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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I rated this book at 4 stars because it's the first "religious" book that I've been able to finish. Although I would not consider myself personally religious, I am interested in other's religious views. I appreciate that the author tries to respond to and reason with the very things that caused me to reject religion from an early age. His version of God is one I can get behind and one that I wish more Christians would embrace.
I'm not a huge fan of his writing style, it's a bit too fluffy and repetitive for my tastes. However I love the concepts, especially the first two chapters "Heaven" and "Hell". It's refreshing to hear his take on the bible and God - he shrugs off all the traditional teachings of Heaven being a place most people won't gain entrance to.
"As obvious as it is, then, Jesus is bigger than any one religion. He didn’t come to start a new religion, and he continually disrupted whatever conventions or systems or establishments that existed in his day. He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one called “Christianity.”"
"Jesus talked about a reality he called the kingdom of God. He described an all-pervasive dimension of being, a bit like oxygen for us or water for a fish, that he insisted was here, at hand, now, among us, and upon us. He spoke with God as if God was right here, he healed with power that he claimed was readily accessible all the time, and he taught his disciples that they would do even greater things than what they saw him doing. He spoke of oneness with God, the God who is so intimately connected with life in this world that every hair on your head is known. Jesus lived and spoke as if the whole world was a thin place for him, with endless dimensions of the divine infinitesimally close, with every moment and every location simply another experience of the divine reality that is all around us, through us, under and above us all the time."
"Does God say to you, “You’re the kind of person I can run the world with”?"
"As obvious as it is, then, Jesus is bigger than any one religion. He didn’t come to start a new religion, and he continually disrupted whatever conventions or systems or establishments that existed in his day. He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one called “Christianity.”"
"Jesus talked about a reality he called the kingdom of God. He described an all-pervasive dimension of being, a bit like oxygen for us or water for a fish, that he insisted was here, at hand, now, among us, and upon us. He spoke with God as if God was right here, he healed with power that he claimed was readily accessible all the time, and he taught his disciples that they would do even greater things than what they saw him doing. He spoke of oneness with God, the God who is so intimately connected with life in this world that every hair on your head is known. Jesus lived and spoke as if the whole world was a thin place for him, with endless dimensions of the divine infinitesimally close, with every moment and every location simply another experience of the divine reality that is all around us, through us, under and above us all the time."
"Does God say to you, “You’re the kind of person I can run the world with”?"
Ok, I am going to keep this short. I read this recently with Amy and then had a book discussion about it with some college and church friends, which went great. I give it three stars not because the content is bad but because of the way he presented it. Now let me say I like my fellow Wheaton grad Bell very much, and his chapels were some of the best I heard in four years. I also think that his random, post-modern style will reach a lot of people that I could not, and that is my main prayer for the book--that it could bring more people, christian and non to a much more Biblical understanding of what happens to us when we die and how much we can even know about that at all. I mostly agree with Bell's positions, but I would not have said them or organized them as he did. Overall, I think this book is good for the world, but would tell people to read Lewis' The Great Divorce or NT Wright's Surprised by Hope first.
“Because if something is wrong with your God,
if your God is loving one second and cruel the next,
if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years,
no amount of clever marketing
or compelling language
or good music
or great coffee
will be able to disguise
that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.
. . .
God is love,
And love is a relationship.
This relationship is one of joy, and it can’t be contained.”
if your God is loving one second and cruel the next,
if your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years,
no amount of clever marketing
or compelling language
or good music
or great coffee
will be able to disguise
that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.
. . .
God is love,
And love is a relationship.
This relationship is one of joy, and it can’t be contained.”
I picked up this book because I adore Rob Bell's podcast and was interested in learning more about his theology. This book was not what I was expecting. I had heard this was the book that got him shunned by the evangelical community, and that it was because he argued for the acceptance of gay people and the crazy notion that they won't burn forever in Hell. That is not this book. He doesn't mention gay people specifically, but instead the salvation of all, all obviously including ALL. To me this was not a radical concept but after this book was published I guess he got a lot of angry evangelicals picketing his speaking engagements so apparently it is for some people.
It's worth a read. Rob Bell knows his bible and his biblical languages (one would hope, since he's a pastor), and uses them to translate and break down exactly what is meant by the terms heaven, hell, eternal life, and others, and how the people around during Jesus's time would've understood what he was talking about.
I took away a star because Bell's writing style is extremely informal - each paragraph is a single thought, and sometimes a single sentence or a fragment of a sentence. It's written as though he were giving a talk, and honestly I think it would work better as a speech to listen to rather than a book. I had to pretend he was talking in my head to get through it.
It's worth a read. Rob Bell knows his bible and his biblical languages (one would hope, since he's a pastor), and uses them to translate and break down exactly what is meant by the terms heaven, hell, eternal life, and others, and how the people around during Jesus's time would've understood what he was talking about.
I took away a star because Bell's writing style is extremely informal - each paragraph is a single thought, and sometimes a single sentence or a fragment of a sentence. It's written as though he were giving a talk, and honestly I think it would work better as a speech to listen to rather than a book. I had to pretend he was talking in my head to get through it.
I have a hard time understanding the controversy surrounding this book.
Rob Bell asks some important, burning questions about the nature of God and the cross, heaven and hell, and salvation. I have sought answers to many of these questions at various times in my life. While this book does not contain expansive enough answers to suit me, it rings true according to my studies of the Scriptures and my history with God.
Rob Bell has faced some pretty harsh backlash from some people in the church for this book, but he won't face any from me. He has come to some very similar conclusions as I have, with a few divergent viewpoints. It is incredibly important that we as a church are willing to ask questions of ourselves, each other, and God. Even if you disagree, these questions and his answers are important to consider.
Rob Bell has faced some pretty harsh backlash from some people in the church for this book, but he won't face any from me. He has come to some very similar conclusions as I have, with a few divergent viewpoints. It is incredibly important that we as a church are willing to ask questions of ourselves, each other, and God. Even if you disagree, these questions and his answers are important to consider.
Looking forward to reading Mike Wittmer's counter to this "Christ Alone"
This book went over well with my Georgetown campus ministry group. Bell has the ability to appeal to a broad audience, no small feat in today's polar political and religious environment. He drifts towards universalism and will lost some for that, but I still give him kudos for talking about heaven and hell, an often overlooked topic of Christian thought. His thoughts are not always well developed or precise, but at the very least, he paves the way for further reflection and dialogue. Perhaps one student said it best: "Read the first two chapters; that's all you need. It kind of peters out from there."
Powerful; my favorite quote: "We shape our God and then our God shapes us."