Book Review: Hank Hanegraaff's Afterlife

There have been many books discussing the afterlife whether it be in the format of someone analyzing versus on it, and writing about it, or someone sharing their near death experience. While I've read a few discussing the near death experiences people have shared, I haven't read one that discusses it in a more analytic way. There are some good points, and some stuff that seems stretched. With something like this you need Biblical passages to back up what you say, and while he does that in many cases, he also veers off often into sharing his own opinion that he doesn't use with verse backing.

With the many interpretations of the afterlife it can get confusing, especially for Christians, since just within this faith there are many perspectives on what exactly happens. Hank Hanegraaf tries to take a different approach the topic, by mixing ideas of notable Christians along with Biblical passages to narrow down what is said about the topic of the afterlife, and how it has been misinterpreted as well. He covers many topics including where heaven and hell are, whether we will have physical bodies, if animals will be there, what we will look like, and much more.


It's refreshing to find a book that does try to approach the subject in a logical way. Faith can't always be summed up in terms of the human mind, but it doesn't mean you can get crazy with it either just because it can't, and Hanegraaff attempts that. The thing is while some of it is great, and definitely adequately explains the topics with the appropriate Bible passages, others seem like it's just coming out of his own opinion, and seem to cater too much to how one person wants to read it.

The places where most will sort of feel uncomfortable at is with his views on Revelation. While his interpretation is understandable it is also refuting many other claims Jesus made of the final days of the current state of humans before his return. Including the passage where he discusses the disembodiment of one person beside another while the other person was left. Hanegraaff I'm sure can explain this is the best way, but sum it up in a metaphorical sense. You can't say that just because Jesus spoke parables makes the other parts of the Bible less literal. I don't necessarily disagree, but I also don't see enough backing in the book to explain why he counts some things as literal, and writes off the book of Revelation as metaphorical, specifically the parts explaining Heaven, which he says is just a sum up passage of God in another sense.

Probably one of the favorite parts of the book is when he discusses near death experiences. On this subject he does try to ride the line of it being possible, and not being possible through plausible reasons. This is also where his Bible references become strongest especially against John Piper, who has gotten quite a bit of attention for his book 90 Minutes in Heaven. What he has to say on his experience will change your whole perspective of Piper's tale, as what Hanegraaff says is very rooted in truth against his experience, and makes you fear a little bit for the power Piper has given himself with his claims. There is also Colton Burpo, the boy who shares his experience of heave in, Heaven is For Real. He never rips into Burpo in the same way as Piper, but he still makes his account look pretty weak too. Overall, he provides a of roots in why near death experiences are too relative to the person to the be rooted in something you should base your beliefs on. If anything Hanegraaff should even write a book dedicated to that particular subject.

With most books of this type you will love parts, and not like others. For one, Hanegraaff and me have completely different theologies, and because the book keeps meshing his personal one into the book it sort of ruins it for others who don't adhere to the same. Knowing he is that deeply set in the idea of Arminianism is a turn off to those who think otherwise especially when this book leads the reader to think it has nothing to do with the topic of free will verse predestination. For someone who used Paul a lot he also left out several verses where he discusses that exact idea. So ultimately it's a well organized, and well thought out look at the afterlife, but with some pieces that don't seem very rooted in Bible, and more so in opinion, the very wordy explanations, and his own theology creeping in he ultimately does what he claims the people having near death experiences are doing, and that is shaping their perspectives to what their own opinion according to their view.

Rating 5 of 10.

This book was provided by Glass Road Publications in exchange for a review.