Edge of Eternity Audio Perspectives on Heaven | 
 enlarge | Author: Randy Alcorn
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Category: Book
Used (4) from $12.95
Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 1777045
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1578562910
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781578562916
ASIN: 1578562910
Publication Date: October 19, 1999
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Product Description
The gripping, visionary best-seller with the eternal message is now available in audio. Best-selling author Randy Alcorn's gripping, action-packed, and intensely spiritual thriller, Edge of Eternity, is now available in abridged form on audio cassette. A disillusioned business executive whose life has hit a dead end, Nick Seagrave has lost loved ones to tragedy and his family to neglect. Now, at a point of great crisis, he unbelievably and inexplicably finds himself transported to what appears to be another world. Suddenly he's confronted with profoundly clear views of his own past and personality. And, he's enabled to see, hear, taste, and smell the realities of both heaven and hell - realities that force him to face dangers and trials far greater than any he's known before. Pitted against flying beasts, a monstrous web that threatens to hold him captive, an evil, brooding intelligence, and undeniable evidence of a spiritual world, Nick must finally consider the God he claims not to believe in. Walking between two worlds, Nick Seagrave prepares to make decisions that will change his life forever as he stands on the Edge of Eternity.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 Excellent book!! June 13, 2008
Again, Randy Alcorn has written an excellent book that keeps the reader on the edge of the seat until the very last page.
Fantastic and thought provoking April 20, 2008
The name of the book should have given me a clue but I was shocked to walk in to a fantasy land with Nick. The symbology while not as subtle as C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, still make me think hard about my own life and what is most important.
Ray Ruppert, Author of "The Sovereign Reigns, or Does He?" "The Sovereign's Last Battle" and "Revelation: A Layperson's Reflections"
 Non-seniscial allegory March 9, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
[...] By the way, nice Silent Hill reference, what with the protagonist ending up in a car wreck and then being attacked by red pterodactyls. I only wished that the rest of the book had followed suit.
To say that the scenes in the book are cartoonish would be a compliment. Random actions occur in rapid fire succession, with no repercussions or consequences. A character will be introduced out of nowhere say something or do something, i.e like getting punched in the face, and then it won't be mentioned again in the next sentence or anywhere else for that matter. You know PUNCHING someone is pretty serious and should have repercussions. The book jumps from one thought or action to the next, characters make random comments or get killed off left and right and then a new scene happens, almost as if the author had ADD.
Speaking of parable, the author has no sense of moderation or proportion. Everything is between two extremes, or extended into hyperbole where the comparison gives no idea of proportion. The author throws around the words "Infinite", "eternal," "endless,", "omnipotent", "infinity" only because he probably never really thought about the true implications of those words. By thinking about those terms seriously, you run into problems. He could have used terms that mean things that are really big (like use continents instead of galaxies, or instead of "a thousand quasars", he could have said "a quasar"), and still would have sounded ridiculous, but at least the reader could a basis of comparison and would have had an easier time imagining that.
At one point, other Christian- metaphor characters stop as guests at a fabulous, thousand-acre estate with servants, horses, and gold owned by a character named Timothy Bartholomew (of course, if they were TRUE followers of the Guidebook/Bible, that, failing to convert him, our heroes would have sacked and pillaged the place, taking all their women, livestock and gold). After being tempted to stay, one character remarks "It's a great estate by the world's standard. But by the standards of the King [God], it's a ramshackle old hut soon to be reduced to ashes." Okay, so what happens when the King actually encounters a "ramshackle old hut soon to be reduced to ashes", does he call it an anthill, or perhaps a bacteria colony? If it was a TWO thousand acre-estates, what would he call it, a ramshackle old cottage soon to be reduced to ashes? And what sort of things would the King consider to be a thousand acre-estate, maybe a galactic star cluster made out of molten platinum? Similarly, in Dominion, Randy Alcorn says that a waterfall is so gigantic that it makes Niagara looks like a trickle from a faucet. If they are that far apart, there's no reason to compare them. It's a nitpick, but it really demonstrates how out of proportion the author's metaphors can be.
On page 127, Michael the archangel says "Let us destroy them now, Master--please." to which Jesus replies "You know if that was what I wanted I could unmake them all in a single moment or destroy them with merely a thought." So...he just admitted that angels are superfluous and redundant. Next he says that dying is "the only way to save them." Only? What exactly is limiting an omnipotent being to one thing?
On page 333, Jesus says that salvation "Cost you nothing. It cost me everything." Actually it costs Jesus nothing, who being omnipotent could died an infinite number of times in an infinite number of ways and been resurrected an infinite number of times. It is impossible for an omnipotent entity to lose anything, much less everything. Dying once and being resurrected costs much less than that. Humans, on the other, upon accepting salvation are expected to give up everything. It is said that they may be compensated, but there is a cost nonetheless. So really, it should be reversed. "It will cost you everything. Once it inconvenienced me slightly, but it's gone now."
Often the author will tell us that ending up in Hell is a choice, rather than simply a failure to accept a gift. It's a choice, except he often shows people being cast in there AGAINST their will, so then I guess it's not a choice but a punishment or consequence. If it was a choice, you'd think they would just change their mind. By the way, the author appears to deeply hate those "Works verus faith" people. They are never seen as good people and the author seems to gleefully show they are going to Hell for daring to think that good deeds will get them into heaven every chance he gets..
On page 106, a character says about Hell. "Why do you blame the King? It wasn't he who made the chasm." "Then who did?" "You did." Sorry, individuals do not have the power to create cosmic realms of evil and desolation, much less creating them deliberately. If they did have that capacity, it had to have been placed there by God, so then that would mean that God is to blame for the chasm, perhaps indirectly, and the character's statement makes no sense.
Capital crime of literature: making your antagonists pathetic, stupid or weak. You want a compelling conflict, you have to make the villain at least appear menacing. In this one, Satan is the butt of countless pathetic analogies i.e. a schoolyard bully with peashooters, a carnival barker, a puppet, etc. Eh, if he is a puppet or a tool then that means he is not responsible for his actions, then why should he be punished for his actions?
Whenever something logically nonsensical, the characters more or less just pass it off as "God's-Mysterious-Ways". Why is God apparently fighting against evil on equal terms? His Mysterious Ways. Why aren't generous people allowed into heaven? God's mysterious ways. Etc.
In the story, the bible is represented by the "Guidebook". And yet, the characters never argue over different translations of the Guidebooks, or what a phrase means, like people do with the bible. They always act as if the Guidebook is clearly the truth or even is clear in what it means or says. The characters never question or come up with different interpretations. If the Guidebook metaphor were taken realistically, our characters would split off into different groups, each with their own version of the Guidebook or even encounter people with entirely different Guidebooks.
I also have questions where all their food for their journey is coming from. I don't see anyone working on that world, or doing any manufacturing. The book mentions constantly that our heroes on their quest trade for food, but the whole world can't all exist on a barter system, particularly since our heroes do no work themselves. This is brought into play particularly when the heroes dis someone who is actually doing some work, telling them to put it down to follow their fairy-castle-in- the-sky-dream. Easy for them to say. I didn't see them doing any work. They must think they're too good for it.
Edge of Eternity makes you think outside the box! March 1, 2008
I enjoy reading Randy Alcorn books, so started reading this one from a familiar viewpoint. Immediately this book takes you beyond familiar and places you in a new world view. While being fiction, it does challenge us to think outside the box which I like. Truth is we are made for eternity... the question is where will 'you' spend it? Don't get caught on the wrong side of this question. Your choice will have eternal consequences. I enjoyed reading this book
PS ~ For a great "who done it" novel don't miss reading Deadline by Randy Alcorn. Very good also.
 A Little Weird, but Good November 3, 2007
Once I figured out what was going on, I liked this book. It's more of an alegory with an SF tilt than a straight-up novel. Kind of a crossbreed, I guess. I suspect Alcorn may have been thinking of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan when he wrote Edge of Eternity. I know I was, as I read it. It's good, and an easier read than Pilgrim, but not as deep--that would be a very tall order. It's a good read, particularly if you enjoy speculative fiction.
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