Rob Bell’s Hell

I just finished reading Rob Bell’s latest book “Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.” Twice.

Fantastic!

A predictable hullaballoo erupted even before the book’s release, because Bell clearly states his position as what many would label universalism, that is, everyone – eventually – gets into heaven. But even in the act of assigning Bell this label lies an irony that I think most people are missing.

First, Rob Bell is the first to state that his main goal is really just to start conversations. In Love Wins he succeeded even before the book hit the shelves.

Second, Rob Bell’s whole idea of what it means to “get into heaven” is what is on trial here. People have been so focused on what he says about the fate of those who don’t “accept Jesus” – whatever that means – that they often overlook the incredible, expansive “eternal life” that is on offer here and now.

I never, ever read a book through more than once back to back. Until this book came along. Not because I was flabbergasted by it, not because I was enamored with it, but because it provides such a fresh perspective on the breadth, depth and width of God’s love for all people. That’s the message that we should be coming away with, not “do I agree or disagree with Bell’s opinions about hell?”.

To be frank, it really doesn’t matter what readers think about the hell question. The issue at the heart of this controversy is “Can we disagree with each other without condemning each other?” I have come to realize that to answer this question honestly might embarrass many of us. If his critics were to closely examine whether Rob Bell has a heart for God, I think they may be ashamed of some of their rhetoric. The book uses perhaps twenty percent of its ink and paper to take a particular position on what hell may be, but spends 80% talking about the incredible love, grace and saving power that is in Christ Jesus.

It’s a triumphant book in my opinion, one that every Christian should read with an open mind. An “open mind” does not necessitate full agreement with Rob’s position, but it leaves room for what in the end is really a very sketchy and incomplete view of what hell actually is.

Heaven is here and now. Eternal life begins here and now. People create their own hell on this earth and in the age to come. Concise definitions of what that is like are scarce in the Bible if not nonexistent, so Rob takes an approach based on the one true, universal, powerful truth that is at the core of the Christian religion:  God is love. How critics can get “heretic” out of that is beyond me.

Read it. Form your own opinions about the afterlife. But also think about your opinions about the here and now and see if this book won’t expand your horizons at least a little bit.

This a very good overview from Christianity Today:

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2011/02/rob_bells_book.html

Brian McLaren’s comments are insightful and, in my opinion, necessary reading:

http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/rob-bell-giving-us-all-a-wonderf.html

Here and here are a couple more links worth checking out.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/mark-driscoll-responds-to-rob-bell-controversy-on-hell-49406/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lose/rob-bell-hell-and-john-31_b_833627.html