Love Wins So Hell Must Not Exist
Rob Bell’s new book accompanied by his video introducing its contents has gotten a lot of attention in the Church-world leading up to its March 29th release.
If Rob Bell is anything he is a master of story telling, and he is seemingly a master of marketing. I’m pretty sure this book could be his best selling of all because those who think they will disagree with his conclusions are as likely to buy it as those who think that they will agree.
I enjoy reading Rob Bell, but not because he will validate a view. Instead I enjoy reading his books because he is willing to ask compelling questions and make compelling cases to support his views. He makes me think. In the end, this book will compel me to dig into the scriptures and look to see if it is possible that a loving God could not only allow people to go to Hell, but could create such a place to begin with.
It’s a great question. It’s one that should be wrestled with, and I hope that regardless of Rob’s conclusions people will be led into the truth by the Holy Spirit.
Personally, I believe that Hell is as much of a state of being as it is a place. It is the state of being in the presence of a Holy, Glorious, Righteous, and Loving God without the protection of the blood of Jesus Christ. I would think that to be a terrible moment that could lead to an eternal state of misery. The fact that all of those who may choose to enter into God’s presence unprotected and are gathered into one place called Hell is far less the terrible thought for me.
What about you? Have you ever wondered if God might really send people to Hell?
Exodus – 2000 years later
Thanks to Rob Bell’s book, God wants to save Christians, and the yet to be published book from the folks at the other Mars Hill, Redemption, as I read through the Bible this year I am more sensitive than ever to the prevailing theme of Exodus throughout scripture.
After God sends Moses to lead his family out of slavery in Egypt – granted it’s over a million family members, but they are family none the less – the family becomes a nation with an organized form of government, laws, and religion in a relatively short amount of time. After this critical moment in God’s interaction with us God continually references the Exodus events as his identification and as proof that He cares.
When God has had enough of the rebellion and a turning point is necessary for these people He uses Exodus language to announce through His prophets how He will discipline and how He will redeem.
I just finished Hosea, a prophet who lived 2000 years after the Exodus who announces the future destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Israel,
“5 They will return to Egypt
Assyria will rule over them
because they refuse to repent!” (Hosea11:5, NET)
The Northern Kingdom will again be taken into slavery because of their rebellion. It seems a cruel punishment. God even declares that pregnant women will have their wombs cut open and their babies heads will be dashed against the rocks. Wow! Pretty violent, and if we remove this discipline from the context of 2000 years of patience shown to the Israelites by God I think we might have an opinion of God as merciless. However, He’s given them 2000 years to follow Him. He rescued them from slavery in order to follow Him. Instead the people of the Northern Kingdom and especially their kings disobeyed the law and worshiped other gods. I think 2000 years is about 1999 years longer than I would have given them.
What about you? Is God patient, merciful, gracious, kind, and just? Or is God some kind of malicious, jealous, and enraged ogre?