Rob Bell's "Love Wins" review

first, let's get a couple things straight

To dispel some rumors about the book/Rob Bell

1. "Love Wins" DOES NOT claim that everyone goes to heaven in the end.

2. Rob Bell's books are FULL of Scripture

-somebody told me that they "heard" Bell doesn't Scripturally back up his claims in his books. That's 100% untrue, stop spreading lies people! Haha. This will be the second Bell book I've read. They've both had Scripture references and expounding on every single page.

3. Rob Bell is definitely a Christian, and nothing else

Now to let you know a little more about my stance in this blog

1. This review is slightly bias, I admit it. I like Rob Bell

2. I read this book like I thought he was a heretic

3. Don't take my word for it. Read the book for yourself

So, to start the review I wanna try to summarize Bell's take on Heaven from the Scriptures. The key passage Bell expounds on about heaven is Jesus' words to the Young Rich Man (Matthew 19:16-28 NIV). The man asks Jesus how to reach eternal life, but Jesus doesn't give the answer that most modern day evangelicals would of think he should give. In fact, Jesus tells him how to "enter life". Jesus and the man weren't talking about heaven as we think of it when we die, they were talking about the "age to come". So the man's question of "eternal" doesn't mean exactly the same as we often think it does. Jesus talks about this "age to come" in Luke 20, Mark 9, Luke 21, and Matthew 28 as well. The greek word for it is "aion", which refers to a period of time with a definite beginning and end. So there is the age Jesus was in, and there will be an "age to come" after it.

This age to come is spoken about by the prophet Isaiah as "The Day of the Lord" where everything will be restored, and there will finally be peace on earth. You can find the beginning of his words on it in Isaiah 2:12-18. Biblegateway.com those verses real quick...don't they sound like perfection? Paul also briefly talks about this time in 1 Thes. 5. I know things always get a little fishy in interpreting the OT, but i think it's obvious at least in that passage that Isaiah is talking about the future, a time of perfection on earth through God. So heaven at that point won't be "up there", it's gonna be down here (according to Scripture). Heaven is gonna be God cutting away the divisions and merging with earth and bringing it into his perfection. It checks out pretty well.

Now, the attempt to summarize Bell's thoughts from the Scriptures on hell. In his book, he references and deals with every mentioning of the word "hell" in the Bible, and even some of the words/passages people think are referring to "hell" (kudos to him, that's good persuasive writing right there). Scripture clearly states that hell is suffering, because you are choosing to be separated from God's incredible love, but how long you will be separated seems to be the question.

An important thing about hell Bell notes,The greek word we call "hell" is really the English word "Gehenna". Gehenna is a real place, that basically was the Israelite trash dump. They stuck their trash there and burnt it, dogs fought over scraps and their teeth made horrible gnashing sounds while fighting (sounds familiar?). I can see where we got our image of Hell from, but it's not necessarily underground and reigned by Satan. Jesus related to torment of separation from God to a horrible place nearby of people he was talking to.So it feels to me that the image most of us get of hell isn't from the Bible, it's from Dante's Inferno (gosh I hated that book, i read the whole thing in high school).

One of verses that kinda makes that idea real is Ezekiel 16:53-58, God through Ezekiel says "I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters...return them to what they were before...". Wait, what?!?!? God is gonna restore Sodom and Gomorrah? We all remember how bad they were, but God in the future is gonna give them a second chance? So....maybe even God's judgement of separation isn't forever...

Still on hell here, but look up these verses please

-Zephaniah 2:6

-Micah 7:19

Bell lists a whole page full of verse just like these. Those probably a several dozen more continue to talk about God's redemptive desires and extreme love for all his people. That's God's desire, to bring EVERYONE back to him. Don't get me wrong, Bell asserts that the ONLY way to get back to God is through Jesus (pg. 155 of Love Wins), but do you think even after "The Day of the Lord" and all is renewed, God is gonna lock the door on his love to those who honestly come in repentance for it? The Day of the Lord idea leaves out where people go who aren't with God, i can't remember if Bell addresses that, i'll re-read to look, but they are somewhere having a miserable time probably. But if they run to the limits of God's area and scream and cry in repentance, do you really think God is gonna say "sorry, if you had come maybe like....5 minutes earlier I could do something for you, but you're late. So you can no longer have my love". That doesn't sound like the God of those verses above and the rest of the NT, does it? I've kinda been convinced it doesn't.

So now you're probably kinda pissed or confused at this point. When I was talking to Maria about this she then brought up the question, "Well then what's the point of living for God now if you can get another shot at it after you die?" When she asked it we both stopped and came to the next point Bell makes. If being a "Christian" for you is mostly about a "ticket to heaven", then odds are you probably aren't going...rough isn't it? Well, I struggle with that to. In fact, the majority of the time when Jesus was talking about "hell" he was talking about it to the very people everyone for sure thought weren't going there! If i remember correctly, Matthew 25 (Sheep and Goats parable) fits that description. Being a Christian is about taking the invitation God gives us through Christ to be apart of his restoring of all things. Yes, heaven is a benefit of it, but it's not the main point. God wants us to be a part of his stuff, and to take joy in it. Yes, there is suffering involved (Paul tells us about it the best in 2 Timothy), but in the end there is JOY! There should be some deep rooted joy! That convicted me hard, because often i'm bogged down by how "hard" my life is. All of this "Jesus work" I gotta do. I gotta feed the poor, i gotta mentor youth, i gotta preach. Poor poor me. If you're like me in that, we're missing out. We need to revamp our feelings for God. He's not a slave-driver, he's a love and joy giver.

The best example of this idea is found in the Prodigal Son parable. We all know the story. The younger son comes back thinking the dad is gonna punish him, but he gets love instead. The older son is pissed about the party for his jerk of a brother, but he's always had love, dad tells him to celebrate. Both boys thought their fathers love was dependent on something or another, how good or bad they were. But it doesn't, their dad's love just.....IS! Isn't that great?!?!?!?! God's love for us just is. It's UNFAIR, it's UNDESERVED. IT. IS. GRACE! So yes, the fact that anybody can possibly just come to God at anytime in this age or next and get love is extremely unfair, but I really feel like i'm ok with that. And that's basically the book. In the end, LOVE WINS.

There are of course downsides to this book, but they aren't really even worth talking about I feel. The general message overshadows them.

The key phrase for his thoughts in the book are on pg. 115. Bell says:

" Will everybody be saved, or will some perish apart from God forever because of their choices? These are tensions we are free to leave still as tensions. We don't need to resolve them or answer because we can't, and so we simply respect them, creating space for the freedom that love requires"

Thanks for reading this, it's waaaaay too long i know. But i left out a lot of stuff that would be really helpful in explaining his view. Bell totally expounds the "Lazarus and Rich Man" story, his full explanation of the Prodigal Son story is brilliant, and so so much more. But for time and practicality I stop here. I might blog about those other pieces later. Please feel free to leave comments below and we can discuss more there.

My advise is to please read the book, I think it'll be something special for ya. Amen? Amen.

The Virtuous Life

this quote from an early church leader I feel like sums up reason and aim for why Christians do their best to live "good" and "clean" lives.

This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servilely fear punishment, nor to do good because we hope for rewards, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by some business- like arrangement. On the contrary, disregarding all those things for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise, we regard falling from God’s friendship as the only thing dreadful and consider becoming God’s friend the only thing worthy of honor and desire. This, as I have said, is the perfection of life.

- Gregory of Nyssa

Proverbs 22: Don't make a check your tush can't cash!

v. 26-27 "Don't agree to guarantee another person's debt or put up security for someone else. If you can't pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you"

"Don't make a check your tush can't cash Short Man!" The first time i heard this saying was in my all-time favorite cartoon series Hey Arnold (one day i WILL own the entire series on DVD...). His Grandpa, who i would say had loads and loads of wisdom, was advising him to not make promises or agreements that he couldn't fulfill. And reading this chapter it finally hit me that this idea is a re-curring sentiment in the Proverbs. Every couple of chapters Solomon throws in a quick word about keeping your vows, if you're paying off a friends debt to make sure you do it or there will be consequences. Keeping promises is a huge character trait that i'm sure many of us strive for, but the less strived for virtue in my life is only committing to what i can.

A lot of times i make grand promises, or plan to meet with somebody, knowing i honestly don't have the time or even the ability. That results in let down youth or me running late to a group project meeting. Honestly, that looks bad on us, but it also looks on God. We're always, ALWAYS representing God, in EH-VE-RYthing we do. So if we're late, or don't come through when we say we will, than that makes God look bad, doesn't it?

So in solution, before i ever make a promise or agreement, i will realistically ponder if i really can carry it all the way through. If i decided that i can't, then i straight up won't let the words come out of my mouth. But if i decide that i can and do say i will. imma do everything in my power to carry it out. That's gonna take some prayer and discipline, but i hope the Lord will help me. And if i fail (which i probably will every now and again no matter how hard i try), i'll beg for forgiveness like i should, haha. Amen? Amen.

I like Heather's prayer request idea, here are mine:

-my Psych 317 research paper (the hardest assignment of my college career)

-more of the Holy Spirit in my life

Proverbs 11 and my Wisdom struggles

First, as I was reading todays chapter, I thought to myself, "after near 11 days of reading Proverbs how much have I learned about Wisdom?". I have learned a lot, but do I really "know" it yet, no. And will we ever truly get Wisdom, idk, it's one of those really lofty topics to me right now. A definition one of my Bibles gave me for wisdom was "the ability to make good use of knowledge", that's basically what the Proverbs are trying to make us do, right? That knowledge we have is of God, and it's all been about how to use that knowledge well. Right? Haha. Chapters 10 and 11 are these couplet like statements about pretty practical responses to Wisdom, what Wise people do. One of my favorites being verse 19: " Godly people find life; evil people find death". Wow, that's difference between good use and bad use of the knowledge of God: life and death. That's crazy, but totally right.

My biggest struggle these days seems to be the use of my time, i'm so dang busy. Using my time well and putting it where it needs to go (this false under the umbrella of wisdom, right? haha). It kinda surprises me that there isn't more spoken about time in relation to Wisdom, maybe there has been and i've missed it? The best example i can find is in Chapter 10:4 "lazy people are soon poor, hard workers get rich", being lazy and hard working is kinda a time management issue. I just continue to pray to God (when i am disciplined enough to give him the hang out time he deserves in my life) that he will give me the Wisdom to say yes to doing the important things in my life and no to the unimportant things battling for my precious time. Also to help me discern which things are which.

I'm soooo rushed for time today. This week has been rough on me. A little bit of that bad time management janke has thrown eh-ve-ry thing off. So i'm racing to get back on track. It definitely doesn't help that i'll be going on a retreat this weekend....oooohhhh Lord. Please God, help a brotha out, haha. I know He will.

Proverbs 8:Preeminence of Wisdom and Rewards

Dang, I've had a crazy couple of days! haha. Some really exciting stuff happen like finding my future apartment for me and my future wife and beginning to move stuff in, and having some sleeping/tiredness/school problems. But, God's got my back, so i'm alright. But those are all the excuses why i haven't blogged in a while, plus i've decided to not blog over the weekends. I totally still read though, and Chapter 5 has been my favorite so far! Quick thought; I find it really cool how Wisdom is being personified in the Proverbs, that maybe it isn't just an idea or concept, but a real being along with the Trinity. Most scholars think so. One scholar Marcus Borg (super liberal theology, but still very helpful) tells us that Wisdom is a feminine persona, translated to Sophia in the Hebrew. "Sophia" is the word for wisdom in Hebrew, but as we all know it's also a name. That's kinda cool

But anyway, on to Chapter 8. The thing that really rocked me this morning was reading verse 22-31.

"The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began" v.22-23

"I (Wisdom) was the architect at his side. " v.30

This is really evolving my thoughts about Sophia/Wisdom. She isn't just a concept God created along with everything else. She isn't like goodness, or judgement, or faith. No, in fact, Sophia maybe HELPED CREATE those concepts! This Proverb is telling us that Wisdom was the FIRST thing they created, and they created her as a persona kinda like them, whom i'm gonna call Sophia throughout the rest of this blog. This Proverb is basically adding more detail to our view of Creation. In Genesis 1, there definitely is a "we" involved in the creating, but we use to just picture God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But now we have to add another person to the list, it's God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Sophia! Sorry if those last three sentences basically said the same thing over and over again, but it's something i'm trying to fix into my brain. Sophia was there in the beginning, she's seen it all, and that has to mean she had a hand in creating me. Sooooo, if I ever had doubt in the power or cred of Sophia Wisdom Christ (that's my poor attempt at giving her a full name, haha. that wasn't blasphemous was it?) then I betta recognize! She knows what she's talking about. As these first couple chapters have been asking, i just need to humbly submit to her and like a student be taught by her. And the whole thing brought up about fearing the the Lord, that's heavy in my mind as well.

In this chapter i also feel like Solomon listed the rewards of listening to Sophia, i wanted to list them, to kinda get a sense of what i'm striving for in this (verses 12-21):

-good judgement

-knowledge

-discernment

-common sense

-success (the Christ centered kind)

-insight

-strength

-riches (again, the CCK)

-honor

-justice

Dang yo, that janke is tight! I want ALL OF IT! This for me right now, is a total "it's so fluffy i'm gonna die!!!!" moment. I love God, I love Sophia, and i want to make them proud and represent them right in our world. So I continue to pray that as I seek, then i will find them both (there's that paradox again Heather, i feel it!). And i promise, I didn't put that list up there because i think yall are dumb, this honestly is the way that i take notes for my personal memory. If we weren't blog sharing our thoughts, i would of done the same thing in my personal journal. I'm not sure if that's good or bad....haha. Yessssssss Lord

Proverbs 4: Being Teachable

I feel like i'm sensing a kinda pattern to how these Provbers are being written: The first couple verses deal with that chapter's main point, then he talks about how awesome that point is to Wisdom (it's rewards for you), then he warns you about the consequences if you don't adapt his main point, and then finishes with practical things to do or not to do in order to attain the main point. So far i've always felt like the most important verses to me were near the front of the chapters, and i was like "dang, i really am reading these things! Why am i not finding such impacting in the middle!" And this pattern i've thought up is probably wrong, just an observation i believe i've mad.

The main point of Proverbs 4 is the challenge to be a good student of Wisdom, to be teachable, like a son is taught by his father. We believe that some of these Proverbs are Solomon writing directly to his son, giving him words to hold on to for the future so he could also be a God-fearing and hearing king. I don't think it worked out so well, i'm pretty sure that Scripture tells us Solomon's son that takes the throne next turns out to be a really bad dude. But anyway, Solomon says in verse 1 "listen as your father corrects you. Pay attention and learn...for I am giving you good guidance". If i'm not mistaken, in Jewish worship, the scriptures were read aloud in huge chunks at a time, so i believe this call to refocus was good and helpful. Imagine being in church and somebody was reading to you Proverbs 1-5 straight through, not stopping or expounding. I feel like even i would even start to let my mind wonder. But at this point, whoever is reading should be shouting a little at you these words "Listen!......Pay attention!....I am giving you good advice!". Cause it is, obviously. I think we, especially as young people brush off good advice for a lot of different little reasons. Because somebody we don't really like said it, or because we've heard it too many times. None of those things make it any less good and helpful, so we need to refocus on it. I mean, isn't it true that sometimes when your parents give you advice and you'll think it's crazy and not listen, but somebody else could say the exact thing and you'll realize (most often angrily) your parents were right all along, and you just didn't wanna admit it?

So if we are humble enough to be teachable, and be good students in Wisdom class, then we'll be crazily blessed by the Lord (not in the lotta money lotta stuff way, but the Holy Spirit kinda way). I love verse 7, i read the NLT, and it translates that verse as "Getting Wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!", haha! that's an exact quote from my Bible, no lie. How awesome is that?!? Solomon urges us to "take hold of my instructions, don't let them go". Dang yo, not just in Wisdom, but in following Christ as a whole, if we did that...the way God would work through us to impact the world would be intoxicating.

Practical application of this point i believe is just to really be listening and learning from all the "teachers" you have in your life, spiritual ones for sure and the good just life coaches that we have. That could mean parents, pastors, good friends, or even your actual school teachers (yeah right, everybody knows only some college professors are really that cool) ;). I totally believe in the power of tutorship, and being mentored. I am soooo blessed that God has put a dozen different people in my life that i can learn from. I often say that i'm a "student of many rabbis", mostly because i especially need that to grow, but also i guess because Scriptures wisely advices us to. Find a mentor of some sort, make it legit, and follow through and learn from somebody. Amen?!? Amen

Proverbs 3 (and a little 2): My First Tension

I had a crazy Wednesday, so I didn't have time to post my thoughts on chapter 2, but i'll keep it brief. All throughout the chapter it was talking about all the things that Wisdom will save us from; evil people and bad situations basically. And idk if i'm crazy, but this automatically made me think about testimonies. I grew up in the church, and all other church kids like me always say "man, i have a lame testimony". And we all envied the books our youth leaders would make us read about these people who had to hit rock bottom personally before they ever turned to Christ, and then from then onward they lived these exemplary lives. We ignorantly said to each other, "man, their hard times were soooo cool, that's a good testimony". I actually think that Chapter 2 lets us know that God doesn't necessarily want it to get that bad before we turn to him. Not to discredit anybody's spiritual journey, but i think if God had a choice, he would want us walking as closely to him as we can, taking on his Wisdom so we can avoid some of those dark experiences. Church kids will have their own struggles that will build their faith, take pride in your testimonies, they are important to God and to your evangelism later in life. As a psych major, i'm cooking up this analysis of the different cognitive experiences of Christians who have grown up in the church vs. Christians who have not. It could be good, it could be bad. TBD on that one, haha

Now, Proverbs 3. Reading this chapter i experienced some of the tension i was talking about in my first post on Proverbs. So please all yall reading, correct me if i'm wrong. But do verses 1-2 sound a little misleading to yall from our Christian standpoint?:

"My child, never forget the things i have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years and your life will be satisfying." NLT

Really? Following God will bring me long life and satisfaction? Yeah, it will, but i'm not sure that's necessarily the promise God gives us through Christ. What about Jesus' words in Mark 10:21-22:

"a brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved."

That doesn't sound too "satisfying" to me. And didn't almost all of Jesus' disciples suffer young and gruesome deaths? Scripture tells of James being stabbed to death (Acts 12:2) and Stephen being stoned (Acts 7: 59-60). If you wanna see how hard the Apostle Paul's life was, take a look at 2 Timothy. You'll see Paul, the spearhead of the early Jesus movement, sitting in jail awaiting his execution alone, and although full of faith and purpose in our God, a little bummed (2 Timothy 4:9-18 gives you a good intro to his situation).

I know that was a lot of stuff; passages taken a little out of their contexts, and ill formatted, but I put it there to remind us of the suffering that's involved with following Christ. I have no idea what a Korean Christian felt reading that passage in Proverbs, when a dozen of them are huddled together reading one Bible that they all share because Bibles are illegal in their area (or at least one time were, it's been a while since i read about the plight of Korean Christians). And that if ANYONE saw them reading it, they would be shot dead on the spot. Ya know? Of course i'm not saying that Solomon is wrong in his sentiment here, that would be prideful of myself. But i'm asking us ponder how to reconcile verses like Proverbs 3:1-2 and Mark 10:21-22. If we as Christians believe that following God equals "long life and satisfaction", what would that make our Christianity look like?

Instantly the thoughts that came to mind were, well it's just a difference between Jewish and Christian thought. Or maybe it all depends on what you mean by the word "satisfying", because of course giving of yourself and sacrificing for God definitely is satisfying to those who love Jesus. Or maybe i'm thinking too hard, and misreading this point of wisdom. I've thought through a million possibilities already. So I've been and will be thinking all day about how this sentiment from Solomon is applicable in my walk. So yeah, please, tell me....what do you guys think about this?

~Jamal

Proverbs Project: My thoughts on The Proverbs and Proverbs 1

Disclaimer: I'm typing almost exactly what i thought about this morning so i can better remember it, so i'm not going into so much detail cause i think you guys don't know it, i just really wanna remember how i felt this morning! haha

So, whenever i read the Proverbs, i think it's important to remember a couple different contextual things about them to get the life application out of them. Like, they're all written from a Jewish perspective, so i feel like a lot of our important Christian principles of course get left out of the writings (like evangelism, see verses 1:8-19). Also, the words of the Proverbs are conventional wisdom, idealistic wisdom, "wisdom of the perfect world" as i often think of them. And since we don't live in a perfect world, a lot of the time i personally feel a tension when reading the Proverbs. Like "i'm sorry Solomon, i'm not sure what it was like when you were alive, but that's not how things work out for me!", as if i'm really worthy of questioning anything Solomon says, haha. The main mistake i've made in reading the Proverbs is at times i treat them like a formula, that if i do exactly what they say that will automatically lead me straight to a deeper relationship with God, which isn't true. Relationship with God is multi-faceted, similar to relationship with the important people in our lives. But what the Proverbs are is a insight into the life changing wisdom of our God, which if we take seriously in studying and acquiring it amongst other things in our spiritual lives will draw closer to our Creator.

Now, onto what i thought about Proverbs 1. The most striking thing i read in the chapter was right at the beginning where Solomon says that the purpose of these writing is for people to live "disciplined and successful lives" (1:3 NLT). Discipline, it's something that so many of us (including myself) are lacking. Most people get angry about discipline with God, they say things like "you can't make my relationship with God about "obligation". Let it flow!". Now, take that sentiment and apply it to your girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse. "Honey, what's wrong? You mean, I HAVE to call you everyday? I'm obligated to be with and talk with you on a somewhat regular basis? I'm supposed to defend you in a fight? Whoooooaaaaaa, just let it flowwwwwww" Doesn't sound like such a good plan, does it? Whether you are aware of it or not, you have discipline in your close relationships. Don't you have a sort of schedule of meet ups and hang outs with your friends? Do you have a friend who lives in a different city, and you try to talk at least once a week or see each other every other weekend? If we think about it, most of us do. It's not a negative sense, it's just a natural way of keeping close to our loved friends in our crazy hectic lives. So doing the same with God is important, because a lot of the time if we don't then he'll fall to the wayside. There are several different list of spiritual disciplines: the obvious like prayer, solitude, Bible reading. and the more obscure like celebration, strength through suffering, and sexuality. Stephen Poore is doing a really good series on the Spiritual Disciplines, and that's what i've been concentrating on for the past month. Again, it's not to figure out a formula, but just to get familiar enough with my God to where his Spirit can properly and easily move in my life and i'll be aware of it. And it gets me hype that Solomon tells us that discipline is part of the path to wisdom, cause I definitely need some wisdom in my life to help me through life's obstacles.