I've like Rob Bell ever since I heard him teach "Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi." I didn't like his book "Velvet Elvis" and when he came to teach at our sister Church in Las Vegas, I wasn't impressed. Maybe he was sick or something. I love his Nooma videos. They inspire me. "Baggage" took my breath away for reasons only a few of you who know me could understand if you watched that particular Nooma video. My point is this. I'm not trying to blog about Rob's neweset book because I'm a groupie or because I'm a critic. I'm not Annie Graham Lotz or John Piper or a member of Rob's (former) church. I'm just trying to understand all the anger this book has stirred up amoung Christians.
The introduction to the book is really compelling. Rob suggests that the story of Jesus, or the story that Jesus came to tell, has been hijacked over the centuries by hundreds of other stories that Jesus had no interest in telling. One of these messages is the story of "hell" because it subverts the "contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear" (viii). I couldn't agree more, yet what about Jesus' messages of judgment and mercy? Without the story of punishment (no matter how you define it or why it happens), there doesn't seem to be any need for forgiveness or mercy or grace.
I grew up in an organization that held "Annihilationist" views. There was no hell, only eternal death, meaning you burnt up and that was it. So, I've always struggled with the traditional Christian concept of hell for my own reasons. Yet, I don't doubt that there is a consequence for rejecting Jesus' death on the cross as the only way to find acceptance with God and thus, entry into heaven. Rob, it seems, may be suggesting that there is no consequence for rejection and no reward for acceptance because everyone gets in. I don't know that for sure yet, but it seems like he could head in that direction.
The best part of Rob's intro is his final line. "If this book, then, does nothing more than introduce you to the ancient, ongoing discussion surrounding the resurrected Jesus in all its vibrant, diverse, messy, multivoiced complexity – well, I’d be thrilled" (xi). I couldn't agree more. We all need to examine and re-examine what we believe. We all need to be open to learning new things or at least having a discussion about new things. So, welcome to the discussion.
