Reading Christian Books – Writing Christian Music
Love Wins – Trusting a Different Story from a Different God
(Post 12 of the current book selection “Love Wins” by Rob Bell, Chapters 7 and 8…)
Each of us has to decide whose version of this story called life we’re going to trust, the one in our minds or God’s. We get to choose which one we’ll live in. We have all different kinds of beliefs about ourselves and life. We believe we’re not good enough. We believe we have to perform to be accepted. We believe we’re a slave to our circumstances. We believe life should be fair. There’s our version of life and there’s God’s. The difference between these two versions is the difference between heaven and hell.
As we see in the story of the prodigal son, heaven and hell aren’t separate places. They’re different experiences in the same place. We create “hell” when we refuse to trust God’s version of our story. It manifests itself in many ways. But, however it’s manifested, it’s a sinful and incorrect version. Heaven is the whole new life we can now live because of what God has done for us. When we enter into this story, we enter into heaven. In the story of the prodigal son, the older son was at the party (heaven), but refusing to trust the father’s version of his story, which created “hell” for him. God extends the invitation for us to trust His story, and we are free to do with it as we please.
One major problem with our trusting of God’s story is that we have a distorted view of Him. Why would someone trust the story from a God who is loving one second and cruel the next? That would punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years? They wouldn’t. But this view of God is incorrect. It confuses the essence of God, which is love, with the consequences of rejecting that Love. It diminishes the gospel down to a ticket that avoids God’s punishment, makes Jesus into someone that had to rescue us from God’s wrath, and makes God’s religion a system of sin management to avoid that wrath. This misses the point of it all. We do not need to be rescued from God. He is the rescuer.
But, when your God is Love, it rewrites the whole story and reshapes us. It frees you from fear. You understand that it cannot be taken away (prodigal son) or earned (his older brother). It just is. There’s nothing for you to do than trust it and live like you trust it.
It’s already been done. Everyone is saved. Our trusting doesn’t make it happen. Our trusting makes it our experience. Every single person is endlessly being invited to trust, accept, believe, embrace, and experience the love of God. To say yes to Him. The hurdle we must get over is our unfamiliarity with the act of trusting bred by our experiences of being let down. We’re so used to being let down that it’s hard to embrace a love that we perceive as too good to be true. This requires a transformation of the heart and mind to perceive everything differently. Jesus teaches us that the choice to do this is urgent because there will be consequences of judgment and separation for each moment that we choose not to.
(Disclaimer: The content of this post is the post author’s perspective on the book selection’s content and not the opinion of the post author. To purchase the book, click on the link below)
About the author
Michael Fleming lives near Canton, Ohio with his wife Kristin. Michael is involved as a teacher with the Soul Care Center, a non-profit school in Canton that provides Christian counseling, teaching and coaching to the Stark County area. He also writes and records music for his pop alternative music project (also called 2nd man united) that can be heard in the sidebar of the site.
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Speaking of endless invitations…
Follow along with me.
Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Rev 21:5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – This is an invitation to watch him in the active process of ‘making’ the new creation.
Rev 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” – This is the new home for the wicked.
Rev 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Doesn’t this seem redundant seeing that the wicked are already in the Lake of Fire?
Rev 22:14-15 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. – How can the wicked be outside the gates? Weren’t they already confined to the Lake of Fire (Rev 21:8)? Could this be a different batch of wicked?
Rev 22:11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” – Up until the time of death, we are always exhorted to repent and turn to God. Once dead, it seems like something else is going on here.
Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. – If the Bride of Christ is already in the city (Rev 21:2), then who is this invitation for? (whoever wishes, whoever is thirsty)
To be continued…
Continued…
Where was Gehenna (Hell) located? Gehenna was traditionally known to be outside the city gates Isa 66:24
What is going to happen to Gehenna? Jer 31:40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
If Hell is outside the city, then note what John says about the Gates of the Holy City.
Rev 21:25 And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there.
What are the conditions for entering the Holy City?
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city.
Those that have received Christ while living on the earth are already part of the Bride and have been made righteous by Jesus, so we already have entrance and have eaten of the tree of life.
I believe that the invitation to repentance goes out for all eternity, even to those that have been case into the Lake of God’s consuming Fire (Love).
Here’s the problem. This view tells people they can wait. Why suffer persecution as a Christian, as many around the world do, if you can deny Christ now but “accept” him later? How many people will read this and think, “hey, I can live in my sin, serve God at my leisure, obey when its convenient and if I don’t make it into heaven when I die then I’ll just repent and enjoy the rest of my eternity?” This goes against everything Christ and the apostles taught.
This is why this book is dangerous. We already see many Christians apathetic toward obedience to Christ. Make acceptance of Christ unnecessary in this lifetime and you change apathy into outright (yet “temporary”) rejection. If Bell is wrong, he’s going to have a whole lot of blood on his hands for this message he is teaching.
That’s not to say the other extreme is any better. I believe both extreme views to be terribly wrong and dangerous. God isn’t a God of only perfect love, he is also a God of perfect judgement. Which makes him a perfect balance between the two. Tilt toward any one side or the other and we teach a dangerous Gospel that completely misses the beauty and completeness of God. Instead it creates a god of humanistic “fairness,” that is subject to whatever politically correct standard is popular at the time.
This view doesn’t tell people that they can wait, anymore than teaching grace tells people they can sin. Suffering persecution is an act of love, not an act of duty. Muslim martyrs die because of duty; Christian martyrs usually die because of love.
People that live a life of sin may enjoy themselves for a moment, but reaping what has been sown is inevitable. This view does not suggest in any way that repentance can or should wait any amount of time. Coming to a full knowledge and experience of our redemption in Christ is paramount for all of humanity, so any delay in this revelation is not good for any.
I don’t understand how this book would be considered dangerous to any. Bell asks interesting questions about heaven, hell and the afterlife. He hasn’t proposed anything new, but rather has stirred up something that was already there. Christians being apathetic towards obedience is about not understanding God’s love, not about performing duty towards obedience.
How would Bell have blood on his hands for this book? Is it possible that any book could be more powerful than God’s will? If anything, Bell seems to believe that God’s love, grace and mercy is bigger than many dare to believe. Is that a sin? Has Bell suggested that Christ isn’t the way to God? Has he suggested that a person can wait indefinitely?
By teaching a gospel that tells people they can wait as long as they want, if not true… is very dangerous. No one is arguing with God’s love. Bell is simply ignoring other equal attributes of God that are essential to understanding the fullness of God’s character. We cannot move to far in any one direction without completely distorting who God is and teaching falsehoods that lead people down a wrong path, in this case, a path that says, “feel free to wait as long as you want, you’ll get there eventually.”
Bell hasn’t raised questions, so much as given false, inaccurate, misleading and intellectually dishonest answers. What’s interesting, however, is both in this book and in interviews and sermons (that I have watched) he tries to cover himself by talking in circles. He says one thing, then says he believes another. This is intellectual dishonesty at it’s core. I have to wonder how much Bell truly believe what he teaching here, when he publicly denies some of the very things he wrote, then says “go read the book.” Um, I did!
I don’t understand where the conclusion that people can just wait and everything will be fine comes from. It’s not proposed in the book and not compatible with the mind of God.
It’s a perfectly fine position to say that we don’t know if everyone makes it to heaven, but we have to leave open the possibility that it’s true because God’s love is eternal and therefore your choice is eternal. This is what he’s saying, by the way.
Just because your choice is eternal doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences for waiting and for every time you say no to God. In fact, the book is pretty clear that there will be.