Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is sin? Sin is hatred and disbelief and denial and confusion and evil and lying. Sin is turning away from God and from his Love. Making a choice.
Not making a decision IS a decision. Life is full of choices; decisions: Up or down, left or right, backward or forward, move or stay, believe or not.
“We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a decision.” ~ Gary Collins
“A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place call heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.”
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever should believe in Him should have eternal life.
That’s pretty inclusive if you ask me; you just have to BELIEVE. In God. In His gift. You’ve been invited to show up to the party and you’re in. FOREVER. But you have to accept the invitation and go to the party.
Mr. Bell states the belief that Heaven and Hell exist is toxic and not the Jesus that is true. Apparently Mr. Bell (I refuse to call him a pastor) hasn’t read the entire Bible. There is a Heaven and there is a Hell. There is no purgatory or limbo or train station where people wait in between for their judgment. Those that choose God and his gift go to Heaven. Those that don’t go to Hell. It’s simple, yet terrifying; like seeing the sign that says “ONE WAY STREET” and choosing to drive the other way. The consequences are deadly when you make the wrong choice. The “rest of humanity” that choose not to believe; choose to deny every evidence of God; choose to DENY HIM; they will be in Hell.
Romans 1:20-21 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.
Proverbs 15:24 The way of life winds upward for the wise, That he may turn away from hell below.
There is clearly a choice that is made between good and evil, right and wrong, dark and light all throughout our lives. That’s what the Christian life is mainly about (other than preaching the gospel) – that’s what sets us apart from the world. The Christian is to actively work to show and practice God and his teachings on a daily basis. That means living as good stewards, taking care of others, teaching, choosing good, and living according to the commandments. Those that know Jesus (have accepted him as the Master of their life), have chosen to live according to the Word of God. Those that choose not to follow the path that’s laid out have chosen to deny the existence of God’s power, both in good and evil.
Even as children there are choices to be made: Hit your sister, lie to your mother, take that piece of candy, do your chores, not turn in homework. As adults we make choices every day: Drive over the speed limit, lie to our boss, ‘forget’ to return the tool we’ve borrowed, carry hate in our heart for a neighbor’s constantly barking dog. The choices are HARD. The right way is always hard.
“And that question {“of a personal relationship”} raises another question. If the message of Jesus is that God is offering the free gift of eternal life through him – a gift we cannot earn by our own efforts, works, or good deeds – and all we have to do is accept and confess and believe, aren’t those verbs?”
Mr. Bell states that there are no scriptural proofs that we are to have a personal relationship with God; that the words “personal relationship” have only been used in the past 100 years. In this theory, he negates the purpose of Jesus’ life and ministry, death and resurrection. The difference between New Testament Christians and Old Testament believers was the death of Jesus on the cross. Prior to that point, the only relationship believers had with God was through sacrifices, and through “the law”. The death of Jesus on the cross was the ultimate (and final) sacrifice offered to bring the love of God to all people, not just Jews. The personal relationship however is evidenced throughout both the Old and New Testament, through the belief of Abraham, Sarah, David, Job, Moses and an entire list of people who followed the will of their higher power; even though they couldn’t see him or touch him or hear him.
His theology is also quite circular. Heaven is real, but it isn’t; Heaven is here but it’s somewhere else (on another plane); Hell is on earth but also a threat for people to change their ways. Jesus spoke in parables that were meaningful for the then and there, but not in current, modern day times. It’s confusing; and I’m not sure that if I weren’t a believer that I’d want to take the time to find the truth.
He has some good points about community service, the poor, the rich and good works; I’m not debating that as Christians, there are things we are called to do. But his basis for these works it seems is that they are our way into the Heaven in the future that will be on this earth. He appears to believe that the works that we do while in this lifetime will guarantee our existence in Heaven and the rewards from God. Resurrection and grace don’t seem to appear in his version of the ‘choosing process’ for Heavenly residence; they are just like extra stars on the chore chart of our lives. What really gets us into everlasting habitation with Jesus and God is what kind of a person we are in our mortal life.
“But for Jesus, heaven is more real than what we experience now. This is true for the future, when earth and heaven become one, but also for today”.
He talks about in other places where Jesus believed that heaven was here and now because he talked about it in present tense. This confuses me because it’s always been clear to me that Heaven has always existed and will always exist because it’s where God “lives”. Jesus came from Heaven as a baby and returned to Heaven after he was resurrected and ascended. Of course it’s real. Just as real as the Hell that Satan rules over. Remember that God cast Satan out of Heaven and into Hell because Lucifer (an angel) fought God (free will) and wanted to be more powerful than God (disobedience). And the humans that fight God and choose to go their own way without submitting to God’s power and Love and control will go the same place.
Revelation 1:18 "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death".
Revelation 12:7-12 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
And THEN there’s the “dimensions” section. I had to check that I was still reading “Love Wins” and not some science-fiction novel about time travel. Dimensions?
“To say it again, eternal life is less about a kind of time what starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life lived now in connection to God.
Eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts now. It’s not about a life that begins at death; it’s about experiencing the kind of life now that can endure and survive even death.
We live in several dimensions. Up and down. Left and right. Forward and backward. Three to be exact.”
Dimensions? He definitely lost me there. If I were travelling in a car with this man and he started preparing the car for a time-travel trip, I’d be asking to be let out on the side of the road RIGHT NOW.
Back to Hell; or at least the discussion of Hell…
“Often the people most concerned about others going to hell when they die seem less concerned with the hells on earth right now, while the people most concerned with the hells on earth right now seem the least concerned about hell after death.”
“There are individual hells, and communal, society-wide hells, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously. There is hell now and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously.”
He answers the question or position of “is there a Hell” with a political, a religious and a scriptural answer. The political answer is that Jesus was comparing Hell to present (His) times, and “it’s important that we don’t take Jesus’ very real and prescient warnings about judgment then out of context, making them about someday and somewhere else. That wasn’t what he was talking about.”
He cautions (p 81)
“Because of this history [Romans and the Jews and oppression], it’s important that we don’t take Jesus’ very real and prescient warnings about judgment then out of context, making them about someday, somewhere else. That wasn’t what he was talking about.” He goes on to say on that same page that Jesus’ audience – who he was speaking to – were “very devoted, religious Jews”.
So, Jesus, who frequently spoke in parables and stories and gave real life visuals about things people couldn’t understand so that we COULD understand them; was only talking about the soon-to-be uprising. Not Heaven or Hell or the future or the past. Jesus was so one-dimensional; so, incapable of having omniscience; so un-relatable; that he could only talk to his people, the promised people of God, about the then and now.
That one paragraphs neatly places Jesus’ entire ministry into a small, sturdy box and relegates it to the prophetic nonsense of Confucius, Allah and Joseph Smith. Either Jesus KNEW what he was saying was a message for all people, for all time; or he was just some really cool, rebellious guy who conned a bunch of people into believing him. In other words, a religious fanatic; the David Koresh or Jim Jones of his day (minus the ATF and the Kool-aid).
Either Jesus was the answer to the Old Testament predictions, or he was a really good charlatan. Either the Bible is inerrant and infallible (which means it is true and not wrong in any way), or it’s a dictionary that needs to be revised every few years with new words like “ain’t and “fo-shizzle”.
“Jesus did not use hell to try and compel “heathens” and “pagans” to believe in God, so they wouldn’t burn when they die. He talked about hell to very religious people to warn them about the consequences of straying from their God-given calling and identity to show the world God’s love.”
I think Mr. Bell’s entire premise of the promise of eternal life for all is pretty much summed up on pages 85-86;
“According to the prophets, God crushes, refines, tests, corrects, chastens and rebukes – but always with a purpose. No matter how painful, brutal, oppressive, not matter how far people find themselves from home because of their sin, indifference, and rejection, there’s always the assurance that it won’t be this way forever.”
He negates the free will of people to CHOOSE God or not. CHOOSE Heaven and eternity or HELL and eternal suffering. There is always the assurance that it won’t be this way forever; it will either be much better – beyond explanation or understanding – or much, much worse. But it’s a choice we get to make.
He spends a lot of time explaining that things have to be one way or the other, not both. People have choices, God gives them the ultimate show of love by giving everything He has and letting them choose NOT to accept the gift. But apparently the gift is still available after it’s been rejected, time and time and time again. Even after we’re physically dead and the body and mind and soul and spirit can’t possibly make another choice.
Again, if I weren’t a believer and hadn’t been one all my life; I would find this book a lot of circular reasoning and confusing perplexity. He talks about other religions and knowing Jesus, even though they don’t know his name. He talks again about inclusivity, exclusivity, heaven, hell, all religions, and good people getting in and so on.
Hell is a story, our daily life, “our refusal to trust God’s retelling of our story.” (page 170). He ends the book (almost – Chapter 7) with a detailed, drawn-out, overly simplified retelling of the parable of the two sons. Somehow this story pertains to heaven and choices and God’s sacrifice of Jesus and the difference between how we spend eternity. Apparently, we all will be in heaven, but some won’t be at the ‘party’. They’ll be on the outside of the gates looking in, taking photos, talking to people as they enter and exit. Maybe, they’ll even ask for leftovers and autographs from the “in crowd”. Page 190:
“The only thing left to do is trust. Everybody is already at the party. Heaven and hell, here, now, around us, upon us, within us.”
I’d love to be able to recommend this book because there are lots of verses and some scripturally accurate explanations inside the cover. But I struggle with the merry-go-round philosophy that there is no end; there is always another chance and another and another. Biblically, there’s no way around the fact that there are choices and the choices are clear. Either the Bible is a history book that can be revised, edited and modified at the whim of society; or it is inerrant, infallible and the true word of God. You either believe that every part of the Bible is true or you reduce it to a story that has moments of brilliance and pages of incredulity.
In my opinion, there is a heaven, a hell, a right way and a wrong way. There is a time when every person has to make a choice for or against God; the only God – not Allah, Joseph Smith, Buddha or Krishna. And, if you make the choice against God, you have to pay the consequences for that choice of everlasting pain, anguish and despair. Because you’ve had every chance you’re ever going to get while your body is alive on this earth.
Heaven or Hell, Turn or Burn.
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