"Love Wins"

I have had Rob Bell's book "Love Wins" in my "To Be Read" pile for some time... And to be completely honest, I was very intimidated in even starting to read it.

Don't get me wrong.
I love Rob's point of view on Christianity and our journey of faith.

I didn't want to start it because I didn't want to have to finish it. (Weird, I know, but true.)

But there's so much in this book that is stupendously amazing. Here's a few passages that thwonked me on the soul...

"Central to their trust (meaning church fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory Of Nyssa, Eusebius, Jerome, Basil and Augustine) that all would be reconciled was the belief that untold masses of people suffering forever doesn't bring God glory. Restoration brings God glory; eternal torment doesn't. Reconciliation brings God glory; endless anguish doesn't.Renewal and return cause God's greatness to shine through the universe; never-ending punishment doesn't." (emphasis my own) - page 108.

"What happened on the cross is like...
a defendant going free,
a relationship being reconciled,
something lost being redeemed,
a battle being won,
a final sacrifice being offered,
so that no one ever has to offer another one again,
an enemy being loved."
-page 128.

(In talking about the 8th miracle that Jesus performed in the book of John's Gospel - how Jesus rose from the dead)
"The tomb is empty,
a new day is here,
a new creation is here,
everything has changed,
death has been conquered,
the old has gone,
the new has come.

John is telling a huge story,
one about God rescuing all of creation."
-pages 133-134.


Honestly, I found this book to be completely compelling and thought provoking. In reading the chapter about trusting God, I was challenged to the core like I have not been in quite some time. (Rob used the parable of the Prodigal Son to make a point of how we need to trust God's perception of us more than our own perception of us) How Rob used the parable was effective and a big "ah-ha" moment for me. We can choose to believe that we are like the prodigal son - that we are worthless and that we always make bad decisions, or we can believe God's version - that we are worthy to be sons and heirs in Christ Jesus - not anything based on what we can do, but all based on the love that God has for us.
We could also side with the son who stayed behind with the father - the one who did the right things (stayed home with dad) - who ended up feeling angry and cheated because HE had never had a party thrown for him. What really jumped out for me was there were two sides of that story that I had never seen before.
It's not as simple as "Son Who Is A Screw Up vs The Good Son" or even "Son Who Throws Himself On His Father's Mercy vs The Son Who Didn't Need His Father's Mercy" - it's that one son believed his father's perception of him (the prodigal), and the other did not, and the second son was believing that HIS works would earn him favor with his father (which we all know is self-righteousness).

As I said - AHHHHMAZING.
Baked my noodle for suresies!

I think I'm going to have to buy my own copy of this book. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others.
Beware those that have small views of God and of His Kingdom - you will not like this book. (As per usual with Rob's stuff)