I'm 3/4 through Rob Bell's book "Love Wins" and am at the point where I want to buy copies for some people I know who are on the fence about the whole "eternal hell thing". The sheer amount of questions raised is brilliant. It is more of a book of conceptual "what if's" and "if this, then that" scenarios that allows the reader to actually think through the *logic* of the Jesus story and bible teachings. And it is written in plain language so that one need not hold a theology degree to comprehend it.
Though he claims that he's not a Universalist, everything I'm reading so far points to that all consuming love of God that is characteristic of Christian Universalism. And may I add that it is a breath of fresh air that he actually cites the original Greek and Hebrew words in the Old and New Testament that are so pivotal in pointing to God's message that hell is not necessarily eternal at all (i.e. aion, Hades, Tartarus, Sheol, etc.)
Speaking of the love of God, I need to share the following video which moved me to tears. I am utterly and completely humbled.
And on a personal note, I recently realized that I have been unfriended on Facebook by someone who I was good friends with in high school. I'm not entirely sure why but I can only speculate that it was over our differences in faith. She is a fundamentalist Christian and I am a Christian Universalist (Heretic). There was no dialogue over the reason so I can't say for sure, but if it is the reason, I'm...very disappointed.
I find that traditional Christians are much more difficult to have intelligent debate with about God saving everyone in the end. More often than not they are very insistent on their belief elitism, which means that they are not interested in listening or examining WHY they believe what they believe without feeling properly insulted at being questioned to begin with. I'm closer to having fellowship with unbelievers, at this point. My husband and best friends WHO ARE ALL WONDERFUL ATHEISTS understand and respectfully discuss with me the Love of God and my views on Universalism better than anyone else. Our discussions are intelligent and help raise further questions that assist my own personal examination of faith. They are the wetstone on which I sharpen my spirituality. MY ATHEISTS are also noticeably more kindhearted and moral than many of the self-proclaimed Christians I know. Bell touches upon a bit of this in his book, too.
There are some great truisms in Bell's book and when I have it in front of me (perhaps next time) I will do some quotin'.
2 comments:
It's been interesting seeing my facebook feeds from my high school friends who have maintained a very conservative Christian viewpoint and their discussion of Bell's book. I'm delightfully surprised to hear them keep an open mind about it, even though the word "universalist" is more or less a four letter word amongst their friends on their feeds. Glad to hear you're getting a lot out of the book.
Thanks for posting, Mev.
I finished Bell's book last week but have been swamped and have not yet had a chance to write on it. I am passing it onto my mom but I intend to fully review it. I thought it was wonderful and simply written. It offered up more questions than absolutes (which I love), challenging the traditional views of faith. A super fast read, too.
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