Paige and I have both finished reading "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. Here are our (sight unseen to each other) reviews.
PAIGE'S TAKE
Rob Bell would like his readers to believe that Heaven is for everyone and that no one goes to Hell. He’d also like those same readers to believe that Heaven will be here on our present earth. That’s a lovely and generous belief, but wholly unscriptural.
If there is no judgment day and no Hell; then what exactly is a Christian to strive for? Why do we set ourselves apart from others in our life, our practices, and our actions? If no one goes to hell, then why a judgment for any one at all? If the Heaven that we look forward to is based here on this imperfect, desecrated, crumbling earth, why are there verses about a New Heaven and a New Earth?
For the record, Rob Bell uses this belief of Heaven on Earth as his basis for ecology and earth-friendly practices. I’m not against being eco-minded, or in being good stewards of our earth. There’s no reason to trash the place we currently live in; but to base our stewardship on the (faulty) promise that this will be our new Heaven is, at best, limiting God. At its worst, it’s misleading and not scriptural.
I wanted to hate this book with its touchy-feely, God is Love and everyone is welcome forever message. It’s even worse than that as I read the preface. JUST THE PREFACE,
According to this book, God is so loving that he isn’t about tough love or curfews, rules, laws, guidelines or morals. God is Love and it doesn’t matter if you believe in his Love or not – you’ll always find room at the inn. Even after you’ve died, thrown away all your chances, denied his power and strength in your physical body and earthly life. Because a God that is so loving couldn’t possibly draw a line in the sand and expect people to make a choice.
Page 2 “Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?”
Yes, Mr. Bell, he does and he will. Bible verse after verse shows that God’s glory, power and creation are fully evident in everything we see and have. People that refuse to see this evidence have made the choice to refuse the truth. I will admit I still have questions about people who have not heard the gospel, but there is evidence that a higher being/power exists.
Atheists and Agnostics constantly deny the existence of God or a higher power. They refuse to acknowledge the creator, the power of God. This is a choice that God gives them; He loves us enough to let us make our own choices, but is saddened at the loss of just one from his kingdom.
Another point that disturbs me about the book is that he picks the gospel apart, but doesn’t see the picture as a whole. Grace is no good if it’s not a gift. It’s not good news if it’s not accepted. And if the gift of grace isn’t accepted voluntarily, God certainly isn’t going to force it down our throats.
Let me digress just a moment to say that throughout this book, Mr. Bell (or his editor) does not capitalize the pronouns referring to God. If this doesn’t bother you, I’d like you to think about it the next time someone doesn’t capitalize “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or your name.
I could go on and one, point by point to dissect Mr. Bell’s theology; but this would be a very long “review”. If you’d like a more detailed analysis of the book, you can check out my blog where I’ll put the long drawn out opinion of my review.
Briefly, let me say this: Mr. Bell’s theology (and the theology of others like him) is scripturally in error and factually incorrect. He points out everything that is true and false about Christianity, Grace, hope, love, God and Jesus, including Heaven and Hell and then sugars it up to make it more palatable to a world that doesn’t want to hear no. Because he’s educated and can translate Greek and Hebrew, he sounds candid and comes across to his readers as knowledgeable. He is knowledgeable, but incorrect. Look at it this way, you can know where the Eiffel Tower is and let people know all the details you can find about it; but unless you’ve actually driven there and visited the Tower itself, you would likely lead a lot of people astray with your opinions and beliefs based on the facts that you use.
I admit I skimmed through the last 5 chapters of the book because it was confusing, circular and just plain misleading.
I’m not sure how Mr. Bell can factually and truly believe in a God that gave us his Bible, but doesn’t expect us to read, absorb and live according to that same Bible.
My prayers are for Mr. Bell and the host of people he has and will lead astray because I believe he will be held to a higher standard of accountability for his misinformation than would a person who followed his teachings.
In the end, we have been given the love and grace and gift of God, through the death and resurrection of His son, Jesus. What we work for on this earth is the salvation of everyone who accepts that gift; so that we may spend eternity with them and our Lord in the new heaven that is designed for us, his heavenly children. We are joint-heirs with Jesus in the riches and glory that wait for us in that Heaven.
JEN'S TAKE
So I just finished reading this Rob Bell book. Heard of it? If not, you were either raptured yesterday or have been living under a rock. The book in question is “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.”
Oh. Well that seems simple.
So anyway, for you who are raptured and/or living under a rock, Rob Bell is one of these newfangled progressive preachers who don’t really believe in things like sin, or repentance, or heaven. Or, apparently, hell. So in other words Bell preaches the Gospel without actually touching on, well, the Gospel.
Let me start by saying that I know Paige took pages and pages of notes while reading and so I’m sure her review will be much more in-depth than mine. I didn’t take notes except for in my head, and we all know how that turns out most of the time.
But anyway.
Bell’s premise is simple, if flawed. He believes, if I understand him correctly, that Jesus will extend salvation—and entrance into heaven--to everyone upon death. And if we don’t accept Him prior to our death, we’ll get another chance, after we’re dead. And if we don’t accept Him then, we’ll get another chance. And another. And another. Until Jesus simply just lets us in, because that’s really all He wants.
Well. It sounds fantastic, but I’m left wondering something. If Jesus saves us all, in the end, anyway, doesn’t sort of remove the whole free-will aspect from it? And if we don’t make the CHOICE to accept or reject Jesus, does it even mean anything?
So Bell contends that since Jesus lets everyone into heaven, there’s really no need for anything called “hell.” (Interesting, then, that in the NT Jesus talks about hell more than He talks about anything else. He must have had quite the imagination.) And while it’s true that one cannot earn one’s way into heaven, because it is by faith and faith alone, this passage made me almost not continue with the book:
Think about the single mom, trying to raise kids, work multiple jobs, and wrangle child support out of the kids’ father, who used to beat her. She’s faithful, true, and utterly devoted to her children…She gets a few hours of sleep and then repeats the cycle of cooking work, laundry, bills, more work, until she falls asleep into bed late at night, exhausted. With what she has been given she has been faithful…She never gives up…She is kind and loving even when she’s exhausted.
With all due respect to single moms, this passage made me ill, because of Bell’s implication that, well, the poor little single mom HAS to go to heaven, because her life has been “hell.”
WHAT?
If someone, like Bell, doesn’t believe in hell, but believes in “salvation”…WHAT are those receiving salvation saved FROM?
It literally makes no sense.
Well, it does to Rob Bell. Because, you see, to “Pastor” Bell, hell is not eternal torment, or separation from God; no, hell is life on earth. That’s essentially what he’s saying. He’s saying we’re all living in one form of hell or another here on earth, so naturally when we die the only alternative is heaven, because we’ve already seen hell.
I ask again…what, then, is the purpose of salvation?
I don’t know. Most of this book just left me…befuddled. Not only does he seem to have a bone to pick with Paul (you know, Paul, the apostle, who wrote most of the epistles in the NT…that Paul) because he severely misunderstands his intent while picking apart the majority of what he’s written. Uh, Mr. Bell? It’s THE BIBLE. It is YOUR JOB to preach it. If you don’t like what it says, I suggest you find a new job. And stat.
But I think the biggest thing that bothers me is, well, the title. “Love Wins.” Essentially he’s implying that a LOVING God doesn’t send people to hell, that a LOVING God doesn’t “judge” people, that a LOVING God wouldn’t “force” someone to worship Him.
Did Mr. Bell have a father? Does he understand parental love? That’s like God’s love, how I see it. My father loved me, but his JOB as my father was to make rules, correct me when I went astray, make rules, tell me “As long as you live under my roof”, make rules…get the idea? As a young child, when I messed up—and I did, because, really, I thought the rules were stupid—I’d get spanked. Or I’d get my mouth washed out with soap. According to Mr. Bell (I won’t call him “Pastor” Bell because he DOESN’T PREACH THE GOSPEL), my father didn’t love me. Because he punished me. So in my house, love didn’t win. Hmm. Could’ve fooled me.
So when Bell says “Love wins,” what he means is that there can’t POSSIBLY be a hell. Because God, who LOVES us, wouldn’t send us to hell.
Newsflash, Bell: God doesn’t send anyone to hell. We send ourselves.
And it saddens God when we do.
So I’d say love DOES win, in the end.
