m not really starting here. I’m dismissing the topic up front as being of little importance to Jesus. Let’s get it out of the way.

What I hope to uncover in these pages is the kernel; the real gist of the gospel; the core message that Jesus taught. I think this core should be the focus of our Christian doctrine. When we put Jesus back in his first-century Judaic setting,...