"The complexity of the text is not a deficiency!"

"The stubborn fact is that Scripture is richly polyphonic on the topic of hell and judgment—as if by design. Thus, if we become dogmatic about any one position, we reduce ourselves to reading selectively or doing interpretive violence to those verses that don't fit our chosen view. Our theological prejudgments blind us to passages we may have read many time but never really seen. Even a tentative removal of traditional lenses leads to the question, 'Why didn't I ever see that verse before?' The complexity of the text is not a deficiency! If we can momentarily suspend our penchant for forcing the text to harmonize with our system or even with itself, we'll see some magnificent tensions between those old Moroccan leather covers."

- Bradley Jersak, Her Gates Will Never Be Shut, 6ff