Love Wins

Love Wins – by Rob Bell

When this book was released a few years ago, a ginormous controversy was born because of the subject matter – Universal Salvation. For those unfamiliar with the term “Universal Salvation”, it means that everyone, eventually, will make it to heaven when they die.  Mr. Bell is a Christian pastor, so these sentiments don’t ring very well for the dogmatically devout.  Everyone gets into heaven?  Everyone?  Well, what’s the point of “The Great Commission”?  Why bother evangelizing?  Sincere Christians (and, yes, most are sincere, wonderful people) take things like this pretty seriously.  Needless to say, this book ruffled quite a lot of feathers.

Maybe because Bell is so well known that this book had such a dramatic effect, because this concept isn’t entirely new.  I’m sure even the most Calvinistic of the faith have wrestled with this topic in their hearts at some point.  I know I certainly have.  See, also,  C.S. Lewis’ “The Great Divorce”.  Plus, I’ve always doubted the sincerity of anyone who claims to be a Christian that actually wants anyone to spend eternity in hell – regardless of how awful the person might be.

Sadly, though, subject matter aside, this simply isn’t that great of a book.  I’ve never heard Rob Bell preach, but he writes this book as though he’s preaching a sermon, and the structure of his prose is very distracting.

For example
When he wants to make a clear point
He’ll isolate his text like this
On separate lines
He does this throughout the entire book
And it’s incredibly annoying
incredibly annoying

I’ll say it again
It’s incredibly annoying.

In fact, it can be hard to follow his thought process at times.  At the beginning of one chapter,   he starts to tell a story about the rapper Eminem, and how the man changed (supposedly) in his faith, but I never quite understood exactly where Mr. Bell was going with the story, nor do I think he ever actually finished it.  Then, he starts off another chapter stating that, for the first few hundred years of Christianity, most of the church leaders believed in Universal Salvation, but Bell only devotes about one paragraph to this notion.  Why not more?  Why not an entire chapter?  Why did they believe it?  Why did the church change?  So I felt cheated many times throughout the book when he doesn’t expand on many of his points.

He does make some great illustrations using scripture.  Yes, there are those who yelled “he’s quoting scripture out of context!” but this is true about any book written about any faith.  I particularly enjoyed his point about God will give you heaven or hell on earth, whenever and wherever you want it.  In my own life, I see so many miserable people, who are miserable by choice.  I’ve often wondered, do they actually enjoy being miserable?  Seems quite the oxymoron.  Yet I see it all the time.  So Mr. Bell’s point is that the heaven and hell that Jesus refers to, refer to your life on earth – not necessarily the afterlife.

I’ll also give Rob Bell credit for not really claiming to “know” all the answers.  What he is essentially doing, is absorbing an awful lot of difficult questions about God and the Bible, and asking more questions.  He even humorously details when he has asked church leaders some of these exact questions, and the responses he gets. 

Example of a Question: If a loved one isn’t saved and they don’t make it to heaven, how can we possibly enjoy heaven knowing someone that we deeply loved is in hell? 
Church Leader’s Answer: Heaven will be so wonderful, you won’t feel any sorrow nor pain, so you won’t even think about people in hell. 
Well, I guess that’s a “good” answer, but it certainly doesn’t make my mortal being feel any happier. 

Another example of another Question: What is heaven really like? 
Church Leader’s Answer: It’s like one long continuous church service that goes on forever. 
Bell’s response: That sounds more like hell!     

So some good ideas for thought, but I just wish this book was written better, and a bit differently.  I’m sure there are better, more detailed books around this subject, and I will one day make my way around reading a few.  Although most Protestant churches that I’ve attended don’t believe in Universal Salvation, I have to honestly say that I hope this author is correct.  I’ll also say that if God came down from heaven and told me that Universal Salvation was, in fact, true, I wouldn’t change one thing about my life as a Christian.  I would continue to go to church and study the Bible.  I wouldn’t cheat on my taxes, be an unfaithful husband, nor slash the tires of a few ex-bosses.  

The love of God is simply too amazing for me to live my life any different.