How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.--1 John 3:1
Love wins...this is the title of the new book, coming out today, by pastor and author Rob Bell. If some of you do not know Rob Bell, he is the well known pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the creator and star of the Nooma video's, which many church's have used in their curriculum at some point or another. He is also the author of five books dealing with the Christian faith, such as: Velvet Elvis, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Drop Like Stars, and his most recent Love Wins.
Love wins speaks about the issues of Heaven and Hell and whether they exist and who gets to go there, this in and of itself sounds like an interesting topic, one that is not spoken about often, yet is a staple in the Christian faith. However, Rob Bell comes at this topic in a way that is contrary to what the word of God says. (Keep in mind I do not say this lightly. I personally own all of Rob Bell's books, including Love Wins and up until last night thought that he was a rather good pastor that just raised some rather hard questions, however, I have been proved wrong.) Rob Bell takes a very Universalist stance within this book and within his beliefs. (For those of you that do not know what a Universalist stance is...it is the belief that all religions and all people go to Heaven.) This has upset many throughout the Christian community, yet, Rob Bell had not given any interviews (at least not to my knowledge) concerning the book and his views until last night. Last night Rob Bell was interviewed in New York City about his book (which released at midnight) and his thoughts on the afterlife. (The interview can be seen at www.livestream.com/lovewins, if you have an hour and fifteen minutes and would like to check out the interview yourself.) Within the interview Rob Bell continued to push a lax form of Universalism and promote the fact that God is love and that within that God wants to take care of us and heaven is about us, our needs and what we want.
Rob was very contradictory in many areas of the interview, and he acknowledges that at the end of the time. Yet, he holds fast to the fact that God is love and how could a loving God condemn someone to a life of torment? (Keep in mind that Rob Bell does believe that Hell does exist, however, he never says that hell is a literal place, other then to say that he believes hell is on earth...which is also where he said heaven is, in the beginning of the interview. Yes, I know very confusing.) This is an argument that I have heard throughout my years on the earth and I'm sure has been used on several occasions throughout time! It follows closely with how can a god of love let us suffer...In fact, with the current situation in Japan, I am positive that this question is being asked all over the world right now! And the fact is, this is not an easy question to answer! The question of suffering has been one for the ages, let alone the question of how a loving God could condemn his creation to suffer for a lifetime!
These questions are intense...and cannot be answered easily...but the fact is...God is love...and he does in fact have a plan, even though it may be extremely difficult to see it from our vantage point. In fact Isaiah 55:9 states, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." So, in order to save time and not claim to know the thoughts of God I am not even going to begin to touch on the fact as to why suffering exists or why God allows pain in the world, let alone natural disasters. (At least not in this blog post) All I am going to say is we serve a faithful God and we have to trust him in our times of uncertainty. Come to him with your doubts and your questions and he will give you peace.
The questions I am going to focus on though is the questions of: if God is love, and if love wins (as rob bell says it does) then where does that leave God? Does that mean that he is just a cute and cuddly being that wants nothing more then to please us? Where does the Old Testament come into that? Did God change over time? Did God decide that he was just being too hard on us, mere humans, in the Old Testament and decide that he was going to go ahead and save us so that we could be lazy and not have to give sacrifices? IS the Christian faith all about us? The answer to every one of those questions is a resounding NOOOOOO!
To start, I have been studying the book of 1 John. Now, if you have ever read the book of 1 John you would know that one of its main focuses is on love. Love for God and love for others mainly, and I have found that as I was reading 1 John 3 this morning I kept thinking...this chapter is talking about love and how we need to love others and love God and be righteous...but it doesn't talk about God's Justice. However, as a former seminary student, I remembered that this chapter was never meant to be taken by itself; because if you continue reading in Chapter 5 of this book John says, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. WHO IS IT THAT OVERCOMES THE WORLD? ONLY HE WHO BELIEVES THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD."(1John 5:1-5) It's a simple matter, really. It's what the entire Bible is about. Christ came to take down the devil (1 John 3:8) and in so doing he came to take our sins away. Jesus says, the only way to the father is through him! (John 14:6) Yes, God is love and yes he absolutely wants to save his creation! In fact 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (NKJV) However, this being said...God is just! Hebrews 10:30-31 says, "For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (NKJV)
In conclusion, God does in fact love us. In fact, he loves us more then we can even imagine. He created us, and breathed life into us, yet, the Bible is full of times where people turn away from him and he punishes them. He is a just God, and he is a faithful God...and there is a heaven and there is a hell and we need to continue to recognize the two! Do not be caught up in the words of false doctrine! (Especially by someone who quotes "the doctrine of Ricky Bobby") For those that do want to read the book, I urge you to be careful and stand firm in your faith. Guard yourself with the armor of God before reading it, I know I will.
And remember this: He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.--Revelation 21:6-8. If this isn't a clear indicator that God is love and still just in his ways, I don't know what is.
Hell--"If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the win of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."--Revelation 14:9b-12
Heaven--The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.--Revelation 21:21
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