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By: Justin Ahlgrim
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| Toxic is what Bell calls the traditional understanding of Heaven & Hell |
CHAPTER 1
*Bell's trying to get us to think about what it means to really be saved. I mean, what about a baby that's aborted? What about a teen who gets in a random car accident? Is there a certain age in which one is capable of receiving the gospel and before then, before, say "10 years old," if you're killed would you automatically go to heaven? Is there an "age of accountability"? Sadistically, Bell asks, if that's so, shouldn't we just be killing off everyone when they're young so they can be with Jesus instead of growing up possibly rejecting Him for their few years of life here on earth and then suffer in Hell for all of eternity? Wouldn't that be the greater good? Something to think about. As believers of conservative theological doctrine, we need to answer questions such as these.
*This quote from chapter 1 is a little harsh, but it demonstrates a real perspective that pervades my teens at youth group for instance: "A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided, toxic, and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear." Toxic. Toxic is what he calls the commonly held Christian view of Hell. I mean, its certainly not friendly, is it? The message of trusting Jesus in this life for salvation is an exclusive position that means that literally billions of people are going to Hell because sin is that heinous to God. There's a price for sin and that price has been paid, but there is a work that we must do and that is believe in He whom God sent: Jesus (John 6:29). Bell doesn't want to swallow that death sentence and so he doesn't. That's what this book is about, Bell trying to reconcile the modern american perogitive to be accepting of other peoples' beliefs. The problem is, there's not a holistic biblical context for it, so some verses Bell quotes are stretched, some verses are re-interpreted with fancy word studies, and some verses are completely ignored. Bell pulls at strings to make this "accepting gospel" work. Because who wouldn't want it to? It would mean billions more are saved! Wouldn't that be great? As Bell says, "it's a better story" (chapter 4) than the "traditional" entrance gospel that is commonly preached. Isn't it?
*Bell talks about one of the problems in believing in Jesus in this life is that sometimes people are presented with a Jesus that is very different from the Scriptures: a Jesus of Koran burnings, of racial hate, of selfishness, heck, of Family Guy. What if the only Jesus a person heard in this life was a different Jesus than we know? Would that be fair? That they refused to believe in Jesus, but only a Jesus who was falsely presented? I remember in Israel, I was talking to an Arabian shopkeeper, and he said to me, that for many muslims the sign of the cross is the hilt of the sword, of Christians killing muslims in the name of Jesus during the Crusades. Is that the Jesus we're told to believe in? If not, what if that's the only Jesus some people have ever known? Is it fair for them?
*Bell then goes on a rant where he tries to show that there are many different ways someone "gets saved" in the gospels, trying to show (I think) how fickle that decision is on this earth. After all, Bell says, "do you get saved by what you say, what you do, who you are, who you're friends with, if you're childbearing ..." how do you get saved? Because it seems to be (to Bell) that you get saved in all sorts of crazy ways when salvation is supposed to be about grace, not something you do right? Yet, as I was reading this section I was going NUTS because the Bible actually teaches a common thread of how you are saved: you are saved by faith. By faith alone in Jesus Christ. I'm reading this section and I'm literally crying out to the Rob Bell mp3, "Read Hebrews 11 for God's sake!" Throughout the Bible it is always by faith in Jesus. That's how people were God's people and were saved in the Old Testament and that's how we're saved in the New Testament and beyond. That hasn't changed. Bell ignores this common thread to promote an unfair (in my opinion) misinterpretation of the Word, making it seem like its haphazard how people are saved throughout the Bible, but that's just not true! It seems (to me) like Bell is deliberately avoiding pertinent Scripture passages throughout his book in order to prove his point. And as someone who reads the Bible, its incredibly frustrating. Wherever Bell was trying to go and whatever Bell was trying to say with his "how are you really saved" section in chapter 1 was lost on me. It just made me mad at him.
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