Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Very interesting perspective that I'm glad I read. It meshed a lot more with what I've come to believe about heaven and hell than I thought it would, and it helped me visualize a form of hell that makes sense in the context of a loving God. This drew heavily from the parable of the Prodigal Son, which is both good and bad, because it seemed kind of one sided when there's a lot more that's talked about in the bible.
Either way, it's a very positive outlook, and I like the concept.
Either way, it's a very positive outlook, and I like the concept.
A short book by a pastor of a megachurch (the audiobook version is just over 3 hours listening time). His controversial thesis: there is no hell in the sense that most people seem to think of it: an afterlife filled with eternities of burning torment where people you don't approve of go to be punished. He is quick with the scriptural references and the gentle pastoral humor. He is really not going too much further than what I have heard at our church: the real hell is right here; it is a state of being out of communion with God. He documents his positions well with scripture.
One chapter distills for me what he is talking about: Does God get what God wants? God wants all people to hear him and love him, and would not just create people and torture them for all time. I'm not much of a philosopher, but the author comes down on the side of free will.
This was a useful adjunct to my Lenten reading; it is a document of his faith, not another microanalysis of the historic reality behind our faith.
One chapter distills for me what he is talking about: Does God get what God wants? God wants all people to hear him and love him, and would not just create people and torture them for all time. I'm not much of a philosopher, but the author comes down on the side of free will.
This was a useful adjunct to my Lenten reading; it is a document of his faith, not another microanalysis of the historic reality behind our faith.
This book has caused quite a bit of controversy thanks to its trailer (which is a slew of questions and no answers). Many people took that to interpret that Rob Bell was a heretic or, in one blog post, a "servant of Satan." I wish I had bookmarked all those things so I could like to them, but it's probably just as well I didn't. All appearances to the contrary, I don't REALLY like being mad all the time.
The question behind this book centers around heaven and hell and, more specifically, who gets to go to either place. I'm not going to discuss the findings because it's an amazing book and either you're openminded enough (or interested enough, to be fair) to read it or you're not. And odds are, nothing I say here will convince you or change your mind.
But I will say that I completely loved it. I loved each chapter, even the ones that made me sad. For example, in the chapter on hell, he says that we often create our own hells and we do it in part by being deliberately cruel to others. He uses genocide and child molestation as examples and I'm not guilty of that. But then he mentions that we hurt people even with subtle eye-rolls. And that is me. I am snark and sarcasm and cynicism and eye-rolls. I am sequestered in my apartment because it's easier than going out and trying to make things better. And, as said in the Bible, I want to start to "live up to what [I] have already attained." And I don't feel the need to do it because otherwise I'm afraid God will be mad at me. I want to do it because it's the right thing to do.
I want to do it because I do believe that love is stronger than hate and stronger than fear. And if you believe that, you have to believe that love wins.
So if you're someone who feels unsettled by religion, ESPECIALLY by Christianity, please read this book. It shows that we're not all Fred Phelps and his kin, not all snake oil salesmen ranting about how everyone who isn't us will burn for all eternity. I think you'll like Rob Bell. He preaches love, not hate.
The question behind this book centers around heaven and hell and, more specifically, who gets to go to either place. I'm not going to discuss the findings because it's an amazing book and either you're openminded enough (or interested enough, to be fair) to read it or you're not. And odds are, nothing I say here will convince you or change your mind.
But I will say that I completely loved it. I loved each chapter, even the ones that made me sad. For example, in the chapter on hell, he says that we often create our own hells and we do it in part by being deliberately cruel to others. He uses genocide and child molestation as examples and I'm not guilty of that. But then he mentions that we hurt people even with subtle eye-rolls. And that is me. I am snark and sarcasm and cynicism and eye-rolls. I am sequestered in my apartment because it's easier than going out and trying to make things better. And, as said in the Bible, I want to start to "live up to what [I] have already attained." And I don't feel the need to do it because otherwise I'm afraid God will be mad at me. I want to do it because it's the right thing to do.
I want to do it because I do believe that love is stronger than hate and stronger than fear. And if you believe that, you have to believe that love wins.
So if you're someone who feels unsettled by religion, ESPECIALLY by Christianity, please read this book. It shows that we're not all Fred Phelps and his kin, not all snake oil salesmen ranting about how everyone who isn't us will burn for all eternity. I think you'll like Rob Bell. He preaches love, not hate.
This book is so controversial in the Christian church that I was curious about what it really said.
I'm sad to say - I still don't know. I can't tell what he's saying, as I found the writing unreadable. He writes in a kind of rhetorical, preachery way of repetition and rhyming and handy quotables and questions...but without any clear answers. (At least in the 4 chapters I read.)
My conclusion: It stirs people up because it questions the modern evangelical idea, not of a literal heaven or hell, but on the obsession with this being the POINT of Christiantiy (go to Heaven and skip out on Hell). As far as I can tell (and again, it's pretty opaque), he believes in the literal Heaven + Hell, but he argues that the Christian focus should be the here + now, bringing "God's Will" or "the Kingdon of Heaven" into this world, this lifetime.
(This focus on the environment, the poor, the in-need-of-love-now (instead of the afterlife) is what I understand to be the teachings of the Episcopal church, so this is not brand new information.)
Put it down halfway through because I just couldn't bear the writing, and had lost all hope of a clear statement.
I'm sad to say - I still don't know. I can't tell what he's saying, as I found the writing unreadable. He writes in a kind of rhetorical, preachery way of repetition and rhyming and handy quotables and questions...but without any clear answers. (At least in the 4 chapters I read.)
My conclusion: It stirs people up because it questions the modern evangelical idea, not of a literal heaven or hell, but on the obsession with this being the POINT of Christiantiy (go to Heaven and skip out on Hell). As far as I can tell (and again, it's pretty opaque), he believes in the literal Heaven + Hell, but he argues that the Christian focus should be the here + now, bringing "God's Will" or "the Kingdon of Heaven" into this world, this lifetime.
(This focus on the environment, the poor, the in-need-of-love-now (instead of the afterlife) is what I understand to be the teachings of the Episcopal church, so this is not brand new information.)
Put it down halfway through because I just couldn't bear the writing, and had lost all hope of a clear statement.