give me some coffee

Rob Bell Love Wins

i kinda didn’t know what to say about this book at first.  it’s been weeks since i finished reading it and still trying to collect my thoughts… i’ll give it a try.

first of all, this book was not written for those strong in the christian faith.  i would find it much more life changing if i were exploring the christian faith but not yet committed. but since the audience is potentially people questioning the ways of the established church, it could be dangerous because the truth is somewhat hidden in his writing.  i didn’t consider that bell was writing this for someone besides me.  as i first started reading the book i pretty much hated it initially because of the tone.  in addition, bell was questioning everything i believed and i could not see it going anywhere productive.  later, i realized there are tons of people who are asking these questions every day, feeling the same way and just not getting the answers.  bell attempts to make sense of this as the book unfolds.

the first chapter is basically a transcript of the promo video… lots of questions.  lots of ‘pulling the rug out from under you’ on what the church has always taught.  it’s very ‘nooma video’ in his style of writing.  in fact, the whole book is written so different than a typical author.  he writes like he talks.  most of us write in a different style than if we were to say the words out loud.  i could almost picture him recording the book in audio first and having someone typing it for him.  by the end of the book i found more appreciation for this style but it took me a bit by surprise at first.  it doesn’t add to the experience but it’s his thing.  whatever.

i particularly liked the 2nd chapter on heaven.  not at first because i was so ‘shaken’ from the first chapter, but looking back i do really appreciate it.  bell reminds us that a life in Christ isn’t all about ‘just making it to heaven’, but rather that we can live transformed lives here on earth.  he refers to this as ‘heaven on earth’.  don’t just try to make it in under the radar and living in a way where you can get by… but live the life God intended for us starting now.  bell doesn’t dismiss a ‘real’ heaven somewhere out there, but i did think several times while reading this chapter that he was almost making up new theology on the spot.  maybe i wasn’t following his flow yet.  his point is very solid though…  ’heaven on earth’ and ‘heaven the physical place somewhere out there’ are both things that God wants for us.  not a new message, but a different way of saying it.

the chapter after heaven is on hell.  i can’t say that i remember anything about it and that kinda bothers me.

the rest of the book is his attempt to unpack how we get this christianity thing all wrong.  and he’s very right about a lot of it because it can be confusing without properly studying and experiencing.  he questions things that we do in the church that rocks our world upside down to hear someone say.  for example: what does it even mean to be saved?  we have lots of ways this is described in church and in the bible…  is it asking God into your heart? is it to believe?  is it to say a prayer a certain way?  is it to live your life a certain way?  this is a great question, but he dwells on the questioning so much i can’t even remember his conclusion.

and that’s basically my beef with the book.  regardless of his conclusion, he spends so much time on questioning foundational subjects of the faith that any answers or conclusions he has are impossible to pull out.

on the subject of universialism… he leaves this open as an option.  point being that we don’t really have a clue about eternity.  at the same time, he isn’t trying to make an argument for all of us to just wait and catch the next ride to heaven after the rapture so we can sin all we want to now.  quite the opposite.  he’s challenging us to live our lives as God intended but at the same time to not think that we have it all figured out.  that may or may not have been his intentions, but at least that’s what i got out of it.

i have to rate the book as a 2/5 (it’s ok).  i expected to hate it because of all the controversy, but i didn’t.  at the same time, i didn’t like it or love it.  if he didn’t take so many scriptures out of context i would probably feel much different.  it’s just honestly a very shallow.  but… as bell mentioned at the beginning of the book - all he is hoping to do is start the conversation.  and that’s good.