Love Wins seems like a particularly appropriate subject for the day after Easter, the day we celebrate the triumph of Jesus Christ (warning: YouTube link).
I finally got around to reading Rob Bell’s Book, Love Wins (if you haven’t heard of the hubbub about this book see this and this and this and this). Bell is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI and is a significant younger leader in American evangelicalism.
The Math
Bell begins with a story of an art show at his church where an artist included a quotation from Ghandi in the piece. Someone pinned to this work a piece of paper that read, “Reality check: He’s in Hell.” The certainty of the statement disturbed Bell, raising profound questions about the nature of God and the role of our beliefs in our relationship with God: is it our profession of belief in Jesus Christ that secures our salvation? This raises for Bell what I like to call “the math question.” Evangelical leaders from John Stott to Billy Graham have puzzled over how many would be saved. The math question arises from two claims: 1) that salvation only belongs to those who explicitly accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; and 2) The God of Christian faith is a generous expensive God and it is inconceivable that only a small minority of human beings throughout history will be saved.
Bell asks the question in a particularly poignant manner:
If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few?
Chance?
Luck?
Random selection?
Being born in the right place, family, or country?
Having a youth pastor who “relates better to the kids”? (p. 3)
Bell’s framing of the issue puts him squarely in that part of evangelicalism that has emphasized “making a decision for Christ.” This is not the dominant expression of evangelicalism in the PC(USA) where a more Calvinistic strain has emphasized conversion, but not so much a time and place decision. So, in one sense reading Love Wins is for Presbyterians, evangelical or not, a window into another part of Christ’s church. And for us, it can be easy to dismiss this preoccupation with whether or not we go to heaven or hell as so twentieth century.
But Bell’s book is a readable and helpful exploration on that character of God and Christian discipleship. Bell is especially helpful at taking words like eternal life, hell, and heaven and reexamining them in biblical context. And any of us in the PC(USA) would be well-served by paying attention to Bell’s serious treatment on heaven, hell, salvation, and the Christian life.
I’ve noted a healthy number of passages as particularly interesting. If you want to work through some of these together, let me know in a comment.
Charles
p.s. You have to read a book that has a line such as: “It’s as if Thomas Kinkade and Dante were at a party, and one turned to the other sometime after midnight and uttered that classic line ‘You know, we really show work together sometime . . .’” (p. 22)
Hey Charles,
Haven't read it yet, but we have an adult Sunday school class that wants to read and study this book together, probably in June. Do you know of any good study resources? The class has been using The Thoughtful Christian materials.
Thanks!
Stephanie
Posted by: Stephanie Sorge Wing | 04/25/2011 at 12:38 PM
No I don't, Stephanie. Several of the web reviews (some of which I linked to) are pretty helpful. I particularly appreciated the chapters on "Here is the new there," "Does God get what God wants?", "There are Rocks everywhere," and "The Good News is better than that."
Since the Thoughtful Christian is marketing the book (that they did not publish), I bet they'll have a study out.
Charles
Posted by: Charles Wiley | 04/25/2011 at 12:48 PM
As soon as I heard about Bell's book, I thought of one of my favorite passages from the Second Helvetic Confession: "And although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of the small number of elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate."
I read, appreciated, and enjoyed Bell's book. I was surprised that his theology of resurrection seems so tame. I don't think he once speaks of Jesus' resurrection as something unexpected and unnatural; instead, he says a lot about "That's just how this works," using analogies from nature and such. Those might be good passages to explore in depth.
Posted by: Mike Poteet | 04/25/2011 at 02:01 PM
Well said, Charles. My own review:
http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/?p=228
Posted by: Timothy F. Simpson | 04/26/2011 at 10:53 AM
Thanks, Timothy. I, too, was impressed at his facility with the biblical material. Mike, your observation on the resurrection is really interesting--I hadn't noted that.
Posted by: Charles Wiley | 04/26/2011 at 10:56 AM
When I first saw the title to his book (and I have all the Nooma and have been to hear Bell in person, yada yada yada--not a Bell hater) I thought 'No, its God Wins---we have a problem when we try to define what it would mean for "love" to win"
Posted by: Matt Ferguson | 04/26/2011 at 04:11 PM
Matt, Reformed to the core, eh? I appreciate your distinction. My guess is that he finds "love wins" to be a more attractive and evocative title.
In some ways he reflects Barth's idea that God's "yes" in Jesus Christ is greater than God's "no" in judgment. But Bell appears to have no first-hand knowledge of Barth.
Charles
Posted by: Charles Wiley | 04/26/2011 at 04:14 PM
Charles, I just saw on my docket that you will be speaking at our presbytery next Tuesday. I hope to get a chance to say hello personally and reminisce about our class with Shelly Isenberg together a lifetime ago at UF but if I miss you, please know that I will still be walking through the crowd telling people that I clearly spotted your brilliance all those years ago :)
Posted by: Timothy F. Simpson | 04/27/2011 at 10:24 AM
Wow, talk about a blast from the past. I'm hanging out all day, so try to find me. I'm preaching in worship then doing the Belhar presentation. Other than that, I'm free.
I just quoted Isenberg in a paper I did internally on interfaith relations--perennial philosophy. He was actually a key figure for me deciding to go to seminary. So what are you doing now?
Charles
Posted by: Charles Wiley | 04/27/2011 at 11:09 AM
Isenberg was a great influence on me as well i ended up writing my MA thesis under his direction after i went to seminary. Right now I am preparing to defend my dissertation this summer at Florida State. I'm my wife's parish associate, I teach part time at UNF here in Jax and I am an editor at Political Theology. I don't work full time because of vision problems, but I stay busy. I will keep you in prayer as you lead our discussion on Belhar. Some presbyteries have had very strange, conspiracy-laced discussions about this and I am hoping that's not where ours goes.
Posted by: Timothy F. Simpson | 04/28/2011 at 07:26 AM