Rob Bell has certainly stirred things up with his new book, “Love Wins” which is a discussion (truly more of a questioning) of the modern, American (maybe not just American) understandings of heaven and hell. The week before the book went to press, the national mainstream media was on to the controversy, as several high-profile Evangelical leaders were calling Bell a heretic and that he was speaking blasphemy.
Well, I am never one to look away from a controversy, and I love the style and questioning of Rob Bell – so I bought the book and am now in the process of reading it. I will share some quotes and commentary on this book as I go, Chime in and let me know what you think!
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Referring to the story of the rich man in Matthew 19, Bell writes,
“When the man asks about getting “eternal life,” he isn’t asking about how to go to heaven when he dies. This wasn’t a concern for the man or Jesus. This is why Jesus doesn’t tell people how to “go to heaven.” It wasn’t what Jesus came to do.”
We often get our heads wrapped around a word and how we interpret it and understand it, but there are other meanings that must be taken into account. Words are not static, they don’t mean one thing and one thing only, they don’t convey one thing and one thing only. Words are fluid and responsive to the world and society in which they are used, and the way that people use words is just as varied. I think Bell engages a good conversation around the meaning of the original Greek words here that sheds some light on the conversation – doesn’t put a “final” meaning down, but shows another facet.
Another piece that caught my eye is Bell’s attention to the “separation” of earth and heaven. He writes,
“What Jesus taught, what the prophets taught, what all of Jewish tradition pointed to and what Jesus lived in anticipation of, was the day when earth and heaven would be one. The day when God’s will would be done on earth as it is now done in heaven. The day when earth and heaven will be the same place….Revelation 21 (says): “God’s dwelling place is now among the people.”
And then a bit of commentary on wealth that I think so greatly frames the struggle in our over-stocked and cluttered worlds,
“There’s nothing wrong with possessions; its just that they have value to us only when we use them, engage them, and enjoy them. They’re nouns that mean something only in conjunction with verbs. That’s why wealth is so dangerous: if you’re not careful you can easily end up with a garage full of nouns.”
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I’ll add more comments, quotes and the life as I continue to read this book. So come back and check it out.
