Love Wins

On my facebook page I have written:

 "I want Christians to be know for who they stand for rather than what they stand against".

I think that has to be true for any thing I write on my blog. I am not going to quote extensively from Rob Bell's book, or to either hero worship or denounce him as a heretic (which is far too frequently used as a term for someone who doesn't agree with 'my' theology rather than having any foundation). Instead I hope the following may be helpful:

This is the 5th Rob Bell book I have read, I really enjoyed the first one Velvet Elvis and have found Drops like Stars an Interesting exploration of suffering (along with Trystan's book). With Rob Bell you know what you are going to get. Someone who is great at creatively looking at a subject and asking questions of the well trodden paths. This is true of this book too.

I am always interested in finding ways of exploring faith which are neither passive or of the ready meal variety. So firstly, this is not a theological work of great depth which takes a lot of time to read; I think I read it pretty much over a week. Secondly, it would aid you greatly in your reading to use a good translation of the Bible preferably a study version to aid with cross references, you do not have to agree with everything he writes (which is a good thing to bear in mind in any reading). Finally he does not really develop his questions, which can lead the reader with more questions than they started with.

He covers such a breadth of areas, heaven, hell, salvation, love etc. That no one single part has great depth but is dealt with in broad brush strokes. What the book has done for me is challenged me to read further around these subjects, especially in the places I disagree with him, it is essential in my mind that we allow ourselves to be challenged to at least think about the questions he raises. I recommend it (I enjoyed reading it as a distraction from 16th Century English Church history). Though as with anything we read think about what you are reading.