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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I'm equal parts amazed at how much I agree with almost everything in this book and also how uninspired I was for almost every page I read.
Didn't expect to read this at all, let alone to be interested. It's a light read, it shows signs of having been edited in a hurry (errors crop up more and more toward the end, culminating in the words "loves wins" in the very last line, at least in the edition I was reading), and the whole thing reads like the transcript of a motivational speech delivered onstage before an audience of Christian college students, a style that gets a bit precious from time to time. But none of that is central.
The thing about this book is that I could wish with all my heart that this were the mainstream of Christianity talking, not a maverick speaking from its fringe. Here is a Christianity that gives a damn about the world we actually live in, about the people in it and what happens to them here and now. Bell asserts--and for all the complaints pouring in from mainstream Christians, he makes a good case--that Jesus was never really interested in an everlasting afterlife that begins upon dying. That for Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God's loving rule opening up here on earth, and hell is the human misery, here and now, that naturally follows from refusing to embrace and emulate that love.
Bell plunges head-on into the most damning logical vulnerabilities of his own religion as it usually manifests. The idea of eternal torment visited by a supposedly loving God upon his own creatures whose nature he designed himself, chiefly. The idea that popular people have better odds of salvation because their friends' prayers help them, or that we have such a finite--and variable--lifespan in which to determine our fate for that incomprehensible forever. He asks, and this I had never thought of: if God wants everybody to be saved (he provides some quotes wherein the Bible says God does indeed want that) and God is all-powerful, then how can he fail to get what he wants? He says, too, that he believes many Christians, including leaders of the faith, don't so much love God as fear him and hope to placate him. That this reality, impossible to admit openly, gnaws at their hearts. And that rang, for me, with the clarity of something I had always murkily suspected without ever quite putting my finger on it. But of course they do. Of course they do. The mainstream conception of God is an unspeakable bastard and I can think of little more terrifying than the notion of that maniacal bully being real.
There are some parts that aren't so strong, but generally I think his case is too solid to be ignored. Here, for once, is a Christianity I can live with. It's startling to see how many Christians are too attached to their schadenfreude to even consider that he has a point here.
The thing about this book is that I could wish with all my heart that this were the mainstream of Christianity talking, not a maverick speaking from its fringe. Here is a Christianity that gives a damn about the world we actually live in, about the people in it and what happens to them here and now. Bell asserts--and for all the complaints pouring in from mainstream Christians, he makes a good case--that Jesus was never really interested in an everlasting afterlife that begins upon dying. That for Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God's loving rule opening up here on earth, and hell is the human misery, here and now, that naturally follows from refusing to embrace and emulate that love.
Bell plunges head-on into the most damning logical vulnerabilities of his own religion as it usually manifests. The idea of eternal torment visited by a supposedly loving God upon his own creatures whose nature he designed himself, chiefly. The idea that popular people have better odds of salvation because their friends' prayers help them, or that we have such a finite--and variable--lifespan in which to determine our fate for that incomprehensible forever. He asks, and this I had never thought of: if God wants everybody to be saved (he provides some quotes wherein the Bible says God does indeed want that) and God is all-powerful, then how can he fail to get what he wants? He says, too, that he believes many Christians, including leaders of the faith, don't so much love God as fear him and hope to placate him. That this reality, impossible to admit openly, gnaws at their hearts. And that rang, for me, with the clarity of something I had always murkily suspected without ever quite putting my finger on it. But of course they do. Of course they do. The mainstream conception of God is an unspeakable bastard and I can think of little more terrifying than the notion of that maniacal bully being real.
There are some parts that aren't so strong, but generally I think his case is too solid to be ignored. Here, for once, is a Christianity I can live with. It's startling to see how many Christians are too attached to their schadenfreude to even consider that he has a point here.
I read this because all the Christians were up in arms about it without even knowing what it was about. I wanted to find out. as it turns out, it's one of the best Christian books I've ever read. well done, mr. bell. his ideas are undeveloped theologically, but he touches on some really good points. quick, easy read.
A lot of this book reflects what I already believed, so I felt kind of like I was reading in the echo chamber. That said, it had a few interesting new perspectives for me. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, I recommend reading chapters 1 & 7. (1 so you know what he's talking about; 7 because I think it's the most applicable for most of us....how God sees us v. how we see ourselves.)
There has been so much controversy surrounding this book so I wanted to read it to see what it was all about. I have read almost all of Rob Bell's books and have enjoyed them and his way of thinking.
Bell tackles the whole idea of heaven and hell in this book. He first touches on the ideas that the Bible presents on how we can view heaven and hell. He explores the thoughts of that God will provide healing for everyone at some point, that maybe it's not just in this life. Bell presents the question "Are you open or closed?" in reference to how you view the world and God's kingdom. Are the doors closed for some and open for others or is there a chance God could present more than what we are capable of imagining.
He dives into the concepts of exclusivity and inclusivity. Exclusivity being that Jesus is the only way to heaven and inclusivity being "open to all religions, trusts that good people will get in and that there is only one mountain but it has many paths."
Bell makes a statement that should make everyone think and seems to sum up his book, "It is our responsibility to be extremely careful about making negative, decisive, lasting judgements about people's eternal destinies."
The book overall is a decent read but I must say it wasn't one of my favorite books from Bell. I felt like he did a lot of rambling throughout the book and didn't get to the point till the very end. He makes very general statements that seem to be the cause of the controversy, but yet he doesn't completely come out and say them. I'm okay with that approach but it did leave me wondering what exactly he thinks because it was so open.
Bell tackles the whole idea of heaven and hell in this book. He first touches on the ideas that the Bible presents on how we can view heaven and hell. He explores the thoughts of that God will provide healing for everyone at some point, that maybe it's not just in this life. Bell presents the question "Are you open or closed?" in reference to how you view the world and God's kingdom. Are the doors closed for some and open for others or is there a chance God could present more than what we are capable of imagining.
He dives into the concepts of exclusivity and inclusivity. Exclusivity being that Jesus is the only way to heaven and inclusivity being "open to all religions, trusts that good people will get in and that there is only one mountain but it has many paths."
Bell makes a statement that should make everyone think and seems to sum up his book, "It is our responsibility to be extremely careful about making negative, decisive, lasting judgements about people's eternal destinies."
The book overall is a decent read but I must say it wasn't one of my favorite books from Bell. I felt like he did a lot of rambling throughout the book and didn't get to the point till the very end. He makes very general statements that seem to be the cause of the controversy, but yet he doesn't completely come out and say them. I'm okay with that approach but it did leave me wondering what exactly he thinks because it was so open.
All poppycock and twisted scriptures. A child could probably pick apart Mr. Bell's book. It's a shame he presents God as such a small inefficient and weak God.
Well, where to begin? This was the worst book that I have read for Book Club. Everything that this book was founded upon was wrong. Nowhere in this book was any mention of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, or baptism. Rob Bell makes tons of claims by distorting the views of Bible and teachers that have been around for centuries. Everything that he uses from the Bible he takes out of context. The Greek and Hebrew that he says are used are different words than what the Bible mentions altogether. Simply put, he makes the Gospel more palatable to those who don't like what is the actual words of the Bible. He tries to get his listeners to respond to what he is saying by scrambling their minds. Worst of all, he distorts the weightiness of sin and the greatness of God. I will loan this to other people in the hopes that they will be able to see what false teaching looks like when it is compared to the glorious knowledge of God.
The last two chapters were the best. I missed the footnotes that populate his other books, but appreciated the flavor of other theologians such as C.S. Lewis and N.T. Wright.