Controversy!

Jess: I hope everyone read the title of this entry in a sing-song Peter Griffin voice. If you didn't, please go back and read it again before moving on. This is extremely important to me...

Alright, so now it's time for Wes and I to tackle Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. If you haven't heard about this book, I don't know where you've been. Bell's video promo of the book led to him being attacked as a heretic, not a Christian, and basically just a bad guy. He's been on Good Morning America, the cover of Time Magazine, and I don't even know what else since the publication of this book. And that's ignoring the internet (is that even possible?). Here's Bell's 2.5 minute introduction to the book.

Anyway, this book should be in no way shocking to any well-trained, intelligent pastor; it shouldn't even be that crazy for most Christians who have seriously considered their beliefs and have more than just a "blind" faith. Whether or not you believe in it is (for this paragraph, at least), irrelevant. The book's ideas should not shock you if you have spent your Christian life wondering who God is and what God does. Bell himself says, "...nothing in this book hasn't been taught, suggested, or celebrated by many before me." Yet he is being called a heretic on a daily basis. People are insisting that Rob Bell can't possibly be correct. Pastors are being fired for saying that Bell isn't necessarily wrong.

My biggest problem with this book isn't the book at all. I think it's well-written; Bell bases his argument in Scripture, history, and both past and current theologies. The points are fairly complex, yet he presents them in everyday, easy to understand language. A child could pick up this book and understand most of it. Yet what Bell says is tearing Christians apart--but doesn't everything? That's my problem. Wes and I have talked about this before: we're Christians. We're called to love God and love our neighbors. But how can we do this when we attack our neighbors for having opinions? For highlighting the many possibilities that God's love brings?

When we put God in a box, when we define who God is and what God can or can't do, that's when we're making our biggest mistake. I don't care if you agree or disagree with my belief that the prevailing message of God's actions throughout history is love. What I do care about is how you react through your agreement or disagreement. If you can sit down and have a conversation with me about the topic, great. If you sit me down and tell me I'm wrong and you're right, and that I'm going to hell because of my beliefs...not great. We as Christians are called to "make disciples of all nations." How can we do that if we're driving people away from Jesus? One of the greatest points Bell makes isn't about heaven or hell at all--it's that Christians are killing Christianity. We like to tell people what is and isn't true about Jesus, and for that reason, "Some people have so much baggage with regard to the name 'Jesus' that when they encounter the mystery present in all of creation-- grace, peace, love, acceptance, healing, forgiveness--the last thing they are inclined to name it is 'Jesus'"

So are we destroying the real, loving, saving Jesus through our constant need to tell people who and what God through Jesus is? I think so. I admire Rob Bell for his strength to put his name on this book. Many "Christians" today want to know that being a Christian is about going to church on Sunday, then going home and living just like they did before the Sunday service. Or they want to know that being a Christian is about telling other people their beliefs are wrong. But they don't want to hear that being a Christian being like Christ. Heaven forbid.

I have a hard time believing in a God who would lovingly send his son to die for the sake of all humanity, yet let most of those same humans spend an eternity in hell for the same sins. But I haven't yet come to terms with the possibility of God letting just anyone into heaven. It's a tough thing to accept. If God is loving enough to let me, a sinner, into heaven, then that means that God is loving enough to let let the people who made my life a living hell in junior high into heaven. Then God is loving enough to my neighbor who has never gone to church and has rejected God all her life into heaven. And that means that God is loving enough to let Hitler into heaven.

That's a lot to handle. But if Hitler sinned "too much" to get into heaven, where's the line? What if I commit one sin too many in my life? I hope that God is loving enough to accept Hitler into heaven, because that means God is loving enough to accept me.

Wes: So it seems like everyone is writing about this issue. Why not us as well? But, I must admit that no post of ours will ever hit the spot like Donald Miller's did. If you haven't read it, check it out!

Anyways, here's the deal. I've been struggling with the question of Heaven and Hell for years. The more I read Holy Scripture, and the more I grow in faith, the more I struggle with the notion of there being a place beyond death that is completely devoid of God's love. The more time I spend in worship of the Almighty, and the more I come to understand His love and mercy, the more I struggle with the idea that there is a place where God refuses to go, a depth that God refuses to dive, a realm where God refuses to give yet another chance of redemption to one of His creation. This does not compute for me. How can God be all loving and all powerful and still send people to Hell? Even more disheartening for me is this: How can God be all loving and all powerful and not allow redemption even for those in Hell?

This question started nagging on me when I was asked by a young man in my youth group whether or not God would ever forgive and redeem the devil if Satan repented. My by-rote answer was that God had condemned Satan to Hell for blaspheming and trying to usurp God, something that is unforgivable. But I started thinking over this and realized that I don't know if I believe that. Is the chasm between God and Hell so vast that His love cannot bridge it? One can always respond with something like, "Well Satan would never repent, so it doesn't matter."

Satan might not, I don't know. But I am sure that, given the opportunity, there's gotta be at least one person confined to Hades who would repent if given the chance. Would God really deny them the opportunity to receive His grace? Are we so bold as to claim a limit on God's love, even a limit so vast as Hell?

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."--Romans 8:35-39

I have to hold on to these words. I have to believe that there is no place or state of being that is too far removed that God could not be there with us if we turned toward Him. Not even death. Not even hell.

But here's the kicker: As much as I pulled a message of comfort from Bell's book on this subject, and as much as it helped me to better articulate my faith struggles in this area, I fully believe that this was nowhere near his point in writing this book. Yes, he works to tackle the question of Heaven and Hell. Yes, he asks some tough questions and poses some interesting answers. But this is not the point of his book.

Rob Bell is trying to drive home the point that the Kingdom of God and kingdom of sin are present and prevalent in the world around us now. We are able to see--to even enter into--Heaven or Hell in our lives today. Like the story of the prodigal father and his two sons, we have the choice to either enter the party--to accept and live within the grace and love and justice of God as it is given to us in the here and now--or stay outside and rail against it. We have the choice either to join with God in His saving works and revel in them or to refuse and live life on our own.

This book is about the now much more than it is about the then.

I hope that, whether you are like me and find a message of hope and love in this book or you struggle with his words and find hope in another understanding of the Gospel message, you are able to read this book for what it is worth and see it for what it is: one man of faith's attempt to convey part of his beliefs with others. Bell does not compel others to believe the same. He does not say that anyone must believe what he has written to be truth. He is simply presenting his findings and his understandings with others in the hope that this book will in some way help them come to a better understanding of their faiths. You don't have to believe him. You can even openly and adamantly disagree with him. But I pray that you can do it in the right way if this is the case. Talk through this book with someone who believes differently than you. Try to find some middle ground in it for both of you to stand on. And remember God called us above all else to love one another, so find love-based ways to interact with Bell, this book, and this situation.

Because the truth is God's alone. And whether or not we as Christians can agree on anything else, I pray that we can agree with the fact that God is love.

And love wins.

;)


You stay classy, World Wide Web!


-Jess and Wes