So there’s a pastor from Grand Rapids named Rob Bell (ever heard of him?) who wrote this little book called Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, And The Fate Of Every Person Who Ever Lived and it’s making waves across the Church and culture alike.  This is born out by the fact that Bell’s book and the ensuing controversy was the featured subject of this past week’s issue of Time Magazine.  As well, Bell has been on myriad major TV news programs since the book came out just a handful of weeks ago.

I bought the audiobook (it’s read by Bell himself—a more multi-dimensional experience than the book, in my opinion) a few weeks back and listened to it in bits and pieces over the past couple of weeks.

SO, what do I think?  Not that it really matters, but I do have some thoughts (not that more of those are needed, either) that I’ll “dump out” for you that I hope generates your own questions, thoughts, and searching of the Sacred Text (The Bible).

First (and admittedly, this is an aside from the content of the book, but I think this whole conversation needs to start here), it’s my view that Christ-followers need to learn how to disagree with each other in ways that aren’t degrading.  For example, I know of a “big dog” pastor, thought leader, and author who Tweeted, “Farewell, Rob Bell” in response to early commentary from critics about the book.  Really?!?  That’s what it looks like and sounds like and is to disagree with a brother?  We must do better, Church.

Second, after having listened to the book in its entirety from “cover to cover” (and a few sections more than once), I have to admit, I’m not sure of exactly what Bell is trying to do or say.  Are you?  What I hear in the book are questions that seem to be aimed at starting a conversation around culturally accepted concepts of heaven and hell.  It is my assumption (and just my assumption…I don’t have anything to back this up…and you know what they say about assumptions…) that Bell is asking these questions as one way of inviting us to question many of our long-held assumptions and concepts of heaven and hell.

I mean, really, does anyone here on earth know that Gandhi is in hell (from the opening illustration of the book)?

It’s my opinion that the honest reader will feel Bell “pressing in” on their own propensity toward “sureness” about things that we really have no way of knowing (especially on matters which the Bible is silent, or is at least unclear about).

What is profoundly lacking in the book, in my opinion, are any statements of “here’s how I think it is…”  This has lead some people to take Bell’s probing question strategy as his doctrinal “stance”.

At the end of the day, I believe that the Sacred Text—the Word of God—The Bible—teaches, and I entirely believe, that human beings, every one of us, face an eternal destiny.  The human soul is not disposable.  It isn’t just “lights out” after this life is over.  And the Bible teaches that our eternal destiny will either be an eternal destiny with God (heaven), or an eternal destiny apart from God (hell).  It’s one or the other according to the Bible and we all have to decide what we’re going to do with that.  After all, Jesus Himself was absolutely crystal clear that He believed in heaven and hell sincerely, and invites the very same from us.