• By Laurie Haller, Grand Rapids District Superintendent •As I turn off I-196, the exit ramp is completely backed up, and I wonder, “Is the traffic for Mars Hill Bible Church always this bad, or is it just because Pastor Rob Bell is preaching after one of the most intense weeks of his life?”
I know I’m in the right place when I notice the bumper sticker on the car in front of me: “Love Wins.” Having missed Mr. Bell preach 10 years ago when I last attended Mars Hill, today seems a great time to hear one of the most influential and provocative Christian preachers and teachers in America today.
The worship service is simple: a few songs, a time of greeting, an “interview” with Mr. Bell on his experience of the past week, his sermon on Revelation 2:12-17, and communion. I recognize that I am clearly one of the older people in this megachurch.
I am curious why Mr. Bell’s new book Love Wins has put him on the evangelical hot seat. No one is more surprised than Mr. Bell himself. At the beginning of the service he emphasizes, “I believe in heaven and hell. I’m not a universalist. I believe people get to make a choice. And I believe it’s best to discuss only books that you have read.”
Mr. Bell expresses gratitude for the support of his congregation. He says, “Thank you for trusting your experience of the resurrected Christ when others put you on trial. Thank you for allowing the heat. It’s good, and it will make us all Jesus-like.” He is no doubt including himself as well.
Being conversant with religious trends by reading books, magazines and blogs is necessary for church leaders, whether lay persons, pastors, superintendents or bishops. That leads me to read Love Wins, which seems to have touched a deep-seated anxiety in our individual and collective hearts by asking such questions as: Is the defining characteristic of God love or fear? Did Jesus die only for those who are saved or for all sinners? Could a loving God condemn anyone to hell?
Church camp dropout
Like most of you, my religious experiences have helped to shape who I am today. In my home church I knew nothing but the love of Jesus. Outside of church, however, I heard a different story. During my one year at church camp, in fourth grade, I learned about God’s wrath toward those who reject Jesus and was pressured to accept Christ as my savior to avoid burning in hell. Never mind that I was already a Jesus-lover. Because I didn’t express my faith with the same language as my counselors, I wasn’t truly saved. Spooked by the experience, I never returned to church camp again.
I also attended revivals with friends in high school where I heard much the same message. Somehow fire and brimstone sermons didn’t do it for me. Shocked by the anger of the preachers and turned off by the coercive tactics, I yearned for God’s grace, which seemed in scarce supply in those settings. I discovered early that fear is not a motivator for me.
When I became a pastor, I was faced with the inevitable funeral scenario. Someone died who had not been a professing Christian. Convinced that the grace of God that is greater than all our sin mysteriously extends even to those who die without believing, I did not presume to usurp God’s role and judge the deceased. Rather, I shared the good news of God’s unending love for our world and its people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then I challenged the congregation to choose to follow the one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Our own hells
In Love Wins Mr. Bell uses an abundance of biblical images to raise questions, challenge long-held assumptions, and wonder about beliefs that other Christians see as non-negotiable. The book will likely be threatening to anyone who lives in a black-and-white world, where you either are or aren’t a Christian.
Rather than critique Love Wins, I’d rather share a few quotes from the book and some personal observations in the hope that it will encourage you to read the book yourself, examine your own ideas about heaven and hell, and find a group of people with whom to discuss them.
• “Really? Ghandi’s in hell? He is? We have confirmation of this?” When my high school Baptist friends would comment about all the people in Africa and Asia who were condemned to hell either because they had never heard of Jesus or chose to follow another religion, all I could think was, “Many of them are much more caring, compassionate and Christ-like than I am. Who’s to say I’m in and they’re out?”
• “Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be.” I believe that after I die I will go to live with God in heaven, but the greatest reward and motivator I can imagine is the privilege of building God’s kingdom here on earth by living like Jesus.
• “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.” I don’t know what hell after death is like, but I do know that we can create our own hells when we choose not to live in Jesus-like ways. God’s deepest desire is to restore us and all of creation to wholeness and harmony, but God made a conscious decision never to force the human heart. When we run as far away from God as we want, God respects our choice, but the hound of heaven will never stop pursuing us with love.
As published on Haller's blog and by the United Methodist Reporter
