A review of Love Wins.

My full review of Rob Bell’s newest book titled: “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.”

I ordered this book as soon as I could, partially because I’m an avid fan of Rob Bell and partially because I knew that behind all the controversy, lie a significant amount of proof-texting, bigotry and bias on the part of the accusers. Therefore I was eager to dive in and discover for myself whether all these accusations being slung at Bell were in any way accurate—I think that I did a remarkably good job at approaching the book objectively, considering how much I’ve always enjoyed Bell’s teachings, I was ready to lay the book down if I thought that he was advocating any of the heresies that people were implying.

So the book arrived and I chomped away at Love Wins, given Bell’s literary style, it’s an easy read.

He often writes books
Like this.
Some people say it’s annoying
But I think they’re grasping at straws
For something to gripe about with
A more knowledgeable scholar than
Themselves.

Anyway, the thesis of Love Wins is posing the question: Is God really going relegate billions of people (those that have lived and died, those who are alive now and those who have yet to live) to an eternal fate of torment in hell? A valid question if I do say so myself, and one that most preachers save for your staunchly legalistic baptist minister would prefer to avoid—granted, said baptist minister would integrate a heaping portion of condemnation and angry and hateful language into his spin on hell.

The book actually touches on a few different subjects, the first being the reality of heaven, the second being the reality of hell and the third regards our ultimate destination. When Bell discusses heaven, he advocates the largely orthodox understanding of heaven that it’s a reality that exists here (in our presence). It’s not a far-off location that we’ll one day abandon Earth for to go float around and play a harp. Rather, it’s essentially another reality of space-time separated from our own by a veil. Bell continues by saying that having an understanding of heaven in such a way is part of a very holistic and crucial understanding of God’s overall plan. In a nutshell, when Christ rose from the dead, his resurrection inaugurated something huge. It started the wheels turning, so to speak, on the introduction of The New Creation. It began with Christ’s resurrection and it’s in progress now. Meaning that we, as followers of Jesus, have an active role to play in the unfolding of New Creation right here in the midst of the old one. Bell echoes much of theologian N.T. Wright’s thoughts on heaven (see Surprised By Hope by N.T. Wright), Wright (and by extension Bell) explain that The New Creation is going to be “putting things to rights”, reestablishing creation as it was meant to be. That means injustices, greed, rape, dishonesty, human trafficking, arrogance, pride, etc.—none of those traits will exist within new creation, therefore when we actively seek to do away with those things in our every day lives and in our interactions with those around us then we’re playing our part to bring forth The New Creation from out of the old one. So when we see non-profit volunteers devoting all of their time and resources into digging water wells in developing countries so that it’s inhabitants can have the basic need of clean water, we’re witnessing The New Creation bursting through the old one. When we witness someone taking a homeless person to lunch and offering them some help, we’re witnessing God’s plan for creation coming to fruition. This is exactly why Christ taught us to pray “The Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Many times in Scripture God and Heaven were interchangeable (Bell describes that in the Jewish tradition, saying the name of God was so sacred and holy that often times the religious figures sought ways to avoid saying it and substituted it with synonyms like “heaven”, so we have phrases that are interchangeable like “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of Heaven”). So praying for God’s will to be on Earth as it already is in Heaven is extremely profound. We’re asking God to continue making this place exactly the way it is in Heaven. To sift out the oppression, the greed, the hatred, anger and injustices that plague the Earth and to replace them with liberation, generosity, love and justice—all elements of The New Creation, which is ultimately the marriage of the New Heaven and the New Earth as one entity.

Now conversely, when we talk about hell Bell contends that it’s just as easy, or perhaps even easier, to bring hell on earth as it is to bring heaven on earth. When we’re defying God’s will, when we’re “choosing our version of the story instead of God’s” as Bell puts it, then we’re disrupting a harmony that would otherwise be seeking to bring forth heaven on earth. An example would be enforcers of human trafficking, these individuals abduct human beings by a variety of means and trade them around the globe as if they’re a commodity. Young boys and girls are sold into prostitution, young boys are often sent into rebel army’s to be child soldiers, slave labor—you name it. The individuals out in the world that have an active role in upholding human trafficking also have an active role in bringing hell on earth. They’re serving something that is an embodiment of injustice, oppression, greed, lust and hatred. The same can be said about a number of other atrocities.

Now the most controversial topic of Bell’s book is the discussion about our final destination after death. Heaven or hell? Eternity with God in bliss or eternity apart from Him in torment? It’s always been very black and white in American Christianity, but then again American Christianity needs a lot of work done to it.

Bell refers to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus multiple times in his discussion of hell. Rightfully so, being that the parable is an ideal picture to paint when explaining heaven and hell. In life, the rich man imposed a social hierarchy, he regularly ignored Lazarus at the gate of his home who was begging for food to survive. Eventually they both died and as it says in Scripture, the rich man went to hell while Lazarus wen to “Abraham’s side” (or “Abrahams bosom” in some translations). The rich man then pleas with Abraham to have Lazarus bring him a drink of water to cool his tongue, and then subsequently begs Abraham to have Lazarus warn his family about what awaits them. Both requests are denied by Abraham. Why? Because the rich man’s heart is unchanged. Bell contends that the great chasm described in the Scriptures between the rich man and Lazarus and Abraham isn’t a physical gap but rather it’s the rich mans heart. Even in death, the rich man is perpetuating the same social hierarchy, viewing himself as superior to Lazarus and thus he expects Abraham to have Lazarus serve him. It is this unchanged heart that causes the rich man to remain in hell. "The gates of hell are locked from the inside" —C.S. Lewis.

Bell argues that those that have died and gone to hell, or will, still have a chance. One of the chapters is titled “Does God Get What God Wants?” He argues that God’s love is so expansive and His goal was for the salvation of everybody. Yet, if people are still going to hell then Christ’s death and resurrection fundamentally failed. He died so all will be saved, yet according to some, that’s not going to happen. So what he builds on is that even in death, and in hell, a person can be broken and repentant to the point where their heart turns to Jesus and is saved. They can spend a [figurative] eternity in hell, yet when they finally choose God’s version of their story over their own—Bell’s poetic way of saying that the person finally gives up everything they’re holding on to, they hit rock bottom and completely surrender to Jesus, then that’s when they’ll be welcomed to be with Christ.

I find this exegesis to be extraordinarily compelling, refreshing and in my heart of hearts I believe it to be true of who God really is.

And that’s what the bottom line is right? When we read apologetics, theological texts and the Scriptures themselves, we’re ultimately seeking out more and more of who God really is.

I think for his part, Bell is doing great with that.