Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Review Chapter 8
“Love Wins” now has a Study Guide
Rob’s Urgency
Chapter 8
The End Is Here
Before reading Love Wins
However, that wasn’t to be.
His immediate response was:
“Rob opens the door to universalism.”
And his tone of voice made it clear that he wasn’t open to discussion on the matter. He wasn’t saying no to “universalism” he was saying no to discussion. Talking about it wasn’t allowed. Reading the book was akin to having tea with the Devil and talking about it was outright blasphemy.
It was a non-topic, an unbroachable, a never-to-be-brought-up-again issue. He never said he had or hadn’t read the book, or that he liked it or didn’t like it. His statement was a warning not to read it as if doing so would put me within the contagion range of a deadly disease.
His remark also carried a sense of superiority, that is, if he had actually read the book.
He could read the book and not be affected but most couldn’t.
Just to be clear, although “universalism” is a four-letter-word in fundamentalist theology today, it has been entertained by Bible believing Christians in history, some Christian churches still teach a form of it today and most non-Christian religions teach a version of it. So, the best way to answer it is to engage it. There are two extremes: Read more
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Review Chapter 5
“Love Wins” now has a Study Guide
Rob’s Salvation
Chapter 5
“Dying To Live”
If Love Wins
In the first half Rob offers a new way to think about heaven and hell, other than the popular…
Once you die it’s over, there’s no turning back.
And his ideas go much further than just questioning the finality of death. He says the offer of salvation may never end. All four chapters are important for developing his thought:
- Chapter 1 – the quandary. Rob, through a series of questions, shows that conventional ideas about salvation are not always consistent or logical. Wouldn’t terminating a life before the age of accountability be wise if it would surely save a soul from endless torment? That would be the logical thing to do if destiny is sealed at the point of death.
- Chapter 2 – heaven. Rob demonstrates that heaven is with us now and religious ritual is neither needed to prepare for it ahead of time nor necessary to engage it now.
- Chapter 3 – hell. Rob’s hell is painful and he never minimizes the sins that put us there but for him it isn’t final and it’s purpose isn’t torment. It is corrective not punitive. The grace of hell is in the option to repent. Rob’s hell has an exit plan.
- Chapter 4 – God. Because God is loving, it isn’t illogical to suggest He can and will offer salvation to everyone for as long as it takes for them to repent and return to God.
That is his proposal. Read more
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Review Chapter 4
“Love Wins” now has a Study Guide
Rob’s God
Chapter 4
“Does God Get What God Wants?”
In chapter 3 Rob argued that hell is not final, meaning those in hell will still have the chance to repent. It’s still hell and it may last forever but it’s not final.
In chapter 4, building on that idea, Rob suggests that the option to repent never ends and that all things and every person will eventually be restored. He appeals to common sense, human decency and what we know about God to make his point. God, he says, is too loving to withdraw the offer of salvation and he adds several other arguments along the way, both biblical and philosophical:
The contradiction
Rob begins this chapter by taking quotes directly from church web sites. The quotes represent the beliefs of the people in each church and Rob points out the contradictions in these statements.
For example, on the one hand God is represented as:
Mighty, powerful, loving, unchanging, full of grace and mercy and all-knowing. This God is the one who created the world and everything in it. This is the God for whom all things are possible, pp.96-97.
But, in spite of these remarkable attributes the same sites suggest:
The unsaved dead will be committed to an eternal conscious punishment (p. 96)…billions of people will spend forever apart from this God, who is their creator, even though it’s written in the Bible that ‘God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (p. 97).
And Rob punctuates the apparent contradiction by asking several searching questions: Read more
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Review Chapter 3
“Love Wins” now has a Study Guide
Rob’s Hell
Chapter 3
Hell
In Chapter 3 of Love Wins
Rob doesn’t deny hell or suggest it is less intense than people say and he speaks of it as a reality no further away than heaven.
There is hell now, there is hell later and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously, p.79
Where Rob differs with convention is he says a person’s time in hell may only last for a temporary period during which they are trimmed and pruned, making them more ready for heaven. In other words, hell may exist forever but it isn’t final. The option to get saved from hell is possible, according to Rob’s interpretation of Scripture.
Again, he doesn’t lighten hell’s intensity or the sin that puts anyone there. Hell, he says, is the outcome of your choices in this life and it starts in this life. If you want it, you get it now and later. Which means, the roots of the hell you get in the next life are laid down in this one.
To make his argument Rob begins by pointing out that our ideas about hell may not be as well founded as we think. He says… Read more
Sovereign Choice: Jacob And Esau
This post focuses on statements made about Jacob and Esau in Romans chapter 9.
Unfortunately, God’s dealings with Jacob and Esau are often used to bolster the claims of Calvinism, the idea that God elects certain people for salvation and sends everyone else to hell. And, admittedly, God made three very interesting statements relative to these two men that on the surface seem to support a Calvinistic view.
This post, however, is written in an effort to rethink Jacob and Esau and offer a different perspective. It isn’t a final answer on God’s sovereignty but is a different interpretation on these two fellows and God’s relationship to them.
It is my contention that the names “Jacob” and “Esau” were used, in most cases, as references to nations not individuals. In other words, the name of the person, Jacob, is used to represent his posterity, Israel.
And this isn’t just my opinion. Interchanging related words in this manner is a well accepted rhetorical device – otherwise known as metonymy – which is often used in the Bible. Most references to “Jacob” and “Esau” are references to their descendants and that is particularly true in Romans 9.
Figures of speech aside, however, you don’t have to be grammatically astute to recognize that any direct statement to or about “Jacob,” after the death of the man, in every case is a reference to his descendants.
Most references fall into that category. The conversation with/about Jacob and Esau, lasted almost two millennia. Obviously, most of what God had to say was said after they were dead.
What that means is, God’s choice of and discussions about Jacob or Esau was national. It was focused on the larger picture. He was choosing a community, a nation to work with. He was selecting Jacob’s posterity not just Jacob and this choice had nothing to do with personal, individual salvation.
Now, with that understanding in mind let’s note some facts and make some general observations about the Romans 9 passage.
God made the following critical statements:
- The elder (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob). Genesis 25:23 and Romans 9:12
- I have loved Jacob but Esau have I hated. Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13
- I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Exodus 33:19 and Romans 9:15
Although all three statements were repeated in Romans 9 they were originally recorded in the Old Testament and were separated by hundreds of years.
- The conception of Jacob and Esau, 1800 BC (+/-). Genesis 25
- The Exodus, 1400 BC (+/-). Exodus 33
- The Book of Malachi, 400 BC (+/-). Malachi 1.
Paul added some explanatory remarks to these statements which seem to further endorse Calvinistic ideas:
- Paul said God’s choice of Jacob over Esau was based on His elective purpose.
- He pointed out that this choice was made before the boys were born and, therefore, before they had done anything good or evil.
- He said the choice was based on mercy and not human desire or effort – not of him that willeth or runneth.
Everyone admits these statements were made in the context of Romans 9. Not everyone accepts the Calvinistic interpretation imposed on them. I offer the following arguments as the basis for a different opinion. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration