Chapter Two: Here is the new there

“For all of the questions and confusion about just what heaven is and who will be there, the one thing that appears to unite all of the speculation is the generally agreed-upon notion that heaven is, obviously, somewhere else. And so the questions that are asked about heaven often have an otherworldly air to them: What will we do all day? Will we recognize people we used to know? What will it be like? Will there be dogs there? I’ve heard pastors answer, ‘It will be unlike anything we can comprehend, like a church service that goes on forever,’ causing some to think, ‘That sounds more like hell.’ Are there other ways to think about heaven, other than as that perfect floating shiny city hanging suspended there in the air above that ominous read and black realm with all that smoke and hissing fire? I say yes, there are.” (pages 24-26)

·      Rob is concerned that the view most people have of heaven causes them to disengage from this earth. One of the primary teachings of this book is that both heaven and hell are, in one sense, here on earth. To use the common phrase, Rob is concerned that many Christians are “so heavenly minded that they’re of no earthly good.” Do you know people who might fall in that category? If so, how does their “heavenly-mindedness” affect them and those around them?

·      The Apostle Paul tells believers, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4) Based on this passage, should we actually be more “heavenly-minded?” Is it possible to be too “earthly-minded?” In your opinion, how do you correctly balance the two?

·      Think about your own view of heaven. Do you see it in your imagination as a “perfect floating shiny city hanging suspended there in the air above that ominous read and black realm with all that smoke and hissing fire?”

·      After reviewing what the Bible says about heaven (below) do you see how people might describe it as a “shiny city?” In your opinion, is that an inaccurate description? Why or why not?

o   It is the presence of God: Hebrews 9:24

o   Not part of this creation: Hebrews 9:11

o   Far from decay, crime, and destruction: Matthew 6:19-20

o   A different place than earth: Matthew 16:19

o   Heaven is God’s throne and the earth is his footstool: Acts 7:49

o   Jesus is there preparing a place for us: John 14:2-3

o   When we leave this body we will live in “an eternal house in heaven” with the Lord: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

o   Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God with thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly: Hebrews 12:22-23

o   Flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder: Revelation 11:19

o   Harpist playing their harps: Revelation 14:2

o   Rest from labor: Revelation 14:13

o   Great multitude shouting “Hallelujah!” Revelation 19:1

o   The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven: Revelation 21:2

o   No tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain: Revelation 21:4

o   No need for the sun because the glory of God gives it light: Revelation 21:23

o   Nothing impure, shameful, or deceitful, but “only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21:27

o   “The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.” Revelation 21:18-21

“In Matthew 19 a rich man asks Jesus: ‘Teacher what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ For some Christians, this is the question, the one that matters most. Compassion for the poor, racial justice, care for the environment, worship, teaching, and art are important, but in the end, for some followers of Jesus, they’re not ultimately what it’s all about. It’s ‘all about eternity,’ right? Because that’s what the bumper sticker says. There are entire organizations with employees, websites, and newsletters devoted to training people to walk up to strangers in public places and ask them, ‘When you die and God asks you why you should be let into heaven, what will you say?’ There are well-organized groups of Christians who go door-to-door asking people, ‘If you were to die tonight, where would you go?’ The rich man’s question, then, is the perfect opportunity for Jesus to give a clear, straightforward answer to the only question that ultimately matters for many. First, we can only assume, he’ll correct the man’s flawed understanding of how salvation works. He’ll show the man how eternal life isn’t something he has to earn or work for: it’s a free gift of grace. Then he’ll invite the man to confess, repent, trust, accept, and believe that Jesus has made a way for him to have a relationship with God. Like any good Christian would. Jesus, however, doesn’t do any of that. He asks the man: ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.’ ‘Enter life?’ Jesus refers to the man’s intention as ‘entering life’? And then he tells him that you do that by keeping the commandments? This wasn’t what Jesus was supposed to say.”

·      In your opinion, how important is the question about how to obtain eternal life? The Bible says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14 When you think about the brevity of life, doesn’t it make sense to plan for the life to come?

·      The Apostle John wrote, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 If you became convinced by passages like this that you will have to stand before God to give account of your life someday, wouldn’t the topic of how to get your name “written in the book of life” become a priority? Why or why not?

·      With this in mind, do you think it is inappropriate that “There are entire organizations with employees, websites, and newsletters devoted to training people to walk up to strangers in public places and ask them, ‘When you die and God asks you why you should be let into heaven, what will you say?’ There are well-organized groups of Christians who go door-to-door asking people, ‘If you were to die tonight, where would you go?’

·      If someone asked you, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” how would you respond?

·      Are you puzzled by Jesus’ response? Why or why not?

“The man, however, wants to know which of the commandments. There are 613 of them in the first five books of the Bible, so it’s a fair question. In the culture Jesus lived in, an extraordinary amount of time was spent in serious discussion and debate about these 613 commandments, dissecting and debating just how to interpret and obey them… The Ten Commandments were central to this discussion because of the way in which they covered so many aspects of life in so few words. Jesus refers to them in answering the man’s questions about ‘which ones’ by listing five of the Ten Commandments. But not just any five. The first four of the commandments were understood as dealing with our relationship with God – Jesus doesn’t list any of those. The remaining six deal with our relationships with each other. Jesus mentions five of them, leaving one out. The man hears Jesus’s list of five and insists he’s kept them all. Jesus then tells him, ‘Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.’ which causes the man to walk away sad, ‘because he had great wealth.’ Did we miss something? The big words, the important words – ‘eternal life, treasure, heaven’ – were all there in the conversation, but they weren’t used the ways that many Christians use them. Shouldn’t Jesus have given a clear answer to the man’s obvious desire to know how to go to heaven when he dies? Is that why he walks away – because Jesus blew a perfectly good ‘evangelistic’ opportunity? How does such a simple question – one Jesus could have answered so clearly from a Christian perspective – turn into such a convoluted dialogue involving commandments and treasures and wealth and ending with the man walking away?”

·      The commandments Jesus listed are, “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.” Look at the listing of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:12-17. Why do you think Jesus skips the commandment about coveting?

·      Take a few minutes to read the rest of the story (Matthew 19:16-30). If someone thinks they are so good they can earn their way to heaven, what is the best response to their arrogance? Could it be that Jesus’ response was intended to “burst his bubble” of self-righteous hypocrisy? Why or why not?

·      Many people are like this rich young ruler. They assume they’re good enough but they aren’t able to see a huge sin in their lives (in his case, it was coveting money). What is the most loving thing Jesus could do for a person like this?

·      Without a sense of his sinfulness and need, how do you think he would have responded to a clear presentation of the gospel like the one Jesus gave to Nicodemus in John 3?

“The answer, it turns out, is in the question. When the man asks about getting ‘eternal life,’ he isn’t asking about how to go to heaven when he dies. This wasn’t a concern for the man or Jesus. This is why Jesus doesn’t tell people how to ‘go to heaven.’ It wasn’t what Jesus came to do. Heaven for Jesus was deeply connected with what he called ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come.’ In Matthew 13 Jesus speaks of a harvest at the ‘end of the age,’ and some who are ‘considered worthy of taking part in the age to come,’ Sometimes he describes the age to come simply as ‘entering life,’ as in Mark 9 – ‘it’s better for you to enter life maimed’ – and other times he teaches that by standing firm ‘you will win life [in the age to come]’ as in Luke 21. And then, just before he leaves his disciples in Matthew 28, Jesus reassures them that he is with them ‘always, to the very end of the age.’ Jesus’s disciples ask him in Matthew 24, ‘What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ because this is how they had been taught to think about things – this age, and then the ages to come. We might call them ‘eras’ or ‘periods of time’: this age – the one we’re living in – and the age to come. Another way of saying ‘life in the age to come’ in Jesus’s day was to say ‘eternal life.’ In Hebrew the phrase is olam habah. What must I do to inherit olam habah? This age, and the one to come, and the one after this one. When the wealthy man walks away from Jesus, Jesus turns to his disciples and says to them, ‘No one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’ (Luke 18) Now the word ‘age’ here is the word aion in New Testament Greek. Aion has multiple meanings – one we’ll look at here, and another we’ll explore later. One meaning of aion refers to a period of time, as in ‘The spirit of the age’ or ‘They were gone for ages.’ When we use the word ‘age’ like this, we are referring less to a precise measurement of time, like an hour or a day or a year, and more to a period or era of time. This is crucial to our understanding of the word aion, because it doesn’t mean ‘forever’ as we think of forever. When we say ‘forever,’ what we are generally referring to is something that will go on, year after 365-day year, never ceasing in the endless unfolding of segmented, measurable units of time, like a clock that never stops ticking. That’s not this word. The first meaning of this word aion refers to a period of time with a beginning and an end. So according to Jesus there is this age, this aion – the one they, and we, are living in – an then a coming age, also called ‘the world to come’ or simply ‘eternal life.’” (pages 29-32)

·      Rob says that telling people how to go to heaven when they die “wasn’t what Jesus came to do.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? (See Luke 19:10, John 6:38-40, John 17:2)

·      Dr. Jim Samra, pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, the “mother church” of Rob Bell’s church, Mars Hill, took strong exception to Rob’s interpretation. Here is his response to this passage in Love Wins:

“A central point Rob makes throughout the book centers on what he identifies as the Greek word aion. He writes that the word can mean “age” (which is true), but implies that aion cannot mean “forever” as in the sense of eternity. However, more than 50 times in the New Testament, an throughout ancient Greek literature, aion does refer to “a time to come of which, if there is no end, is known as eternity” according to the standard Greek lexicon in use today (known by the initials BDAG).

Also, Rob seems to confuse aion with a different, though related Greek word, aionios. Although they look similar, aion is a noun and aionios is an adjective. This makes quite a difference. For example, in English we could say of someone, ‘it seems like he’s been a pastor for an eternity.’ But we would never say ‘it seems like that pastor is eternal.’ The same is true in Greek. While the noun aion can refer to a fixed period of time, aionios is never used that way in all the New Testament. Aionios always means ‘unending’ or ‘without duration’ (from BDAG). So English translations are right to use the words ‘eternal life’ because the word is aionios, not aion, as Rob would have us believe.

“Rob’s confusion of these two different words contributes to an unusual interpretation of Matthew 25:46 in the third chapter (of Love Wins). In the passage about the sheep and the goats, Rob tells us the goats are sent to ‘an aion of kolazo.’ By saying it in this way, Rob is claiming that Matthew uses the word aion in this passage. He does not. Matthew uses aionios. Compounding the confusion, Rob writes kolazo (which is a verb) instead of kolasis (which is the noun that Matthew actually uses). Rob implies that this word is in the genitive case. It is not.

“So, when Rob tries to tell us that Matthew wrote ‘an aion of kolazo,’ which might mean ‘an age of pruning,’ he has not correctly told us what Matthew wrote in the Greek. What Matthew actually wrote is ‘into aionios kolasis,’ which cannot mean an age of pruning’ but ‘eternal punishment.’ The reason why no English translation has ‘an age of pruning’ is not because the translators didn’t know what they were doing. It is because this is not what the Greek text actually says. Even a non-Greek reader can figure out that Matthew cannot be talking about ‘an age of pruning’ in this lifetime because five verses earlier Jesus says to the same people, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire (aionios pur) prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Matthew 25:46 cannot be referring to something that is currently happening, ‘hell now,’ even if Rob was reading the Greek correctly, because the devil and his angels are not experiencing eternal fire during this age. This is a significant problem in Love Wins. Rob makes authoritative statements and tries to use Greek to support his ideas; however, I found his use of Greek to be dangerously misleading.”

·      Apparently Rob’s use of the Greek to support his view is not consistent with the views of most Bible translation scholars. When authors or pastors tell us that the words in our Bible are not accurately translated from the original languages, it always raises a question in my mind. Who should we trust, a group of translation scholars who have devoted their lives to understanding original languages, or a pastor who has spent a few years in seminary? The fact that all of the English translations of the Bible translate the word “Aion” as “eternal” makes me think it must be the more accurate meaning. Do you agree? Why or why not?

“A couple of observations about the prophets’ promises regarding life in the age to come. First, they spoke about ‘all the nations.’…That’s an extraordinarily complex, interconnected, and diverse reality, a reality in which individual identities aren’t lost or repressed, but embraced and celebrated. An expansive unity that goes beyond and yet fully embraces staggering levels of diversity. A racist would be miserable in the world to come. Second, one of the most striking aspects of the pictures the prophets used to describe this reality is how earthy it is… It’s here we’re talking about, this world, the one we know – but rescued, transformed, and renewed. Third, much of their vision of life in the age to come was not new. Deep in their bones was the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, who were turned loose in a garden to name the animals and care for the earth and enjoy it… Central to their vision of human flourishing in God’s renewed world, then, was the prophet’s announcement that a number of things that can survive in this world will not be able to survive in the world to come. Like war, rape, greed, injustice, violence, pride, division, exploitation, disgrace. Their description of life in the age to come is both thrilling and unnerving at the same time. For the earth to be free of anything destructive or damaging, certain things have to be banished. Decisions have to be made. Judgments have to be rendered. And so they spoke of a cleansing, purging, decisive day when God would make those judgments. They called this day the ‘day of the LORD.’ The day when God says ‘ENOUGH!’ to anything that threatens the peace (shalom is the Hebrew word), harmony, and health that God intends for the world… Of course, to celebrate this, anticipate this, and find ourselves thrilled by this promise of the world made right brings with it the haunting thought that we each know what lurks in our own heart – our role in corrupting this world, the litany of ways in which our own sins have contributed to the heartbreak we’re surrounded by, all those times we hardened our heart and kept right on walking, ignoring the cry of someone in need.” (Pages 34-39)

·      The prophet Micah predicts a wonderful day of peace for this earth. “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” (Micah 1:1-4) When does the Bible say this will take place? (See Revelation 20-21)

·      To prepare the way for this peaceful kingdom, what does God have to do?

·      Rob mentions that, in each of our hearts, there is a sense of our own role in the corruption of the world. How can we have our own sinfulness removed so we can participate fully in this restored kingdom? (See Malachi 3:1-2, Romans 8:1-4, 1 John 1:9, 4:7-18)

“What does Jesus mean when he uses that word ‘heaven?’ First, there was tremendous respect in that culture…for the name of God. …One of the ways people got around actually saying the name of God was to substitute the word ‘heaven’ for the word ‘God.’ Second, Jesus consistently affirmed heaven as a real place, space, and dimension of God’s creation, where God’s will and only God’s will is done. Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be….Many people think of heaven, and they picture mansions (a word nowhere in the Bible’s descriptions of heaven) and Ferraris and literal streets of gold, as if the best God can come up with is Beverly Hills in the sky. Tax-free, of course, and without the smog…. How we think of heaven, then, directly affects how we understand what we do with our days and energies now, in this age. Jesus teaches us how to live now in such a way that what we create, who we give our efforts to, and how we spend our time will all endure in the new world. Taking heaven seriously, then, means taking suffering seriously, now. Not because we’ve bought into the myth that we can create a utopia given enough time, technology, and good voting choices, but because we have great confidence that God has not abandoned human history and is actively at work within it, taking it somewhere. It often appears that those who talk the most about going to heaven when you die talk the least about bringing heaven to earth right now, as Jesus taught us to pray: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ At the same time, it often appears that those who talk the most about relieving suffering now talk the least about heaven when we die. Jesus teaches us to pursue the life of heaven now and also then, anticipating the day when earth and heaven are one.” (Pages 42-46)

·      Based on your reading of Rob’s book, do you think he believes in a literal heaven as real place somewhere else? Do you agree or not? Why?

·      In the Apostle John’s vision of heaven, he reports seeing streets of gold. “The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:21) Do you think his description is literal or metaphorical? Why?

·      Rob observes that often people who speak of heaven in a different place are not fully engaged in the needs of the world around them, while those who are focused on the suffering of those around them don’t talk much about going to heaven when they die. Has that been your experience? In your opinion, how does a person’s view of heaven affect his or her priorities on earth?

·      Toward the end of his life, Paul wrote, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” Philippians 1: 20-25 Based on this passage, do you think it is possible to be “heavenly-minded” and “earthly-minded?” Do we have to be either/or?

“It’s very common to hear talk about heaven framed in terms of who ‘gets in’ or how to ‘get in.’ What we find Jesus teaching, over and over and over again, is that he’s interested in our hearts being transformed, so that we can actually handle heaven. To portray heaven as bliss, peace, and endless joy is a beautiful picture, but it raises the question: How many of us could handle it, as we are today? How would we each do in a reality that had no capacity for cynicism or slander or worry or pride? It’s important, then, to keep in mind that heaven has the potential to be a kind of starting over. Learning how to be human all over again. Imagine living with no fear. Ever. That would take some getting used to. So would a world where loving your neighbor was the only option. So would a world where every choice was good for the earth. That would be a strange world at first. That could take some getting used to. Much of the speculation about heaven – and, more important, the confusion – comes from the idea that in the blink of an eye we will automatically become totally different people who ‘know’ everything. But our heart, our character, our desires, our longings – those things take time. Jesus calls disciples in order to teach us how to be and what to be; his intention is for us to be growing progressively in generosity, forgiveness, honesty, courage, truth telling, and responsibility, so that as these take over our lives we are taking part more and more and more in life in the age to come, now.” (Pages 50-51)

·      Rob raise a fascinating question. If you were immediately transported to heaven, just as you are now, do you think you’d be comfortable in heaven? Why or why not?

·      Rob doesn’t think our preparation for God’s presence happens in the “blink of an eye.” While it is true that God is using the circumstances of our lives to “conform us to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29), do you think this process continues in heaven? Or do we instantly know things we didn’t know on earth and become pure and holy like Christ? (See 1 John 3:1-3, 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, 2 Corinthians 3:18)

·      In your opinion, what is the best way to get ready now for our life in heaven?

“To summarize, then, sometimes when Jesus used the word ‘heaven,’ he was simply referring to God, using the word as a substitute for the name of God. Second, sometimes when Jesus spoke of heaven, he was referring to the future coming together of heaven and earth in what he and his contemporaries called life in the age to come. And then third – and this is where things get really interesting – when Jesus talked about heaven, he was talking about our present eternal, intense, real experiences of joy, peace, and love in this life, this side of death and the age to come. Heaven for Jesus wasn’t just ‘someday;’ it was a present reality. Jesus blurs the lines, inviting the rich man, and us, into the merging of heaven and earth, the future and present, here and now. To say it again, eternal life is less about a kind of time that starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life lived now in connection to God. Eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts now. It’s not about a life that begins at death; it’s about experiencing the kind of life now that can endure and survive death. We live in several dimensions. Up and down. Left and right. Forward and backward. Three to be exact. And yet we’ve all had experiences when those three dimensions weren’t adequate. Moments when we were acutely, overwhelmingly aware of other realities just beyond this one…. Yes, there is plenty in the scriptures about life in the age to come, about our resurrected, heaven-and-earth-finally-come-together-as-one body, a body that’s been ‘clothed in the immortal’ that will make this body, the one we inhabit at this moment, seem like a temporary tent. And yes, there were plenty of beliefs then about what the future would hold, just as there are now. But when Jesus talks with the rich man, he has one thing in mind: he wants the man to experience the life of heaven, eternal life, ‘aionian’ life, now. For that man, his wealth was in the way; for others it’s worry or stress or pride or envy – the list goes on. We know that list. Jesus invites us, in this life, in this broken beautiful world, to experience the life of heaven now. He insisted over and over that God’s peace, joy, and love are currently available to us, exactly as we are. So how do I answer the questions about heaven? How would I summarize all that Jesus teaches? There’s a heaven now, somewhere else. There’s a heaven here, sometime else. And then there’s Jesus’s invitation to heaven here and now, in this moment, in this place. Try and paint that.”

·      As the Apostle Paul contemplates the end of his life, he writes, ^“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Do you ever “groan, longing to be clothed with your heavenly dwelling?”

·      In Romans 8: 23 Paul writes, “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” Is there anything wrong with longing for our future existence?

·      How do we experience eternal life now? (See John 4:14, John 6:54, John 17:3, Matthew 6:10)

After reading chapter two and considering the verses on heaven in the Bible, how would you describe heaven in your own words?

Chapter One: What about the flat tire?

“Several years ago we had an art show at our church. I had been giving a series of teachings on peacemaking and we invited artists to display their paintings, poems, and sculptures that reflected their understanding of what it means to be a peacemaker. One woman included in her work a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, which a number of people found quite compelling. But not everyone. Someone attached a piece of paper to it. On the piece of paper was written: ‘Reality check: He’s in hell.’ Really? Ghandhi’s in hell? He is? We have confirmation of this? Somebody knows this? Without a doubt? And that somebody decided to take on the responsibility of letting the rest of us know?” (page 1-2)

·      Gandhi was born a Hindu and practiced Hinduism all his life. As a common Hindu, he believed all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to convert him to a different faith. He was an avid theologian and read extensively about all major religions. He once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Later in his life, when he was asked whether he was a Hindu, he replied, "Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew." Based on what we know of Gandhi’s life, do you think we can we determine his eternal destiny? How would you respond to the person who wrote the note?

·      Many people criticized Rob Bell, even before his book was released, due to a video based on this statement about Gandhi. They called him a “universalist” – a person who believes that all people will be eventually saved. Rob denies this and claims that his views are within orthodox Christianity. After reading “Love Wins,” in your opinion is Rob teaching universalism? Why or why not?

·      When Jesus’s disciple, Thomas, asked about the way to heaven, he answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) In a message preached after Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostle Peter said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Based on these verses, what do you think of the Universalist’s claim that all people will be saved?

“Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, will only a select number ‘make it to a better place’ and every single other person suffer in torment and punishment forever? Is this acceptable to God? Has God created millions of people over tens of thousands of years who are going to spend eternity in anguish? Can God do this, or even allow this, and still claim to be a loving God? Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?” (page 2)

·      The Population Reference Bureau estimates that 106,456,367,669 have lived on the earth since the beginning of time (http://goo.gl/K9V3). How do you respond to Rob’s questions? Do you think only a “select number” will be in heaven? Will most spend eternity in anguish?

·      Jesus said, ““Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) But in Revelation 7:9-10, the Apostle John writes, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” How do you reconcile these two extremes – that only a few find the narrow road to heaven and yet a great multitude is there at the end?

·      The Apostle Paul wrote, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20) Based on this passage, do you think God is unfair to judge those who reject the “light” or understanding of God they have through creation?

·      The Apostle Paul continues, “When Gentiles (non-Jews, pagans), who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them. This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” Apparently another aspect of God’s judgment is based on how people respond to their conscience, which is God’s law written on their hearts. If a person who has never heard the story of the Bible obeys this “inner voice,” do you think they will be okay when “God judges people’s secrets?” Why or why not?

·      To religious Jews, Paul writes, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God ‘will repay each person according to what they have done.’” (Romans 2:4-6) Do you think God is unfair in judging humans for their behavior? Think about Hitler and others throughout history who have severely violated what our consciences tell us is right. Do you think it is just for God to punish them? Is it fair for all people to be punished for their actions? Why or why not?

·      “Retributive justice” is the theory that the punishment should fit the crime. Do you think it is unfair for a person to suffer for eternity for sins they have committed during their relatively short lifetime? Is the amount of time the issue or is it the seriousness of the offense? Do you think a crime against God is in a different category than the crimes we commit against other humans? (See http://goo.gl/Z7p8Y for a perspective on this topic.)

“If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few? Chance? Luck? Random selection? Being born in the right place, family, or country? Having a youth pastor who ‘relates better with the kids?’ God choosing you instead of others? What kind of faith is that? Or more important: What kind of God is that?”

·      Based on these and other questions in the book, do you think Rob finds the biblical teaching of hell incompatible with our human concepts of justice and understanding of what it means to be loving? If so, what do you think his primary basis for questioning it is?

·      Rob isn’t the only person who has struggled with God’s justice. God told Abraham, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his family lived there, so Abraham said, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18: 20-21, 23-25) How does this story end? (See Genesis 19:1-29) What does this story tell us about God as the judge? Was it unfair of God to allow a few to escape (Lot and his daughters)? Do you believe “the Judge of all the earth” will do right? Why or why not?

·      Paul writes, “Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?” (Romans 3:3-6) What gives God the “right” to judge the human race?

·      Rob asks what the criteria is for God’s selection of some to be saved and other to be damned. Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-33, 41,46) When you read this entire passage, you’ll see that this separation is based on people’s actions. The Bible teaches that we are saved by faith (Romans 3:21-31) but that true faith shows itself by actions (James 2:14-26). Based on this passage, do you think God’s selection is “random” or unfair? Why or why not?

“Some Christians believe that up to a certain age children aren’t held accountable for what they believe or who they believe in, so if they die during those years, they go to be with God. But then when they reach a certain age, they become accountable for their beliefs, and if they die, they go to be with God only if they have said or done or believed the ‘right’ things. Among those who believe this, this age of accountability is generally considered to be sometime around the age of twelve. This belief raises a number of issues, one of them being the risk each new life faces. If every new baby being born could grow up to not believe the right things and go to hell forever, then prematurely terminating a child’s life anytime from conception to twelve years of age would actually be the loving thing to do, guaranteeing that the child ends up in heaven, and not hell, forever. Why run the risk?” (page 4)

·      First question, is there a biblical basis for the belief that children go to heaven if they die before the age of twelve? Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16) Another passage that  supports this idea is 2 Samuel 12:22-23. When David’s child died, he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” Since we know that David is in heaven, it makes sense to assume that his child is there too. Another passage is 1 Corinthians 7:14. Paul is writing to encourage Christians to stay with their unbelieving spouse. “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” (See also Deuteronomy 1:39.) Do you believe that children go to heaven if they die before they are old enough to understand the gospel? Why or why not?

·      Rob says that, given the horror of eternity in hell, you could build the case that it would be better to terminate a child’s life before they become old enough to understand the gospel than risk their rejection of Christ and eternal judgment. How do you respond to the idea of killing children to save them from hell? In your opinion, what are the flawed assumptions in this argument? In your opinion, what is Rob’s reason for bringing up this “thorny” emotional issue?

One of the primary questions Rob asks in Love Wins is about the basis for salvation. He tells the story of a atheist high school student who was killed in a car accident (page 3). He writes, “And that raises another question about this high school student’s death… what exactly would have to happen in that three-year window (between the age of accountability and his accident) to change his future? Would he have had to perform a specific rite or ritual? Or take a class? Or be baptized? Or join a church? Or have something happen somewhere in his heart? Some believe he would have had to say a specific prayer. Christians don’t agree on exactly what this prayer is, but for many the essential idea is that the only way to get into heaven is to pray at some point in your life, asking God to forgive you and telling God that you accept Jesus, you believe Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sins, and you want to go to heaven when you die. Some call this ‘accepting Christ,’ other call it the ‘sinner’s prayer,’ and still others call it ‘getting saved,’ being ‘born again,’ or being ‘converted.’” (page 4-5)

Rob returns to this question again on pages 10 through 18. “Is it what you say, or who you are, or what you do, or what you say you’re going to do, or who your friends are, or who you’re married to, or whether you give birth to children? Or is it what questions you’re asked? Or is it what questions you ask in return? Or is it whether you do what you’re told and go into the city?” (page 16-17)

·      Since our eternal future is at stake, doesn’t it seem that the Bible would be very clear about how a person can be saved from God’s judgment? The Apostle John writes, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:11-13) Based on this passage, how can a person “know that they have eternal life?”

·      Paul expressed it this way: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Romans 10:9-10) Many of the other things Rob mentions in the book are outward indications that a person has “confessed Jesus as Lord” – not the way to receive salvation. Later in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul clarifies this issue, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Do you think Paul makes the way of salvation clear? How would you explain it in your own words?

·      When Nicodemus asked Jesus how a person could be enter God’s kingdom, Jesus replied, “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?” (John 3: 10) Then he explains it: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18) Later, in a different passage he adds, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24) There are many other similar passages in the Bible about the way of salvation. Why do you think Rob is making it seem unclear? In your opinion, how is his argument in this book served by the assumption that the way of salvation is confusing?

“If the message of Jesus is that God is offering the free gift of eternal life through him – a gift we cannot earn by our own efforts, works, or good deeds – and all we have to do is accept and confess and believe, aren’t those verbs? And aren’t verbs actions? Accepting, confessing, believing – those are things we do. Does that mean, then, that going to heaven is dependent on something I do? How is any of that grace? How is that a gift? How is that good news? Isn’t that what Christians have always claimed set their religion apart – that it wasn’t, in the end, a religion at all – that you don’t have to do anything, because God has already done it through Jesus?” (page 11)

·      The Apostle Paul wrote, “We maintain that a person is justified (declared righteous) by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 2:28) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24) Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5) Paul contrasts salvation by faith and salvation by “the works of the law.” Do you think Rob is implying that the process of faith – the repentance of sin, acceptance of Christ as our Savior, and confession of our faith to others – is a “work” and therefore negates the idea that it is a gift based on the grace of God? If so, do you agree? Why or why not?

“One way to respond to these questions is with the clear, helpful answer: all that matters is how you respond to Jesus. And that answer totally resonates with me; it is about how you respond to Jesus. But it raises another important question: Which Jesus?” Rob tells about Renee Altson’s experience with an abusive father who raped her while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. And of a Muslim who won’t go to Mars Hill Bible Church because he had seen “Christians” murder Muslims. And the televangelists who portray Jesus as “anti-science, anti-gay, standing out on the sidewalk with his bullhorn, telling people that they’re going to burn for ever.” He goes on to say, “Do you know any individuals who grew up in a Christian church and then walked away when they got older? Often pastors and parents and brothers and sisters are concerned about them and their spirituality – and often they should be. But sometimes those individuals’ rejection of church and the Christian faith they were presented with as the only possible interpretation of what it means to follow Jesus may in fact be a sign of spiritual health. They may be resisting behaviors, interpretations, and attitudes that should be rejected. Perhaps they simply came to a point where they refused to accept the very sorts of things that Jesus would refuse to accept. Some Jesuses should be rejected.” (pages 6-8)

·      According to Jesus, one of the signs of the end of the world is an increase of “false prophets.” (Matthew 24:11, 24) Paul also warns us about Christian imposters. “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11: 13-15) Can you think of example of people or organizations that say they represent Jesus but don’t speak or act in a Christ-like way?

·      The Apostle Paul wrote about his own ministry, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2. How can you tell if someone is misrepresenting Jesus or his message? (See also  Matthew 7:15-20, Luke 6:26, and John 10:11-13.)

“Many would respond to the question, ‘Which Jesus?’ by saying that we have to trust that God will bring those who authentically represent the real Jesus into people’s lives to show them the transforming truths of Jesus’ life and message. A passage from Romans 10 is often quoted to explain this trust: ‘How can they hear without someone preaching to them?’ And I wholeheartedly agree, but that raises another question. If our salvation, our future, our destiny is dependent on others bringing the message to us, teaching us, showing us – what happens if they don’t do their part? What if the missionary gets a flat tire? This raises another, far more disturbing question: Is your future in someone else’s hands? Which raises another question: Is someone else’s eternity resting in your hands? So it is not only that a person has to respond, pray, accept, believe, trust, confess, and do – but also that someone else has to act, teach, travel, organize, fundraise, and build so that the person can know what to respond, pray, accept, believe, trust, confess, and do? At this point some would step in and remind us in the midst of all of these questions that it’s not that complicated, and we have to remember that God has lots of ways of communicating apart from people speaking to each other face to face…” (pages 9-10)

·      This section is the basis of the title of chapter one, “What about the flat tire?” Basically Rob is asking if we can trust God to get the message of the gospel to people in danger of eternal judgment. Aren’t the stakes too high to rely on humans who are easily confused, distracted, and can be delayed by something like a flat tire? What do you think about this issue? As you think about the bigger message of the book, why do you think Rob is raising this issue?

·      Rob quotes from Romans 10. The entire passage reads, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: ‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.’” (Romans 10: 14-15,18) Paul is saying that God is allowing humans to be part of preaching the message, but in verse 18, he makes it clear that this isn’t God’s only method. He quotes from Psalm 19 where David writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4) Based on this, do you think God has other ways of getting his message to everyone around the world? What are some examples of the way God speaks without using humans?

·      Before Jesus left this earth, he said to his disciples, ““All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Statisticians say that there are about 2.1 billion Christians in the world today – about one-third of the world’s population. Most people have a Bible in their own language. There are over 1.3 million full-time missionaries. Do you think the church has been an effective witness? In what ways could we improve as God’s messengers? What are you doing personally to make sure the gospel message is delivered to this generation?

·      Jesus said, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)

Preface

Book Club Discussion Guide for Love Wins, by Rob Bell

The intention of this guide is to help discussion groups interact with Love Wins and compare it with Scripture. If you have other questions or comments, please join in. Quotes from Rob’s book are in italic. All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version Bible translation, 2010, published by Zondervan (www.zondervan.com).

Preface

“I believe that Jesus’s story is first and foremost about the love of God for every single one of us. It is a stunning, beautiful, expansive love, and it is for everybody, everywhere. That’s the story. ‘For God so loved the world…’ That’s why Jesus came. That’s his message. That’s where life is found.” (vii)

·      Rob quotes from the following passage in John’s gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18) What does this passage tell you about God’s love?

·      The Apostle Paul also wants people to focus on God’s love. He writes, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14) Why do you think Paul felt the need to pray that we would “grasp” the dimensions of God’s love? In what ways does it “surpass knowledge?”

“There are a growing number of us who have become acutely aware that Jesus’s story has been hijacked by a number of other stories, stories Jesus isn’t interested in telling, because they have nothing to do with what he came to do. The plot has been lost, and it’s time to reclaim it.” (vii-viii)

·      What do you think Rob means by Jesus’s story being “hijacked?” Has Jesus’ story been “hijacked” in your own experience? If so, how?

·      In the early church there were some leaders who wanted to make the good news about Jesus more palatable to Jews by combining aspects of their current beliefs with the new message. The Apostle Paul believed they were hijacking Jesus’s story and came down hard. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Why do you think Paul was so concerned about this?

“I’ve written this book for all those, everywhere, who have heard some version of the Jesus story that caused their pulse rate to rise, their stomach to churn, and their heart to utter those resolute words, ‘I would never be part of that.’” (viii)

·      Have you had this experience? What happened?

·      There are many examples in the Bible of people having a visceral reaction the Jesus’s story. For example, in Acts 7:51-54, the author (Luke) describes the response of the Jewish leaders to Stephen’s message. “When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.” How can we tell the difference between a negative reaction to the true story versus a negative reaction to a “hijacked” story of Jesus?

·      The Apostle Paul, still talking about people who were trying to hijack Jesus’s story to make it mare attractive to the Jewish culture, said, “The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5:10-12) Obviously his pulse rate was up. In your opinion, how should we respond when someone hijack’s Jesus’s story and tries to remove the “offense of the cross?”

·      How do you respond to those who say they don’t want to change the message itself, just the methods of communicating it? What about when they change the message?

“This love compels us to question some of the dominant stories that are being told as the Jesus story. A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear. And so this book.” (viii)

·      What have you been taught about heaven and hell?

·      Is there any biblical basis for the idea that Christians will “spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell?” (See Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15)

·      Why does Rob think this idea is misguided, toxic, and subversive? Do you agree? Why or why not?

“Second I’ve written this book because the kind of faith Jesus invites us into doesn’t skirt the big questions about topics like God and Jesus and salvation and judgment and heaven and hell, but takes us deep into the heart of them. Some communities don’t permit open, honest inquiry about the things that matter most. Lots of people have voiced a concern, expressed a doubt, or raised a question, only to be told by their family, church, friends, or tribe: ‘We don’t discuss those things here.’ I believe the discussion itself is divine. Abraham does his best to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists of arguments by Job and his friends about the deepest questions of human suffering, God is practically on trial in the poems of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almost every question he’s asked…with a question. My hope is that this frees you. There is no question Jesus cannot handle, no discussion to volatile, no issue too dangerous.”

·      Have you been afraid to ask hard questions, to express your doubts, and to wrestle with the things you’ve been taught? If so, why? What are you afraid of?

·      Does the fact that God includes questions and doubts in the Bible encourage you to express yours?

·      In Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses said, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Are there mysteries humans will never know the answers too? If so, how do you think they should be handled?

“At the same time, some issues aren’t as big as people have made them. Much blood has been spilt in church splits, heresy trials, and raging debates over issues that are, in the end, not that essential. Sometimes what we are witnessing is simply a massive exercise in missing the point. Jesus frees us to call things what they are.”

·      How do you determine which belief issues are essential and which are non-essential?

·      Are any of your beliefs worth dying for? Which ones?

·      In this book Rob challenges beliefs about the way of salvation, assurance of eternal life, heaven, hell, and the character of God. Do you consider any of these essential? Why or why not?

·      In your opinion what is “the point?”

“Nothing in this book hasn’t been taught, suggested, or celebrated by many before me. I haven’t come up with a radical new teaching that’s any kind of departure from what’s been said an untold number of times. That’s the beauty of the historic, orthodox Christian faith. It’s a deep, wide, diverse stream that’s been flowing for thousands of years, carrying a staggering variety of voices, perspectives, and experiences.”

·      Over the years there have been people who introduced new methods to connect with the changing generations. Others have tried to change the message to make it less offensive, or more attractive to people. Can you think of examples of either type of leader? In your opinion, which type is more dangerous? Why?

·      Paul warned the leaders of the Ephesian church, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30) How can you tell if someone is “a wolf” or a “shepherd”? (See Matthew 7:15-20, John 10:1-12)

·      How can you tell if something you are hearing/reading is true or false? (See Matthew 22:29, Ephesians 4:11-15, Hebrews 5:13-14)