Hell’s Bells, let’s Rob Hell for Heaven!

I just finished up listening to Rob Bell read Love Wins, the audiobook. Now, first up, if you haven’t read the book, and I’m fairly certain you haven’t, because it’s very new, go ahead and buy the audiobook. It’s three hours, so you can listen to it in an afternoon while you work.

Love Wins by Rob Bell at Audible.com (It’s a bargain; buy it!!)

I’d like you to read it especially if you’ve already passed judgment on what he says in the book. I’d love you to read it, even if you don’t agree with what he says.

So, what about the book… what do I think having now read it?

The first question I guess that pops up, for a Christian, when you start to think about people questioning the existence of hell or heaven or any of these things, is this: If there’s no danger of hell, (or put more cynically, we can’t threaten people with suffering for all eternity in hell), surely no one will be saved?

Surely no one will become a Christian? Will we actually begin populating hell if we stop talking about it in the ways we have done in the last 50 to 100 years? The answer, I think, is that my first reaction when the book was finished was that this book is an excellent thing to give to someone who is not yet a Christian. I feel that this will give them the tools they need to understand a little more about God - help set them on a course towards heaven.

There are a few details that I might question in the book. There are things I need to dwell on some more and go and re-read in the Bible myself, but mainly just to be amazed again at what it actually says there. But I think you’ll find as you read this book that it is deeply rooted in the Bible, and it’s the product of a man’s deep and wide study of the Bible in it’s original languages. There is a love for the scripture that shines through these pages, contrary to the oft-repeated accusation that Rob Bell and others of a similar theology don’t value the Bible, that they aren’t interested in it, or are seeking to re-write it. I didn’t see any of that come through. He may have opinions that differ from your own, but the sense I get from this book is that is has a genuine love for God, the Bible, and for reaching people for Jesus.

On the subject of heaven, and on the subject of hell, Rob Bell lists and discusses all the mentions of both in the bible – each one. He explains them all.

The part that’s fascinating is his discussions about what the Bible does NOT say about heaven or hell or the afterlife. Many of these things I have always *known* to be biblical truths, in spite of the fact that they are not present in the Bible (There’s no “sinner’s prayer” in there!). The cause of this, of course, is that we have, as Christians, in the last 50 years or so especially, tended to preach the message of Jesus, the culture of modern-day Christianity, and the habits of western Christians, all together, as a single message, proclaiming it all to be the gospel.

I find myself realizing that I need to go back and reevaluate all the concepts of God and faith that I have - and by reevaluate, I mean, go back to the Bible, read what it says about those things, and get together a list of all the things I think that the Bible said, just because it’s “common knowledge”.

So the end result of reading this book, for me?

Fresh inspiration.

I’m ready to re-open my Bible and begin studying it again, something I stopped doing a few months back for lack of faith. I am encouraged to go and listen to Jesus’ words again, and hear what he says directly.

This book as inspired me afresh to tell people about Jesus.

This is odd, given the book’s reputation for ‘getting rid of hell’, that it would encourage me to evangelism, wouldn’t you say?