It took longer than I wanted to post this review, but it gave me time to read the book twice to understand its claims. I’ve read Rob Bell’s previous four books, reviewing one of them here, and have listened to more than 100 of his sermons. I’m pretty familiar with his style and beliefs so I was really interested in what he had to say here.
Because the review is kind of lengthy, I’ve split it into two parts. Part 1 is below and Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.
“Every fresh and original thought you think you have, somebody smarter a long time ago in Europe said it.” – Rob Bell
A few months ago, popular Evangelical pastor Rob Bell released a new book titled Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.
As expected with a title like that, the book sparked immediate controversy. Christians across the world lit up the Internet with defensive rebuttals, angry tweets, and even a 20-page critique of Bell’s arguments.
And that was all before the book was released.
But to understand the book and the commotion surrounding it, you first have to understand Bell. Bell’s popularity among Evangelicals is almost unrivaled. He has over 110,000 fans on Facebook, millions have viewed his Nooma videos, and he preaches to 10,000 people every Sunday (his podcasted sermons reach another 50,000.) In a recent issue TIME Magazine called Bell “a singular rock star in the church world.”
Fans and critics alike agree that Bell is an electrifying, creative, unconventional teacher. Though some traditionalists lament his staccato writing and artful preaching, plenty of others love it (including me.) He speaks of Christ evocatively and makes theology come alive like few others.
In Love Wins, Bell turns his focus to some of Christianity’s most controversial doctrines, exploring them with a fresh curiosity. It doesn’t take long to realize that Bell’s book mimics his preaching by being more inquisitive than explanatory. In fact the first chapter alone asks no less than 98 questions including:
- How are you saved?
- Is there a hell?
- If there is a hell, is it permanent?
- What is God really like?
These many questions ultimately revolve around one central quandary: how can a loving God send some people to an eternal place of suffering? In Love Wins we find Bell’s response to this very question.
First, agreeing with the critics, there are many things I found disappointing in the book. Most frustrating was the absence of any footnotes or endnotes. Bell makes some pretty bold assertions like, “At the center of the Christian tradition since the first church have been a number of people who insist that history is not tragic, hell is not forever, and love, in the end, wins and all will be reconciled to God” (p. 109, emphasis mine).
Who were these people? And when did they say this? Were their views accepted or rejected by the Church? A number of Christians have suggested many things down through history—that Jesus never took human form, that the Eucharist is not really the body and blood of Jesus, that abortion is morally acceptable—but these views aren’t necessarily true just because a number of people believed them. As G.K. Chesterton says, “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
Also, Love Wins contains many inconsistencies. It’s difficult to nail down precisely what Bell argues—even after two treks through the book—because he jumps from one argument to another like a frog in a lily pond. He feels quite comfortable floating in the grey world of paradoxes and contradictions and does so without apology.
For example, at one point Bell claims that God always gets what he wants, namely salvation for all people. “No one can resist God’s pursuit forever,” Bell says, “because God’s love will eventually melt even the hardest of hearts.” (p. 108, emphasis mine)
But then just a few pages later, he claims that because God has given us free will, we can choose to do just the opposite of what God wants: “Love demands freedom. It always has, and it always will. We are free to resist, reject, and rebel against God’s ways for us. We can have all the hell we want” (p. 113, emphasis mine).
So which is it? Does God save everyone regardless of their desire to be saved? Or does our free will trump God’s yearnings?
These are difficult questions that Christians have chewed on for centuries, and the Church has seen no shortage of answers. When you’ve been around for 2,000 years, you’ve seen almost every extreme position, every proposal, and every theory that can be offered.
As Bell testifies in the quote opening this review, none of his arguments in Love Wins are terribly novel. And he’d be the first to admit that. His ideas stem from a mishmash of early theologians, ancient heretics, and even some modern thinkers. Many of these ideas were long-ago accepted by the Church, others merely tolerated, and many ardently rejected.
So, how does Bell answer these questions in Love Wins? And how do his responses compare to those of the Catholic Church? Check back tomorrow for Part 2.
What do you think about heaven and hell?
If you’ve read Love Wins, what did you think?