Rob Bell - Love Wins and the Love Wins Companion

Preface
Millions of Us

To begin with,

a bit about this book.

First, I believe that Jesuss story is first and foremost about the love of God for every single one of us. It is a stunning, beautiful, expansive love, and it is for everybody, everywhere.

Thats the story.

For God so loved the world...

Thats why Jesus came.

Thats his message.

Thats where the life is found.

There are a growing number of us who have become acutely aware that Jesuss story has been hijacked by a number of other stories, stories Jesus isnt interested in telling, because they have nothing to do with what he came to do. The plot has been lost, and its time to reclaim it.

Ive written this book for all those, everywhere, who have heard some version of the Jesus story that caused their pulse rate to rise, their stomach to churn, and their heart to utter those resolute words, I would never be a part of that.

You are not alone.

There are millions of us.

This love compels us to question some of the dominant stories that are being told as the Jesus story. 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. Its 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 and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesuss message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.

And so this book.

Second, Ive written this book because the kind of faith Jesus invites us into doesnt skirt the big questions about topics like God and Jesus and salvation and judgment and heaven and hell, but takes us deep into the heart of them.

Many have these questions.

Christians,

people who arent Christians,

people who were Christians,

but cant do it anymore because of questions about these very topics,

people who think Christians are delusional and profoundly misguided,

pastors, leaders, preachers

these questions are everywhere.

Some communities dont permit open, honest inquiry about the things that matter most. Lots of people have voiced a concern, expressed a doubt, or raised a question, only to be told by their family, church, friends, or tribe: We dont discuss those things here.

I believe the discussion itself is divine. Abraham does his best to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists of arguments by Job and his friends about the deepest questions of human suffering, God is practically on trial in the poems of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almost every question hes asked with... a question.

What do you think? How do you read it?

he asks, again and again and again.

The ancient sages said the words of the sacred text were black letters on a white pagetheres all that white space, waiting to be filled with our responses and discussions and debates and opinions and longings and desires and wisdom and insights. We read the words, and then enter into the discussion that has been going on for thousands of years across cultures and continents.

My hope is that this frees you. There is no question that Jesus cannot handle, no discussion too volatile, no issue too dangerous. At the same time, some issues arent as big as people have made them. Much blood has been spilled in church splits, heresy trials, and raging debates over issues that are, in the end, not that essential. Sometimes what we are witnessing is simply a massive exercise in missing the point. Jesus frees us to call things what they are.

And then, last of all, please understand that nothing in this book hasnt been taught, suggested, or celebrated by many before me. I havent come up with a radical new teaching thats any kind of departure from whats been said an untold number of times. Thats the beauty of the historic, orthodox Christian faith. Its a deep, wide, diverse stream thats been flowing for thousands of years, carrying a staggering variety of voices, perspectives, and experiences.

If this book, then, does nothing more than introduce you to the ancient, ongoing discussion surrounding the resurrected Jesus in all its vibrant, diverse, messy, multivoiced complexitywell, Id be thrilled.

Chapter 1
What About the Flat Tire?

Several years ago we had an art show at our church. I had been giving a series of teachings on peacemaking, and we invited artists to display their paintings, poems, and sculptures that reflected their understanding of what it means to be a peacemaker. One woman included in her work a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, which a number of people found quite compelling.

But not everyone.

Someone attached a piece of paper to it.

On the piece of paper was written: Reality check: Hes in hell.

Really?

Gandhis in hell?

He is?

We have confirmation of this?

Somebody knows this?

Without a doubt?

And that somebody decided to take on the responsibility of letting the rest of us know?

Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, will only a select number make it to a better place and every single other person suffer in torment and punishment forever? Is this acceptable to God? Has God created millions of people over tens of thousands of years who are going to spend eternity in anguish? Can God do this, or even allow this, and still claim to be a loving God?

Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?

This doesnt just raise disturbing questions about God; it raises questions about the beliefs themselves.

Why them?

Why you?

Why me?

Why not him or her or them?

If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few?

Chance?

Luck?

Random selection?

Being born in the right place, family, or country?

Having a youth pastor who relates better to the kids?

God choosing you instead of others?

What kind of faith is that?

Or, more important:

What kind of God is that?

And whenever people claim that one group is in, saved, accepted by God, forgiven, enlightened, redeemedand everybody else isntwhy is it that those who make this claim are almost always part of the group thats in?

Have you ever heard people make claims about a select few being the chosen and then claim that theyre not part of that group?

Several years ago I heard a woman tell about the funeral of her daughters friend, a high-school student who was killed in a car accident. Her daughter was asked by a Christian if the young man who had died was a Christian. She said that he told people he was an atheist. This person then said to her, So theres no hope then.

No hope?

Is that the Christian message?

No hope?

Is that what Jesus offers the world?

Is this the sacred calling of Christiansto announce that theres no hope?

The death of this high-school student raises questions about whats called the age of accountability. Some Christians believe that up to a certain age children arent held accountable for what they believe or who they believe in, so if they die during those years, they go to be with God. But then when they reach a certain age, they become accountable for their beliefs, and if they die, they go to be with God only if they have said or done or believed the right things. Among those who believe this, this age of accountability is generally considered to be sometime around age twelve.