Love Wins

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

I cannot wait to read this book.

At some point a few years ago I kind of forgot to believe in hell, and for years now I have been trying to figure out my faith post believing in the fire and brimstone. Now, to be clear I am not saying I don't think there is a hell, I just don't have a good theology about it any more.

You see, I think that if you love God for fear of hell, you don't love God. So what is the point in being concerned with hell? Furthermore, God wants to love us: to be in relationship with us. Therefore, I don't think he wants to set us on fire. If any of us was in a relationship where our options were make the other person happy or hurt forever, we would not call that love, we would call it something much more horrific, and God is love.

I am not saying this book will agree with me, but I like that it will take the subject on. I have not read this book, and I am not sure I will agree with it. Nonetheless, I forgot to believe in hell a while back, and I can't find many people that are taking on the conversation in a way that feels approachable to me. I am hopeful that this book will at least help me think about how on earth to deal an idea that has been so central to my faith for so long.

Honestly my relationship with God has been better in the years that I haven't thought much about hell, but if God is burning people up forever and I am just ignoring it, that isn't really much of a relationship. I am just pretending that God is the God I want God to be, and you can't be in true relationship while pretending someone is someone they aren't.