Love Wins by Rob Bell

There has been much said about this new book by Mr. Bell. I have read the book over the past 24 hours and have many observations. Here are a few:

Mr. Bell is very upset at the way the church of his youth and many churches today go about teaching people about salvation. I too am very upset about the way many churches go about telling people the truth about salvation. The difference between Mr. Bell and myself is that although we come to many of the same conclusions we come to some very different solutions. Mr. Bell has come up with a solution that is unbiblical. The answers he comes up with cannot be supported by the entire tone of the Bible. He does an interesting tap dance by taking single verses, or even bits of verses to try to support the fact that he believes that everyone and everything will be restored. Unfortunately the most basic reader would not understand that reading these verses in context and out of context are two very different things.

Mr. Bell has ignored and is continuing to ignore whole sections of scripture. This is very common in many denominations today. Mr. Bell is not alone. The last church I ministered at along with it's denomination and yearly meeting have done a very good job taking what they want from scripture and leaving the rest, I guess, for someone else.

Mr. Bell does not use the two words Holy Spirit in this entire book. I noticed this towards the middle of the book and then was looking for it as I read the remainder. Why not mention the Holy Spirit? Seems like that was intentional to me. I have some theories that I may share in another post.

This book and it's content are very weak. It does not have a shred of scholarship attached to it. In many ways it is the kind of book I would like to write. It's easy to put thoughts down on paper and then sell it like it is supported by people throughout history. I believe that Mr. Bell did this intentionally. He wants people who are not familiar with what the Bible says to read this work and believe what he is saying is biblical. It's very easy reading. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can read it. I do have a love for this type of book, I don't mean the content, I mean the ease of read. I like reading short books that have something to say that I can pull thoughts from easily. I also think the general public has a right to them. Unfortunately this book is expounding thoughts and ideas that lead people away from the truth instead of to truth.

This is by no means the extent of my thoughts on this book. I highlighted things I agreed with and things I didn't agree with while reading the book. Over the next few weeks I will post Mr. Bell's thoughts with my responses to them on this blog. It's easier for me to handle it one topic or statement at a time.