Today’s Scripture Reading (March 20,
2013): Psalm 145
Rob Bell has
just released his new book “What We Talk About When We Talk About God.” It
probably promises to be a little less controversial than his last book “Love
Wins” – but only a little. And I hate going over old ground, but I am still a
little bothered by “Love Wins” – let me rephrase that – I am bothered by the
Christian response to Rob’s last book. For those who have had their heads
buried under a rock for the past year and a little bit, “Love Wins” discussed
the possibility that someday hell will be empty (not that there is no hell,
which some have charged). But the basic idea of the book is that if God is all
powerful he can do whatever it is that he wants to do. And one of the things
that God wants is that all will be saved - one of God’s most basic desires is
that hell will be – at some point in time - empty. If this is true – and there
is ample scriptural evidence for both of these statements – then does it not
follow that, someday, God will get what he wants?
The
Christian community reacted to this statement with anger and fear. It was as if
their purpose had suddenly disappeared. They could no longer look at their
neighbours and sing the children’s song “Na-na-na-na-na, I am going to heaven
and you’re not.” For me, what I heard come out of the Christian community in
the aftermath of “Love Wins” was this hope that some of the people – mostly
their enemies – would find themselves in hell. If we are going to have to
suffer the indignities brought on us by our enemies in this life, at least we
can be assured that they are the ones that will be punished in the next life.
Yet, there
are passages in the Bible that invite us into a Bellian belief. And too often
when we come to these passages we find that we interpret them by saying that
the author really meant something very different from what the words say. And
this passage is a good example. What we want this passage to say is that God
loves all that follow him – or that God loves all who believe in him and have
ordered their steps according to him – everyone else God hates. But that is not
what the verse says. It is amazing to me that those who demand a straight
forward reading of the text for most of the Bible do not want to hear that
reading here. Because if we just accept these words, what they say is that God
loves and is compassionate to everything that he has created. If we take this
verse at face value, it leads us to believe that God possibly even loves Judas
and Satan – because they too were created by his hands.
I need to be
up front. I am not sure that Rob Bell is right. But I also have to admit that
somewhere deep in the core of my being is a child that is wishing and hoping
that he is. And I have been very public in saying that I support anyone who is
willing to stand up and say that love is tangible and has a real effect on our
lives. I want desperately to believe that if I hit you with a two-by-four or I
hit you with love - that both will have a very real effect on your life. And if
my love has made a difference, God’s love and compassion is a tidal wave that
will totally redesign the world in which we live now – and forever.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings
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I'm wondering how grace fits into all of this - and what does it look like? Love your blog Garry, except my head hurts sometimes because you get me thinking too much... Blessings Amigo!
ReplyDeleteI think that grace is all over that kind of love. It is only because of the incredible grace of God that this kind of love is even remotely possible. And I would go further and say that as God's grace is extended to us, we as the Christian community need to make sure that we extend grace to those within our community and circles of influence. And we need to very visibly extend grace to those we may disagree with. But my feeling is that we don't because we are afraid that that kind of grace makes us look weak.
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