Love Wins

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I must be honest. I have been more fascinated by the controversy surrounding "Love Wins" than the book itself. It is arousing such passion in so many people, and the debate is not always kind.

You'll have noticed I only gave a 3 star rating--nothing to do with the controversy, merely the fact that the book didn't resonate with me.

There is a part of me that thinks a better title would be: Love Won. If Jesus had not died for you and me on the cross, then what's the point? We cannot possibly love anyone with a Christlike (self-surrendering, self-sacrificial) love without the cross paving the way, family pictures notwithstanding. . .

Love Wins also talks about people being accepted by Christ (ie: into Heaven) even if they don't know His name. I have to confess, there's a part of me that finds this attractive. But then again, God knows our names, He even has a secret name for each of us (Revelation 2:17), and He has our names written on His hands (Isaiah 49:16). The Amplified Version of Isaiah says

"Behold, I have indelibly printed (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of my hands".

God tells us our ways are not His ways, and our thoughts not His thoughts, so thankfully we can let Him take care of that bit. When He knows me so intimately though, I should be falling all over myself to make sure other people do know His name!

I have heard the teaching on 'Heaven on Earth' in a Ray VanderLaan series, so this was not new to me. I feel like I have an unfair advantage over readers who didn't have this teaching. You can't capture the richness of Heaven on earth (chaos to shalom) in a chapter (consider that Ray taught it over the course of six or seven sections). Ray taught us that where-ever God's will is done, there is Shalom. Shalom means everything is as God intended it to be. Then he (Ray) asks us, "are you willing to address the evil in your heart and life? Will you allow God to use you to bring Shalom?" I feel like those questions, that passion, didn't come through in Love Wins. The same would be true for chapter six, 'There are Rocks Everywhere'. I've heard the Exodus 17 story taught by two separate biblical scholars, and the richness of the water coming out of the rock was not captured (in one of the teachings it was portrayed as the first Easter, and I wish I had the words to describe it all, but I don't).

The books about God I love are the ones that make me aware of His power and how that can change me into being that shalom-bearer. In no particular order, my favorites are:

Fresh Wind Fresh Fire

The Christian's Secret To a Happy Life
Hinds Feet in High Places
Radical and Radical Together
The Hole in the Gospel

As mention previously, I have been fascinated by the controversy and spent some time reading multiple reviewers. My favorite, both for it's graciousness and it's thoroughness is Dr. Ben Witherington's blog. The link will bring you to chapter 8, which sums up his thoughts on the book and on Rob Bell (he believes he writes from a poet's perspective), but you can read his posts on each chapter if you want to take the time.

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