Thursday's (Late) Thought-My Review of "Love Wins"

Hello, sorry for the late post this week. It has been a busy one. For this Thursday’s (late) Thought, I am posting an abridged review of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins, which has been making waves in Christian circles around the world. It is abridged because I think if I wrote a full review of all my thoughts on the book, I could easily write 10+ pages. I don’t want to take the time to do that, and I’m pretty sure nobody would read it if I did.

For those of you who know nothing about the book, it is labeled as “A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.” In it, Rob Bell, a pastor from Michigan attempts to (or at least says he’s going to attempt to) answer the question of the eternal fate of every person who has ever walked the earth. In doing so, he proposes many answers to questions about our eternal fate that fall outside the lines of what many in the Christian community would label as “orthodoxy.” If you’re interested in reading my thoughts on the book, here they are:

Bell opens the book in typical Rob Bell fashion—by asking lots of questions. He then goes on in chapter 2 to reexamine the biblical understanding of heaven. I enjoyed this chapter and felt that it was actually closer to the biblical understanding of heaven than the beliefs held by most Christians today (although I do have different beliefs than him in even this area). My biggest complaint about chapter 2 is that it felt like I was reading a condensed version of N.T. Wright’s book Surprised By Hope, a book that treats the same issue as this chapter in much more depth, and which Bell actually recommends for further reading at the end of Love Wins.

Chapter 3 and on is where a lot of people (including me) found our interpretation of the Bible to be vastly different than Rob Bell’s. In his study of hell, he redefines the classical definition and instead says he believes the word “hell” refers to states of oppression on earth and possibly a purgatory-like time after death for those who don’t believe in Christ during this life (yes, he does believe we will be given further chances to believe after we are dead). To develop this belief, he reinterprets the traditional understanding of many Bible passages that speak on these issues. He also recommends the idea (although leaving the possibility open that this is not the way it will work) that eventually everyone will trust in Christ (either in this life or at some point after death) and will join God’s kingdom on earth.

Needless to say, I had a lot of issues with this book.

I think the most foundational thing that led Bell to these less-than-orthodox conclusions is a flawed understanding of the character and nature of God and of sin. In the entire book, the word “holy” only occurs twice, never when Bell is listing the attributes of God. Once, it is in a verse that he is quoting, and once it is presented as a part of a theory of the atonement which he is arguing against. God’s justice is also relegated to a secondary role in the book. Although the word "justice" is mentioned a few times (8 to be exact) in the book, the vast majority of these references are to social justice rather than to the justice of God which forces Him to punish sin and the sinners who commit sin. In fact, the times when Bell does mention God’s punishment of sin, he strongly implies (twice) that it would be unjust of God to make people suffer “infinitely for the finite sins they committed in the few years they spent on earth” (p. 102, cf. p. 2). Apparently, Bell judges our sins by the finite span of time during which we commit them rather than by the infinite God against whom we commit said sins. All of this is to say that Bell’s understanding of the character and nature of God and the severity of our sin are incredibly flawed, and these clearly lead to his flawed conclusions about the fate of every person who ever lived.

This understanding of our sin and the character and nature of God is further clarified when Bell argues against the idea that Jesus died to save us from God. He says, “Let’s be very clear, then: we do not need to be rescued from God. God is the one who rescues us from death, sin, and destruction. God is the rescuer” (p. 181). I wholeheartedly agree that God, through Jesus, is our rescuer. I strongly disagree with the rest of this statement. The Bible is clear that God is holy and just and our sin is an attack against that holiness and justice. We deserve wrath. And the New Testament clearly says (four times, to be exact) that Jesus became our propitiation—our wrath-bearing sacrifice—when He was on the cross. The wrath of God was poured out on Him. He saved us from God. The other problem with Bell’s statement here is that if God needs to save us from death, sin, and destruction rather than from Himself, that would mean that these three things have a power over God that requires Him to change His actions due to them. It would mean that, although God eventually defeated them, they were—at least for a time—greater than God.

Another thing that struck me about the book is that for “A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived,” there are a lot of key Bible passages about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived that Bell completely leaves out of his discussion. Among these are Hebrews 9:27, which says: “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…”; Matthew 12:31, where Jesus discusses the unforgiveable sin; and Revelation 20:15, which says: “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” All of these would appear to argue against Bell’s conclusions, and all of them are conspicuously absent from the entire length of the work.

At one point in the book, Bell even goes so far as to slander the character of God. He references the passage in 1 Tim. 2 when Paul says, “God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” He then says that if not all people get saved, then God is “not totally great. Sort of great. A little great.” (p. 98). This is bad enough in and of itself, but then he goes further. “So will those who have said no to God’s love in this life continue to say no in the next? Love demands freedom, and freedom provides that possibility. People take that option now, and we can assume it will be taken in the future” (p. 113). So, not only does Bell believe that God is only “a little great” if not all people get saved, but he also believes it is a distinct possibility that not all people will be saved. He not only proposes, but actually leaves open the option that God is “not totally great. Sort of great. A little great.” Wow!

In what was possibly the most frustrating part of the book, Bell provides nothing but questions where he has promised answers (is that anything new for him?). In the “Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived,” he reaches the conclusion: “Will everybody be saved, or will some perish apart from God forever because of their choices? Those are questions, or more accurately, those are tensions we are free to leave fully intact. We don’t need to resolve them or answer them because we can’t, and so we simply respect them, creating space for the freedom that love requires” (p. 114). The book promising answers about the fate of everyone who has ever lived ultimately concludes that we can’t know what the fate of everyone will be.

In his chapter titled “Does God Get What God Wants?” Bell concludes that we ultimately cannot answer the question of whether God gets what God wants (specifically in reference to human salvation), although we can know for certain that we get what we want (p. 116). He apparently has either never read Psalm 115:3 or he has forgotten all about it.

Ultimately, what Bell concludes in this book is not only wrong, but also dangerous. I am not saying this to come across as someone who takes pleasure at the thought that there will be people spending eternity in hell (I don’t), but rather as someone who thinks it is necessary to present a lost and dying world with the truth about what the Bible says about, well, heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived. If we take Bell’s teaching to heart, it not only distorts the face of the gospel beyond recognition to the people we see on a daily basis, it also fundamentally alters the character of God, and undermines any and all necessity for missions at every level. Really—if everyone is going to get a second chance after they die to believe in Jesus, why tell them about Him now? Why not just make redemptive art and care for the environment and wait for Jesus to return? (Not that there’s anything wrong with doing those things, they’re just not the gospel)

I could go on for many more pages with problems I saw in this book and major disagreements I have with Bell about what he says in it, but for the sake of time, space, and readability, I will limit the rest of what I have to say to a few positive comments I have on the book.

Despite the many problems I have with the answers he gives to them, the questions Rob Bell attempts to answer in Love Wins are important questions that many in our society, even inside of churches, are struggling with. The call to think on these questions is important, and I think many of us will find as we think about them and study them Biblically that although Bell’s answers to these questions are often not sufficient for us to rely upon, for many of us our current understanding of many of the answers to these questions is flawed as well. Although I don’t recommend this book as the resource for you to check for your answers, I do want to challenge you to study the issues of heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived so that when asked about it, you can give an informed, Biblical answer.