Thoughts on Bell’s Hell

Now, before I get started here, I don’t profess to be a theologian or even a Biblical scholar of any sort.  I’m just going to share  a few thoughts I’ve had as I’ve read Love Wins over the past few weeks. I decided to read it  because it intrigued me. I mean, when a book gets such  swift, harsh judgment from so many in the Christian blogging world, well, that makes my ears perk up and I just have to see what the fuss is about.

(And no, dear husband, my thoughts will not get you kicked off  of our church board. Ha! ha! So you must complete your term like a good little board member. Besides, they need you.)

First, the good:

I think Rob Bell brings up some very good questions about Hell. I mean, don’t YOU have questions about Hell such as:  how could a loving God send people there? Especially people who have never heard the gospel? I’ve had those questions. And I think it’s good to ask those questions.

Bell thinks that the divisive ‘us vs them’ (saved vs unsaved) mentality that Christians/churches might have is troublesome and isn’t how we should see the world. I tend to agree.

I think Bell genuinely loves Jesus and people.

I think Bell believes that God loves everyone and wants all to be saved. I agree.

I think Bell believes that how we live here on earth NOW is important. The Kingdom of Heaven is within us. It begins NOW. On earth. I agree. When Jesus returns, the Bible says we will have a new heaven and a new earth. Earth is here.

Bell believes people can be saved in unexpected, unique ways. It’s not limited to the the four steps to salvation. We can’t put God in a box and say “This is how he saves people”. I agree.

Now, the bad:

I think the tone of his book is a little condescending or negative. It just didn’t sit well with me. Often he brings up questions (a good thing), but it feels to me like an impatient adult speaking to a child, saying “Huh? Huh? What’s the answer, because you’re confusing me. What is it? C’mon, what is it?”

I think he presumes that because he (or generally we as finite human beings) can’t fathom a loving God doing what looks like extremely unloving acts, then God wouldn’t do those things.

I think he’s trying to make God and his ways understandable  or palatable to our finite minds,when in fact, God’s ways are not ours.

In my humble opinion, it comes down to this:

Jesus, God’s Son, came to save us from SOMETHING and for SOMETHING, didn’t He?

God has created us with the ability to make choices. He wants us to ‘choose life’.

Faith plays a huge part in all this.

In our limited humanness, we don’t see the ‘big picture’ as God does.

Big Question: Do we trust God even when we don’t understand Him? Is he just and loving at the same time, as the Bible says He is, even when the circumstances or even the events we read about in the Bible  scream NO?  As Philip Yancey says in his book Disappointment With God, “Life is unfair; God is not life.”

I guess I’m not convinced that we can figure it all out until it happens. Will everyone be saved in the end? How will this happen in the context of biblical truth? Who really knows? Only God knows. What happens at the end of our physical lives? We die.. and then?  I do believe in heaven and I do believe in hell, and I do think  it’s a choice people make.  But how does heaven and hell play out? Not sure. And reading Love Wins didn’t change my mind about what I already believe.

I guess if I was a theologian or a biblical scholar, I might know more about the details.

But I think I know enough.