Love Wins
Rob Bell Love Wins Harper One, 2011
There was a lot of buzz these past few weeks surrounding the book by Rob Bell that supposedly caused some in our Evangelical community to right him off from our community. It strikes me as interesting to think that there are some in our Evangelical community who feel that they have the right and power to speak for all of us and right off someone like Rob Bell based on the notion that Rob has turned Universalist or has been a closet Universalist all along and now has publicly made it official with the release of his latest book, Love Wins. For those self-proclaimed watch dogs, my request is, "Would you kindly speak for yourself and let me make my own decision about Rob and his book!"
Typical to my expectations when I pick up a book or audio book by Rob Bell, I know I'm going to find a well thought out and challenging presentation of Christianity. Love Wins does not disappoint the reader. Bell has layed out some very crucial questions about heaven, hell, what Jesus has accomplished and God's expectations of the future outcome of our world based on His involvement in it. Chapter one [Here is the New There] Bell quickly shows us what has continuously been so contagious about his approach: he actually reads the Bible by honouring what is actually there and trying not to read too much of our present culture into it. He does this with the concept of "eternal" and "forever" and challenges us to consider that how these terms are used in the Bible is much more important than what context we bring to them as the reader. He rightly points out that the concept of "age" and "time" [aion] is fashioned not in scientific calculated terms of eschatological charts that littered Bibles at the turn of the 20th century, but rather focuses on an existence that is marked by different circumstances and specific relationships with God and each other that we are both looking forward to in the future and working toward right now.
In his chapter on heaven, Bell rightly points out that the New Testament perspective is built on the Jewish concept of heaven and earth combining together to create a "new age" that will result in the redemption and renewal of all creation and humanity. All the indicators about heaven are built on the Jewish Hebraic notion of God restoring what is lost in the present and not the Greek Platonic notion of heaven as a destination away from the present creation that will be an existence of "disembodied bliss." [I use the words of N.T. Wright as I feel he describes it best] I was not surprised to have noted that Bell has actually read the end of the book! The last two chapters of Revelation point out that the final destination for creation and humanity is in a renewed earth where heaven and earth [the realms of existence] will be united to coexist together in a context void of evil and filled with redeemed relationship and restored creation.
Some may balk at the level of openness that Rob Bell shares in terms of how he depicts God's intent toward the human race. In not breaching any orthodox beliefs [a comment that Eugene Peterson makes on his endorsement on the back cover] Bell points out that there were several Church Fathers and believing communities throughout history that took a Universalist stance on the outcome of God's plan for creation and humanity. Yet, most of all, Bell reminds us that in attempting to answer the question of whether everyone makes it in the end its important to remember:
Particularly in the chapter called "Does God Get What He Wants?" Bell points out that the one thing God will not do is breach our freedom to choose to engage with His love. In keeping with Isaiah type imagery, God will give us what we want. Bell states it very well in the following paragraph:
Bell hopes that after this life there is another plan, a hope, a strategy to pry those who are lost out of the clutches of evil. He mentions the interesting notion in Revelation 21:25 in the new heaven and new earth that the gates to this territory will be opened each day. Could it be that the imagery is giving us a notion that God will still be hoping and still strategizing a way for those in the clutches of evil to find their way back? We can hope and we can count on God's character of love to continue being consistent even though biblically there is no final answer on this. He rejects all notions of salvation theories that cause us to portray a schizophrenic God where Jesus [the good God] is protecting us from the anger of the Father [the bad God]. Rather he reminds us that the legal imageries of salvation in the bible are one among many imageries such as adoption, redemption, renewal, inheritance etc that try to explain the grandeur of something that is much greater and much larger than we have imagined. In fact Bell points out that it will take imagination to see the breadth of God's love through His offer of salvation in Christ.
In terms of how we have communicated the story of salvation, Bell rightfully states that what we read in the Bible is even "better than that." It's not a one way ticket to heaven bypassing the lake of fire. Its no less than God coming down and restoring his creation by defeating evil that has undermined it and establishing His rule and reign in it. All the biblical imagery points to the nations and all people coming to the knowledge of God as the Creator, Redeemer God who judges evil and recovers creation. How that will play out remains to be seen but one thing we do know without a doubt is that God's mission of love wins in the end.
Bell does not address everything in this book. He does not go into detail on what we know to have been a rebellion in heaven prior to the creation. He does not go into great detail about what "eternal punishment" describes as he says in the book. There are several other concepts that need addressing. This is not a systematic theology that tackles every poignant piece of theology related to this discussion. What it is though is the beginning of a long overdue dialogue in our Evangelical community about evaluating what we have been saying so long about things like heaven, hell, salvation, eternal life. By evaluating them we need to assess if we are being true to how these concepts come to us in Scripture. Based on the change in our theological landscape concerning our new perspectives on Jesus and Paul, the ongoing Trinitarian dialogue of the past 20 years that has caused us to recover this concept again and our attention gravitating back to Hebraic roots to understand our "newer" testament, we owe it to ourselves to revisit how we have been telling the biblical story for the last 500 years and see if the Spirit has actually taught us and we have grown in our understanding of God and in our perspective as a community.
Before you let someone speak for you, please do read this very important book that I believe will foster more important dialogue and get us going back to the bible and reading it afresh with our imagination and within the context of the Hebrew story to see what God is truly up to in our world for today and the future!
There was a lot of buzz these past few weeks surrounding the book by Rob Bell that supposedly caused some in our Evangelical community to right him off from our community. It strikes me as interesting to think that there are some in our Evangelical community who feel that they have the right and power to speak for all of us and right off someone like Rob Bell based on the notion that Rob has turned Universalist or has been a closet Universalist all along and now has publicly made it official with the release of his latest book, Love Wins. For those self-proclaimed watch dogs, my request is, "Would you kindly speak for yourself and let me make my own decision about Rob and his book!"
Typical to my expectations when I pick up a book or audio book by Rob Bell, I know I'm going to find a well thought out and challenging presentation of Christianity. Love Wins does not disappoint the reader. Bell has layed out some very crucial questions about heaven, hell, what Jesus has accomplished and God's expectations of the future outcome of our world based on His involvement in it. Chapter one [Here is the New There] Bell quickly shows us what has continuously been so contagious about his approach: he actually reads the Bible by honouring what is actually there and trying not to read too much of our present culture into it. He does this with the concept of "eternal" and "forever" and challenges us to consider that how these terms are used in the Bible is much more important than what context we bring to them as the reader. He rightly points out that the concept of "age" and "time" [aion] is fashioned not in scientific calculated terms of eschatological charts that littered Bibles at the turn of the 20th century, but rather focuses on an existence that is marked by different circumstances and specific relationships with God and each other that we are both looking forward to in the future and working toward right now.
In his chapter on heaven, Bell rightly points out that the New Testament perspective is built on the Jewish concept of heaven and earth combining together to create a "new age" that will result in the redemption and renewal of all creation and humanity. All the indicators about heaven are built on the Jewish Hebraic notion of God restoring what is lost in the present and not the Greek Platonic notion of heaven as a destination away from the present creation that will be an existence of "disembodied bliss." [I use the words of N.T. Wright as I feel he describes it best] I was not surprised to have noted that Bell has actually read the end of the book! The last two chapters of Revelation point out that the final destination for creation and humanity is in a renewed earth where heaven and earth [the realms of existence] will be united to coexist together in a context void of evil and filled with redeemed relationship and restored creation.
Some may balk at the level of openness that Rob Bell shares in terms of how he depicts God's intent toward the human race. In not breaching any orthodox beliefs [a comment that Eugene Peterson makes on his endorsement on the back cover] Bell points out that there were several Church Fathers and believing communities throughout history that took a Universalist stance on the outcome of God's plan for creation and humanity. Yet, most of all, Bell reminds us that in attempting to answer the question of whether everyone makes it in the end its important to remember:
Those are questions, or more accurately, those are tensions we are free to leave fully intact. We don't need to resolve them or answer them because we can't, and so we simply respect them, creating space for the freedom that love requires. [page 115]In fact Bell reminds us that Jesus points out to the Jews and Religious Leaders of his day that they will be surprised concerning who will be "in heaven" in the end and who will not. Lest we get pre-occupied about the level of commitment and destination of others, we are reminded by Jesus to be concerned about our level of commitment and destination in the end.
Particularly in the chapter called "Does God Get What He Wants?" Bell points out that the one thing God will not do is breach our freedom to choose to engage with His love. In keeping with Isaiah type imagery, God will give us what we want. Bell states it very well in the following paragraph:
If we want isolation, despair, and the right to be our own god, God graciously grants us the option. If we insist on using our God-given power and strength to make the world in our image, God allows us that freedom; we have the kind of license to that. If we want nothing to do with light, hope, love, grace and peace, God respects that desire on our part, and we are given a life free from any of those realities. The more we want nothing to do with all God is, the more distance and space are created. If we want nothing to do with love, we are given a reality free from love. [page 117]Bell points out that we do have the freedom to choose such distance and so create our own personal hell that betrays our humanity and God's gift of redemption and renewal. In fact, he points out that there are but only 11 instances biblically that deal with Hell and in those instances there is no mention of a place that resides at the core of the earth populated by beings who dress in red suits and wield three pronged pitch forks. Bell describes Hell to be much more sinister than that. It is an existence of living a "less than human" life and suffering the alienation that is created through dishonouring others and promoting evil that undermines God's creation. Some begin their "hellish" existence now only to perpetuate it later.
Bell hopes that after this life there is another plan, a hope, a strategy to pry those who are lost out of the clutches of evil. He mentions the interesting notion in Revelation 21:25 in the new heaven and new earth that the gates to this territory will be opened each day. Could it be that the imagery is giving us a notion that God will still be hoping and still strategizing a way for those in the clutches of evil to find their way back? We can hope and we can count on God's character of love to continue being consistent even though biblically there is no final answer on this. He rejects all notions of salvation theories that cause us to portray a schizophrenic God where Jesus [the good God] is protecting us from the anger of the Father [the bad God]. Rather he reminds us that the legal imageries of salvation in the bible are one among many imageries such as adoption, redemption, renewal, inheritance etc that try to explain the grandeur of something that is much greater and much larger than we have imagined. In fact Bell points out that it will take imagination to see the breadth of God's love through His offer of salvation in Christ.
In terms of how we have communicated the story of salvation, Bell rightfully states that what we read in the Bible is even "better than that." It's not a one way ticket to heaven bypassing the lake of fire. Its no less than God coming down and restoring his creation by defeating evil that has undermined it and establishing His rule and reign in it. All the biblical imagery points to the nations and all people coming to the knowledge of God as the Creator, Redeemer God who judges evil and recovers creation. How that will play out remains to be seen but one thing we do know without a doubt is that God's mission of love wins in the end.
Bell does not address everything in this book. He does not go into detail on what we know to have been a rebellion in heaven prior to the creation. He does not go into great detail about what "eternal punishment" describes as he says in the book. There are several other concepts that need addressing. This is not a systematic theology that tackles every poignant piece of theology related to this discussion. What it is though is the beginning of a long overdue dialogue in our Evangelical community about evaluating what we have been saying so long about things like heaven, hell, salvation, eternal life. By evaluating them we need to assess if we are being true to how these concepts come to us in Scripture. Based on the change in our theological landscape concerning our new perspectives on Jesus and Paul, the ongoing Trinitarian dialogue of the past 20 years that has caused us to recover this concept again and our attention gravitating back to Hebraic roots to understand our "newer" testament, we owe it to ourselves to revisit how we have been telling the biblical story for the last 500 years and see if the Spirit has actually taught us and we have grown in our understanding of God and in our perspective as a community.
Before you let someone speak for you, please do read this very important book that I believe will foster more important dialogue and get us going back to the bible and reading it afresh with our imagination and within the context of the Hebrew story to see what God is truly up to in our world for today and the future!
posted by Luciano Lombardi at 1:44 PM
2 Comments:
Well said, Luc.
Baxter
I finally read this book. I was blown away by it. There's so much good stuff in this book that I can't believe that Christians have been so opposed to it.
Good book, good review.
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