Well I have been absent from blogging for anything beyond sermon posts for quite a while now, but the good news is that the remodel project is complete, the kitchen looks fabulous and even more important is super functional from a cooking standpoint; so I am back. I have not stopped reading in my absence, so in the next few weeks you will find a bunch of book reviews, but I thought I would jump back in the water with the one I finished yesterday. It is a book that has been making a bit of a stir in the evangelical Christian community since it came out in March. The fundamentalist side has reacted to it with much venom and defensiveness, but I have to admit I really liked it. The books Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived by Rob Bell.
Religion & Spirituality Books)
by Rob Bell
published in 2011 by HarperOne
Summary/Review: Many of you may know Bell from his video series NOOMA where he uses short movies to explain Christian principles in a contemporary and catching way. He has also written a number of other books, his most popular being Velvet Elvis. This is his latest authorial release. The challenge in a book review of this sort of theological land mine is to get side tracked into commenting on the theology rather than reviewing the book, but they sort of go hand in hand. Let's start with the book.
Bell is a gifted communicator regardless of the medium and Love Wins is no different in that respect. He has written a book with dense theological concepts in a very accessible and readable way. He intermingles Bible, theology, stories and interpretive applications into a very quick read that if nothing else causes the reader to spend some time thinking about their personal beliefs about God, heaven and hell. The book is rooted in Bell's rejection of the theological doctrine known as "eternal punishment," the belief that if a person dies not having accepted Christ that God will punish and torment them in hell for the remainder of eternity, which since eternity has no end is forever! Bell cannot reconcile a God who loves us in the way the father loves the Prodigal Son with a father who would punish and torment His children forever.
From that foundation he makes a Biblical and theological case against eternal punishment and for the love of God. He positions the exclusivity claims of Christ, "no one comes to the Father except through me," as a general reconciling of the world. That the work Christ is doing on the cross is what makes it possible for any of humanity to be able to once again draw near to God, rather than it being a claim that you must accept Jesus as Lord and Savior to go to heaven. This isn't new theology, in fact in many ways it is a restatement of C.S. Lewis' beliefs as espoused in The Great Divorce and in fact Bell credits that as a source for his positions at the end of this book; Bell has just incorporated contemporary language and stories to connect with a modern audience.
The book is well worth a read. We can have a discussion about the theology of the book in a separate post, but being that this is a book review. I would encourage everyone to read this book. While the fundamental evangelicals are up in arms, I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to enter a relationship with Jesus Christ and isn't that what the fundamentalists want? So read this book without fear that it will cause some harm to your belief system, in fact read it in a way that allows it to challenge your belief system either causing it to shift or causing you to reinforce your foundations.
Reading Recommendation: Absolutely YES!!!!
ok. I bought this. We'll see. :)
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