OCT
13
2011
Well let me put my cards on the table...I like Rob Bell.
Who could dislike a man who produces a book entitled, "God wants to save Christians"?
He has, over the years, attracted interest and a mild level of controversy and then earlier this year along came "Love Wins" and suddenly the blue touch paper had been lit and I could sense the flames of hell licking at his heels.
In subsequent interviews in the Christian press he has has acquitted himself well and often comes across as someone who is genuinely surprised at the furore he has caused. Is it really so terrible to ask all of us to reconsider some of the values we have held and think again about whether we can really believe what we say we believe? This seems to me an important aspect of anyone's walk with God: that we know not simply what we believe but why we believe it (A lesson I learned from Paul White's excellent books "Know What You Believe" and " Know Why You Believe" as a student 35 years ago and that has stood me well in the years in between.)
Ultimately Rob's title tells you where he is coming from: Love Wins not because everyone gets to heaven whether they want to or not but that the breadth of God's love is such that he will allow people the consequences of the decisions that they make.
In the meantime Love is not the only thing that wins. Rob's thoughts have sparked a whole raft of other titles - seeking to correct the balance. Here are just a few titles:
HELL IS REAL BUT I HATE TO ADMIT IT - BRIAN JONES (DAVID C COOK)
GOD WINS: HEAVEN, HELL AND WHY THE GOOD NEWS IS BETTER - MARK GALLI (TYNDALE HOUSE)
ERASING HELL: WHAT GOD SAID ABOUT ETERNITY - FRANCIS CHAN (DAVID C COOK)
IS HELL FOR REAL? - MORGAN & PETERSON (ZONDERVAN)
Jumping on a bandwagon or sincerely attempting to grapple with big issues that won't go away however much we want them to?
I sincerely hope its the latter. We need Christians who will think - wrestle with the difficult stuff and struggle to find out how what we believe can shape how we live. And when we learn to do that love willwin for evreyone.
