Love Wins by Rob Bell - A Review

Much of the controversy surrounding "Love Wins" by Rob Bell has been created by individuals who issued judgment on a book they had never read. The publisher Harper One and Bell, very skillfully crafted a marketing plan that would generate premature responses from the established church. After reading "Love Wins" it appears that Rob Bell has done what he always does; he walks up to the line between heresy and orthodoxy and, like a toddler, touches the line and looks back at the "adults" to see what kind of response he can generate.

In my opinion, he hasn't crossed the line, but he has asked several probing and uncomfortable questions that many Christians are afraid to ask and few are able to answer.

This is Rob Bell's standard operating procedure - he asks open-ended questions and just lets them hang there for us to wrestle with. I believe that wrestling with these questions can make us better Christians, but some will be left unanswered in this life.

Here are a few passages of "Love Wins" that I question or challenge.

On pages 50-51 Bell suggests that "heaven has the potential to be a kind of starting over." As proof he observes that spiritual transformation doesn't happen overnight. "Our heart, our character, our desires, our longings - those things take time." These suggestions mirror re-incarnation where, if you don't get it right the first time, you get a second chance in a new life. But he never says that heaven IS "a kind of starting over", it just has the potential; Bell suggests that it's possible.

On page 56 he says that people who die are "in heaven, but without a body". As proof he states that "those currently 'in heaven' are not, obviously, here. And so they're with God, but without a body." But his proof assumes that God and eternity are constrained by time. What happens if, when we leave our earthly body, we also leave time as we know it? We could receive our resurrected body "instantly" being outside of time, while time on earth continues for years or centuries to come until the resurrection.

On several occasions, including page 58, Bell asserts that there is a "future coming together of heaven and earth in what [Jesus] and his contemporaries called life in the age to come." As I read scripture there will be a new heaven and a new earth, but I don't read where they come together and become one.

Bell's "social justice" leanings come out on page 75, where he asserts that the rich man in Hades wants the beggar Lazarus to serve him. The suggestion is that social injustice is one reason the rich man is confined to Hades. I don't find this class-warfare in the original story. The story Jesus told does include individuals from two classes, but nowhere does it suggest that the differences in class determined their destination. Is it possible this interpretation has crept up because of a false guilt that many Americans feel, because we've been so blessed?

On page 81 he asserts that Jesus' warnings on the "coming wrath" were for his contemporaries only and not for us. He believes that these warnings dealt with the political uprising that the Romans crushed in 66 _CE. I'm not sure you can defend that position adequately. And haven't we seen that biblical prophecy can speak to several, even all, generations?

In my opinion, the most glaring scriptural omission to the book would have clearly challenged a section on page 108. In this paragraph Bell says that "many have refused to accept the scenario in which somebody is pounding on the door, apologizing, repenting, and asking God to be let in, only to hear God say through the keyhole: 'Door's locked. Sorry.'" However, this is the exact picture that Jesus himself paints in Matthew 24:36-39, and Luke 17:26-27, and again this image is used in 2 Peter 2:4-10.

On page 115 he assumes that because the gates of heaven are never shut, "people are free to come and go" from heaven. This assumption takes us where scripture does not go. Just because the gates are never shut, does not mean that people can come and go. It might mean that gates are defensive and after the judgment heaven's enemies will be defeated, so there will be no need for defensive measures. Or it could mean something entirely different; or it could mean nothing at all expect that the gates are not shut.

Pages 128-129 deal with the politically incorrect topic of talking about the "blood of Christ" in today's cultural setting. Bell states that, "what the first Christians did was look around them and put the Jesus story in language their listeners would understand" - namely blood sacrifice. However the first Christians did not have that option; God ordained the time and place for Christ's sacrifice. God established the sacrificial system, and the tabernacle/temple design. God used all of Hebrew history to foreshadow the crucifixion of Christ. It was God's story. If He wanted another analogy used, He would have picked another time and another method.

On page 145 I have a minor quibble with Bell. He states that the "energy that gives life to everything is called the Word of God." While it is a minor point, in the second chapter of Genesis and other places in scripture, the Word of God created all things, the Breath of God made man a living being.

Page 173 contains the assertion that if we die outside of a belief in, or relationship with, God, that God essentially becomes "a fundamentally different being." Is it possible that God does not change, and that we simply did not understand the full nature and character of God?

Finally, this statement from page 182 troubles me: " . . . we shape our God, and then our God shapes us." Maybe it is simply semantics but if we shape our God then He is no god at all. We may not ever fully understand God (how can a finite mind understand the infinite creator of the universe?), but the more we discover the true nature and character of God, the more we can be conformed to His likeness. If we shape our God, we will have little to change in our own lives.

Bottom line: Rob Bell does what he always does. He stretches the envelope; he asks tough questions that make us uncomfortable. Most of his questions he leaves unanswered. However, this kind of questioning can be beneficial to the Christian. If there is anything in my faith-life that can be shaken, it should be firmed up or removed altogether. With brothers like Rob Bell we will more frequently find those shakable areas. Once identified, we have the choice to become more like Christ or to walk away from Christ altogether. Do we want to be safe but shakable, or more firm in our faith because we have struggled with tough questions? The choice is ours . . . choose well.

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The Mysterious Connection Between Body And Soul

There is a mysterious connection between body and soul, mind and spirit, the sacred and the secular. I saw it again this morning.

Dad had slept pretty uneventfully last night. Sometime before 4:00 am the staff at the palliative care unit came in and changed dad's sheets and pillow case because he had sweat during the night. His breathing had become slightly more labored and they bumped his medications up just a bit.

By 4:30 am dad's breathing had returned to his normal, calm rhythm. Mom, on the other hand, was coughing up a storm and I woke up several times between then and 7:30. Each time I checked on dad and he was breathing normal. Each time I went back to sleep. No drama.

After falling asleep for the last time, I had a dream. It was incredibly vivid. I dreamed that dad had rallied and was walking around; he was out of bed! I grabbed my phone and tried to call Glenn and Marty (my brothers) because we had been told that sometimes patients rally immediately before passing away. But I couldn't get my phone to work! I was getting more and more frustrated! I tried multiple times to call Glenn and Marty but my phone kept glitching on me.

I thought, "What if I get a hold of them too late? What if dad passes away and they don't get to see this incredible sight? Dad is walking around! He's out of his bed!"

The dream was so vividly frustrating that it woke me up . . . it was 8:00 am. I looked over at dad. After a few seconds I realized that he was not breathing. About the same time, mom woke up and we told the staff that we thought dad had stopped breathing. It was all over . . . no drama.

Then it hit me . . . dad WAS walking around, but in heaven!

Was it the sub-conscious working overtime? Was it lack of sleep combined with anxiety, and an anticipation of guilt? Or was it the strange connection between body and soul, mind and spirit, the sacred and the secular? Did my spirit know that dad had already left his body? Or was it God's Spirit urgently trying to help my physical body catch up to a new reality that impacted both the spiritual and the physical?

Whatever it was, God's Spirit has been carrying us along. Looking backwards in time, God has been preparing us for several weeks. We have been mostly unaware until now.

Because of the 'fine-tuning' dad got in the hospital two weeks ago (when they adjusted his blood sugar levels, re-hydrated him, and adjusted his sleep pattern), mom and dad have spent the last two weeks with a renewed quality they have not experienced in a while. Because of an airline engine malfunction and a missed connection in February 2010, I was able to come to Florida this February and spend a good week with my folks. My brothers have had similar experiences. God is good . . . all the time . . . even when we can't see it in the "today".

I give witness again, that tomorrow we will be able to look back on all of our today's and know that God is in control. He loves us . . . even when it feels like he has abandoned us, He is guiding us to a mysterious intersection full of love and grace. The intersection of body and soul, mind and spirit, the sacred and the secular.

I don't understand it, but I have experienced it. God is good . . . all the time.

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Trash Talking In Front Of A Minister

If it wasn't for trash talking in front of a seminary student during a rugby scrum this weekend might be very boring.

Jim was a senior at the Presbyterian College of Theology in Montreal.  It was 1890 and one of Jim's friends blurted out a "profanity" during a rugby game. He quickly apologized giving the excuse, "I forgot you were there." Oddly enough, it was this awkward moment that became pivotal in Jim's life.

Jim was a decent athlete as well as a ministry student and began to seriously consider if he could use his love for athletics to minister to young men. He had experienced an internal struggle for a few years; how could he pursue his love for sports and his love for God?

His seminary instructors advised Jim to "leave the evils of the athletic life" and read the books that Christians are supposed to read; to do the things that Christians are supposed to do. The question his seminary peers were asking was, "How could anyone be a good Christian AND play violent sports like lacrosse and rugby?"

But the "trash talking" helped Jim crystallize his resolve. He would have to find a way to use sports to teach biblical truth and morals to people who may not be open to traditional Christian education.

One year later, a few days before Christmas, Jim used his dual passions for ministry and athletics, as well as a challenge from a Physical Education director in Martha's Vineyard and created a brand new indoor game; one that blended the best ideas from several sports including a medieval children's game called "Duck On A Rock".

Within days it became a sensation and it was inexpensive. All you needed was a soccer ball and two peach baskets. It's had a few transformations since then but on December 21^st, 1891 James Naismith organized the first basketball game, and the rest is history.

So this weekend, as you cheer for the Butler Bulldogs in the Men's NCAA Tournament remember that it all started almost 120 years ago, when one man decided to harness his passion for athletics and channel it for use in advancing the Kingdom of God.

By the way, what are you passionate about? Could you harness your passion and use it for the glory of God? You don't have to wait for a trash talking friend. Just Do It!

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God Loves Us . . . Really

God loves us but sometimes it doesn't sound like it. In the second chapter of the Old Testament God says to Adam and Eve, "if you are disobedient you will surely die." The Deceiver whispers, "He didn't really mean you would die." Then we see it in real life.

Six year-old boy Benji Easler died recently when the miniature train he was riding tipped over at Cleveland Park in South Carolina. In one respect it was a tragic accident. But there is more to the story.

The park managers decided to run the train two weeks earlier than normal to take advantage of the warm weather and the crowds that would likely use the train.

Two days before the accident a state inspector filed a report claiming that he had inspected the train and that it had passed inspection. Unfortunately, the paperwork was falsified. The train was never inspected.

Now we learn that the train operator was speeding when the train derailed and tipped over. But who hasn't gone a few miles faster than the posted limit?

There are also reports that the accident occurred on a section of the track that had been repaired last year.

Was it simply an accident or the law of unintended consequences? Did greed play a role in the early opening of the park? Did laziness or deceit regarding mundane paperwork hide the deadly defect? Did someone who ignored silly "speed restrictions" create a dangerous situation? Did shoddy workmanship last year play a role in a tragedy this year?

What went wrong? We have laws that keep greedy companies from gouging their customers. We have inspection plans for amusement parks and we hire state inspectors to do the inspecting. We've established speed limits on roads and rail. We've developed quality standards for acceptable workmanship. Why aren't these safeguards enough?

We have a governmental form of right-living; unfortunately, we also have citizens who lack personal integrity.

Plato, a philosopher who lived 400 years before Christ, saw the same situation in his home of Athens. As one writer put it, Athens had a residual corporate righteousness that "covered up for individual decay . . . Private vice would undermine public virtue."

Personal immorality, no matter how small, can have devastating effects for those around us. The writer of James reminds us that even tiny things like the words that we say can create great damage - it can even change the whole course of our life.

Disobedience to God's law often leads to dreadful results. If God warns us about it, and the Deceiver says not to worry about it, which one is telling the truth? But the deception goes farther.

The Deceiver not only lied about WHAT would happen, he also lied about WHY it happened. He implied that God did not love us. But if God warns us about real danger, and the Deceiver says not to worry about it, which one really loves us?

The moral code laid out in scripture is for our protection and provision. We are also instructed to "count the cost" of our decisions; as individuals, as churches, as communities, and as nations.

So what will be the cost of action in Libya when the defense secretary says, "it's unwise to set as specific goals things that you may or may not be able to achieve"? Is military action without defined goals going to cost more than we are willing to pay?

What will be the cost in the Wisconsin communities where teachers call in "sick" in order to protest in Madison? Will their students learn that you don't have to tell the truth to your employers as long as you have a good reason? Will they learn to lie in other situations?

The cost of church scandals have permanently scarred many, both by the initial transgression and by the cover-up. Children of broken families are always hurt by situations that usually start with a "wink-and-a-nod".

God loves us. That's why He calls us to personal integrity. That's why He asks us to count the cost. If that had happened, even once, in the last few weeks Benji Easler might still be alive.

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We Are Called To Reason

Isaiah 1:18 reads: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

God designed us to use reason to know and establish truth in our culture. And although we enter the 'house of salvation' only by active faith in the risen Christ, God does not require us to check our brains at the door.

   

Peter tells the church, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." We should be prepared to reason with people regarding the truth of our claims about Christ.

The Bereans were applauded for using scripture to determine that what Paul was preaching was true. Later, Paul used reason to present the gospel to the Greek culture on Mars Hill.

The Founders of the United States believed in reason as well. If everyone has freedom of speech and freedom of conscience, they believed we could discuss, debate, and give reasons for what we thought to be true. And they believed that truth would be discovered if we reasoned well.

This is why they established the "free exercise" of religion, even though they were almost exclusively from Christian denominations. They were confident that when people diligently seek religious truth and are free to reason, the truth will always be found.

However, over many years, the North American culture has abandoned the idea of knowable, absolute truth. Many believe absolute truth does not exist, and even if it does - it cannot be known. As a result we have lost the art of reasoning. The meanings of terms like proposition, argument, syllogism, fallacy, and dilemma are unknown to many adults, but years ago they were taught to elementary students.

When reasoning has been lost in a culture, we resort to physical, emotional, political, or economic force to achieve our desired goals. Consequently society suffers.

Zero tolerance laws have lead to silly situations where students have been suspended from school for bringing a plastic knife to cut a birthday cake. Why? Because adults refuse to do the difficult work of reasoning.

Apple has removed the app for the Manhattan Declaration from its iTunes store. The Manhattan Declaration uses reason to advance the belief that life is sacred, marriage is sacred, and religious freedom is worth fighting for. Apple calls it 'hate speech' and refuses to engage in or permit reasoned discussion.

Recently, legislators have done what many of us do when we face tough decisions - run. Could things have turned out differently if we had stayed and done the hard work of reasoning and wrestling with difficult decisions? Only if everyone was determined to find the truth.

When reason is suppressed or lost, tensions within a culture begin to rise and eventually boil over as we can see in nations around the world, and as we have witnessed in America in race riots and a Civil War.

When the church fails to reason, it can become legalistic with lists of "do's and don'ts" that ignore the truth and drive people further away from God.

But when reason is used as a compliment to faith we see significant advancements in society. Many of our great explorers pursued science because they believed that all truth was God's truth, and that it was knowable. After all, if there is no truth, or if it cannot be known - why pursue it?

Truth was pursued and reason was used to craft documents like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution; documents that have protected freedom and established justice for individuals here and around the world.

If we value truth, believe that it is knowable, and are willing to do the hard work of reasoning together we can advance the Kingdom of God. We can contribute to our culture in positive ways. We can prevent untold sorrow and suffering.

Centuries ago scripture issued an invitation to people of faith from every generation: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.

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Why Democracy In Egypt Will Disappoint (And Possibly Threaten) Us

The current events in Egypt have prompted many in the United States to clamor for democratic elections. More than a few are advocating free and fair elections; pleading that the Egyptians should be able to select their own leaders. What is being lost in the discussion, is that a majority of Americans have a distorted view of the role of democracy. Because of this misunderstanding, and if democracy succeeds in Egypt, many Americans will be confused and disappointed with the nature and character of the government that materializes.

The reason for this confusion is that many people believe that democracy is "the goal", when democracy is actually a tool that can be used for good as well as evil. In fact, a simple democracy was something that the Founders soundly and forcefully rejected.

Fisher Ames - "A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way."

 Benjamin Rush - "A simple democracy is the Devil's own government."
  

John Adams - "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

What we find in America is a republic with many democratic elements. But even this form of government is not "good" in and of itself. Our Founders understood that the American Experiment would only work for a "moral and religious people" and that the government would take on the characteristics of the principles found in that religion.

John Adams - "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
  

Noah Webster - "Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican (i.e. representative) principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion."

Any form of democracy established in Egypt will take on the characteristics of the moral code of the people. The same can be said everywhere democracy is established. We are seeing the results of this truth in the frustrations of forming an Iraqi government, and it is exactly why democracy has failed to take hold in Afghanistan.

Many of our former presidents have reminded us, and rightfully so, that the soul of mankind yearns for freedom.

President Ronald Reagan said, "All men and women yearn for the freedom that God gave us all when he gave us free will."
  

President George W. Bush said, "The desire for freedom resides in every human heart. And that desire cannot be contained forever by prison walls, or martial laws, or secret police. Over time, and across the Earth, freedom will find a way."

What we often fail to appreciate is that the freedom we champion is a freedom based on Judeo-Christian principles. A freedom based on Islamic principles, or atheistic principles, or Buddhist principles will look very different.

Can we realistically expect that a freedom based on Judeo-Christian values is the kind of freedom that will be established in Egypt? If not, what is the value system commonly held by the people of Egypt? What is that value system based on, and what are the characteristics of that foundation? The answers to these questions will shape the kind of democracy that emerges in Egypt.

Unfortunately, in our rush to "democratize" Egypt, many do not realize that the freedom that emerges will reflect the principles found in the Qur'an and Shariah Law more than the ones found in the Old and New Testaments. We should be careful what we ask for . . . we may just get it.

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