So when I first heard all the reactions to Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins" I was first impressed with Rob Bell's marketing tactics (hence, everyone knew his book was coming out because of the craziness), and secondly, I was equally unimpressed with the church's public response of hate, religiosity, and dishonoring, uneducated anger (please don't vomit out your mindless opinions without careful thought and study). While I truly value great theology and doctrine, I value people more. It would be amazing if one day the body of Christ was actually once again known by how they loved their neighbor, their brother, and even their enemy, rather than be known for the doctrines they are willing to crucify one another over. I know this blog will only cover the mere surface of things mentioned in this debate, and in Rob Bell's latest book, but nonetheless I wanted to offer my reaction to the book, how ever small and attempt to do it in a way that honors a brother in the faith.
Things I LOVED:
1. The artwork and cover.
2. Writing style - conversational,
3. Layout of text and thought.
4. How Rob explains that our concept of God directly relates to how we invest our life here and now
5. How important it is and the urgency to respond to the love of God in the here and now even though God will continually pursue us with His love. Our quality of life here and in the age to come will be directly related to whether we said yes to His love or not, with differing consequences.
6. His unique, fresh perspective on the gospel presented in a way that pressed past tired familiarity and religiosity.
7. His quest for truth, and a lack of a religious spirit.
8. His quest to help redefine Christianity in how it's expressed by believers and understood by the world.
9. His call to be those who release the kingdom of heaven now (not just escape to it when we die): to relieve suffering, to fight against injustice, to spend your life fruitfully building that which will endure thru the fire of eternity, where each man's work is tested and tried.
10. How Christianity is so much less about getting into heaven or escaping hell with a certain prayer you need to say and more about a life lived well, or not lived well.
11. His perspective on the older and younger son in Luke 15, and the call to believing the Father's story about you rather than your own... both your goodness and badness can separate you from the love of God. It cannot be earned. It can only be received and trusted in or rejected, but it's still always there.
12. His outside the box perspective.
13. He unapologetically talked about Jesus being the only way to the Father but didn't limit it in a western church mindset.
14. His call to lose your life so you can find it.
15. How you may get more opportunities down the road to respond to the love of God, but how you respond to the ones you're given right now is vitally important and matter more than we can begin to imagine for our quality of life both on earth and in the age to come. There's a reality that Jesus talked about in missing out on rewards, celebrations, and opportunities for greater pleasure in God and in His Kingdom.
16. Trusting God's love.
17. Jesus does call us to repent, to have our minds and hearts transformed so that we see everything differently.
18. The idea that sin and injustice actually goes punished/corrected and won't be let in to the eternal city is amazing. Nothing that defiles will be let in to the city, but at the same time the gates are never shut.
19. Interesting idea: "eternal punishment" in Greek is "aion of kolazo" which can possibly be translated "a period of pruning", "an intense experience of correction" (Matthew 25)
20. Interesting thought (whether I agree with it or not I don't know): The possibility that the love of God is so powerful that it could continually pursue people even in hell after death, softening even the hardest heart to turn and eventually say yes to God.
21. That in the end God will never overstep the bounds of love to violate or manipulate our freewill, and that He graciously gives us what we desire, even if that desire is hell.
Things I DIDN'T love as much:
1. Presenting verses a bit out of context while lacking the exact scripture reference in parenthesis.
2. Not making a lot of clear this is true or this is not true claims.
3. A writing style that made it a bit difficult to understand what he was actually saying - sometimes presenting ideas that other people hold to but conveying it in a way where it takes a bit of detective work to understand whether he is referring to a conclusion he has come to or still laying out the groundwork for presenting a case/argument.
4. Not presenting a full case on hell, where all the scriptures were referenced and how he limited all the references to allegorical, metaphorical interpretation. The case for his argument about what hell is or is not was weak.
5. His quick, slightly obscure reference about Satan (leaving room to possibly imply that he's not necessarily a real being).
Final observations:
1. I like Rob Bell and I'm glad he's a part of the body of Christ.
2. Rob Bell's strength is not necessarily as a line-by-line teacher, but as a thinker and philosopher.
