Interesting video about Love Wins

I just watched a video of Francis Chan talking about his response to "Love Wins." I thought you might appreciate it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnrJVTSYLr8

Discussion questions for all Eight Chapters

Some have asked that I do a condensed version of the discussion questions designed for one or two sessions. So, following are excerpts and questions from all eight chapters. 

Bible study group discussion guide for Love Wins

Preface: “I believe that Jesus’s story is first and foremost about the love of God for every single one of us – everybody, everywhere. That’s why Jesus came. That’s his message. That’s where life is found. 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.” ( Preface vii, viii)

Questions: Rob believes that “Jesus’ story has been hijacked by …stories Jesus isn’t interested in telling because they have nothing to do with what he came to do.” He has written Love Wins because, “It’s time to reclaim it.” (Preface vii-viii). On the other hand, there are over 162 references in the New Testament that warn of Hell. Over 70 of these references are attributed to Jesus (for examples, see Matthew 13:41-43, 18:8-9, 25:41-46; John 5:25-29). According to the gospels, Jesus spoke more on Hell than on any other subject.

1. Do you agree that Jesus story has been hijacked and needs to be reclaimed? If so who had done the hijacking and why? If not, why do you think Rob is making this accusation?

2. Do you think there is 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 25:31-46; Revelation 20:14,15)

Chapter One: “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)

Questions:

3. 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?

4. 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?

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)

Questions:

5. Do you think the Bible is clear about how a person can be saved from God’s judgment? (See 1 John 5:11-13, Romans 10:9-10))

6. 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 (see John 3:16-18). If the way of salvation is clear, why do you think Rob is making it seem unclear?

Chapter Two: “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.”

Questions:

7. 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? What do you think is the right (biblical) view of heaven?

Chapter Three: “Trust God, accept Jesus, confess, repent, and everything will go well for you. But if you don’t, well, the Bible is quite clear… Sin, refuse to repent, harden your heart, reject Jesus, and when you die, it’s over. Or actually, the torture and anguish and eternal torment will have just begun. That’s how it is – because that’s what God is like, correct? God is loving and kind and full of grace and mercy – unless there isn’t confession and repentance and salvation in this lifetime, at which point God punishes us forever. That’s the Christian story, right? Is that what Jesus taught? For many in the modern world, the idea of hell is a holdover from primitive, mythic religion that uses fear and punishment to control people for all sorts of devious reasons. And so the logical conclusion is that we’ve evolved beyond all of that outdated belief, right? I get that. I understand that aversion, and I as well have a hard time believing that somewhere down below the earth’s crust is a really crafty figure in red tights holding a three-pointed spear, playing Pink Floyd records backward, and enjoying the hidden messages. So how should we think, or not think about hell?

Questions:

8. What does the Bible teach about hell? Does it say where it is? Who ends up there? Why? (See Matthew 13:41-43, Luke 16:19-31, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, Revelation 20:11-15)

9. Rob is having some fun with his description of Satan. How does the Bible actually describe him? (See Ezek. 28:13-17; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Revelation 12:9; 1 Peter 5:8).

Chapter Four: “I point out these parallel claims: that God is mighty, powerful, and ‘in control’ and that billions of people will spend forever apart from this God, who is their creator, even though it’s written in the Bible that ‘God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.’ (1 Timothy 2) So does God get what God wants? How great is God? Great enough to achieve what God sets out to do, of kind of great, medium great, great most of the time, but in this, the fate of billions of people, not totally great. Sort of great. A little great. Will all people be saved, or will God not get what God wants? Does this magnificent, mighty, marvelous God fail in the end?” (Pages 95-98)

Questions:

10. Rob quotes I Timothy 2:4, “God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” He then asks, “So does God get what God wants?” How do you answer his question? (See Ezekiel 18:23, 30-32, Romans 9:14-24)

“There are others who ask, if you get another chance after you die…endless opportunities in and endless amount of time for people to say yes to God. As long as it takes, in other words. At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most ‘depraved sinners’ will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.” (Pages 106-107)

Questions:

11. Rob cites Matthew 19:28 and Acts 3:21 as proof that God will eventually restore everything and everyone to Himself. Do you believe people will receive a second chance – or even multiple chances – to repent after death? Why or why not? (See Luke 16:19-31, Hebrews 9:27, 10:26-31)

Chapter Five: “When people say that Jesus came to die on the cross so that we can have a relationship with God, yes, that is true. But that explanation…puts us at the center. For the first Christians, the story was…bigger, grander. More massive. When Jesus is presented only as the answer that saves individuals from their sin and death, we run the risk of shrinking the Gospel down to something just for humans, when God has inaugurated a movement in Jesus’s resurrection to renew, restore, and reconcile everything ‘on earth or in heaven’ (Col. 1), just as God originally intended it. Yes, it includes people. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that all humanity died through the first humans, so ‘in Christ all will be made alive.’ He writes in Tutus that ‘the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people’ (chap. 2). And then, in one of his more epic passages, Paul explains to the Romans that, ‘just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all’ (chap. 5).”

Questions:

12. Rob uses the passages above to support his belief that all people will eventually be restored to God. While all of us would like think this is true, is it biblical? In your opinion, does the Bible teach universal salvation of all humanity or will there be some who end up in God’s presence forever and others who spend eternity in hell?

Chapter Six: In this chapter, Rob uses the story of Moses striking the rock in Exodus 17 and Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 10 that the rock was Christ to make the point that many people have faith encounters with Jesus without knowing it is him. “Jesus is bigger than any one religion. He didn’t come to start a new religion…He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one called ‘Christianity.’ As soon as the door is opened to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Baptists from Cleveland, many Christians become very uneasy, saying that then Jesus doesn’t matter anymore, the cross is irrelevant, it doesn’t matter what you believe, and so forth. Not true. Absolutely, unequivocally, unalterably no true. What Jesus does is declare that he, and he alone, is saving everybody. And then he leaves the door way, way, open. Creating all sorts of possibilities.”

Questions:

13. Do you think a Muslim, for example, will be saved by putting faith in the “rock” of his religion – finding out later that “Allah” is another name for Jesus? Why or why not? (See Acts 4:12, 17:22-31)

Chapter Seven: “Millions have been taught that if they don’t believe, if they don’t accept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the gospel does, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them, in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A loving heavenly father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter, who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony. If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities. If there was an actual human dad who was that volatile, we would contact child protection immediately. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die? That kind of God is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We can’t bear it. No one can. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.”

Questions:

14. When you think about the story of the Bible – the flood, the destruction of Sodom, the punishment of Korah (Numbers 16), and the annihilation of the Canaanites – do you find it shocking that God would judge those who have rejected his salvation? Why or why not?

15. “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?

Chapter Eight: ”This invitation to trust asks for nothing more than this moment, and yet it is infinitely urgent. Jesus told a number of stories about this urgency in which things did not turn out well for the people involved. Jesus tells these stories to wake us up to the timeless truth that history moves forward, not backward or sideways. Time does not repeat itself. Neither does life. While we continually find grace waiting to pick us up off the ground after we have fallen, there are realities to our choices. While we may get other opportunities, we won’t get the one right in front of us again. Jesus reminds us in a number of ways that it is vitally important that we take our choices here and now as seriously as we possibly can because they matter more than we can begin to imagine. Jesus passionately urges us to live like the end is here, now, today.”

Questions:

16. Rob ends the book with a warning to respond now to God’s love and trust in Christ. If a person will have numerous chances after death to repent and be restored to God, why do you think Rob ends with this sense of urgency?

17. Rob draws a sharp distinction between a God who is love and a mistaken idea of a God who is holy and just. Do you think God could be both? What do you base your opinion on?

 

Chapter Three: Hell

“Trust God, accept Jesus, confess, repent, and everything will go well for you. But if you don’t, well, the Bible is quite clear… Sin, refuse to repent, harden your heart, reject Jesus, and when you die, it’s over. Or actually, the torture and anguish and eternal torment will have just begun. That’s how it is – because that’s what God is like, correct? God is loving and kind and full of grace and mercy – unless there isn’t confession and repentance and salvation in this lifetime, at which point God punishes us forever. That’s the Christian story, right? Is that what Jesus taught? To answer this question, I want to show you every single verse in the Bible in which we find the actual word ‘hell.’

“First, the Hebrew scriptures. There isn’t an exact word or concept in the Hebrew scriptures for hell other than a few words that refer to death and the grave. One of them is the Hebrew word ‘Sheol,’ a dark, mysterious, murky place people go when they die, as in Psalm 18: ‘The cords of Sheol entangled me’ (NRSV). There’s also mention of ‘the depths,’ as in Psalm 30: ‘I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths;’ the ‘pit,’ as in Psalm 103: ‘The LORD…who redeems your life from the pit;’ and the ‘grave,’ as in Psalm 6: ‘Who praises you from the grave?’ There are a few references to the realm of the dead, as in Psalm 16: ‘My body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,’ but as far as meanings go, that’s the extent of what we find in the Hebrew scriptures. So what do we learn?

“First, we consistently find affirmations of the power of God over all of life and death, as in 1 Samuel 2: ‘The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up;’ and Deuteronomy 32: ‘There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life.’ We do find several affirmations of God’s presence and involvement in whatever happens after a person dies, although it’s fairly ambiguous at best as to just what exactly that looks like…Simply put, the Hebrew commentary on what happens after a person dies isn’t very articulated or defined. Sheol, death, and the grave in the consciousness of the Hebrew writers are all a bit vague and ‘underwordly.’ For whatever reasons, the precise details of who goes where, when, how, and with what, and for how long simply aren’t things the Hebrew writers were terribly concerned with.” (Pages 64-67)

·      Rob says the description of the afterlife in the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) are “ambiguous at best.” Here are a few additional passages that don’t use the words heaven or hell but do seem to shed clear light on the afterlife:

According Daniel (12:1-3), at the end, “There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27

Isaiah writes, “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Isaiah 66:22-24

Moses describes hell in Deuteronomy 32:22: “For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.”

In Psalm 16:9-11 David writes, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

·      Based on the passages from the Hebrew scriptures, do you get a clear sense of what awaits people in the afterlife?

·      Rob says, “what happens after a person dies isn’t very articulated or defined” in the Old Testament.” If you were to explain what happens to a person after they die just based on these passages, what would you say?
 

“Next, then, the New Testament. The actual word ‘hell’ is used roughly twelve times in the New Testament, almost exclusively by Jesus himself. The Greek word that gets translated as ‘hell’ in English is the word ‘Gehenna.’ Ge means ‘valley,’ and henna means ‘Hinnom.’ Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom, was an actual valley on the south and west side of the city of Jerusalem. Gehenna, in Jesus’s day, was the city dump. People tossed their garbage and waste into this valley. There was a fire there, burning constantly to consume the trash. Wild animals fought over the scaps of food along the edges of the heap. When they fought, their teeth would make a gnashing sound. Gehenna was the place with the gnasshing of teeth, where the fire never went out. Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus’s listeners would have been familiar with. So the next time someone asks you if you believe in an actual hell, you can always say, ‘Yes, I do believe that my garbage goes somewhere…’

“James uses the word ‘Gehenna’ once in his letter to refer to the power of the tongue (chap.3), but otherwise all of the mentions are from Jesus. Jesus says, in Matthew 5, ‘Anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell,’ and ‘It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.’ In Matthew 10 and Luke 12 he says, ‘Be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.’ and in Matthew 18 and Mark 9 he says, ‘It is better for you to enter life with one eye rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.’ In Matthew 23 he tells very committed religious leaders that they win converts and make them ‘twice as much a child of hell’ as they are, an then he asks them, ‘How will you escape being condemned to hell?’

“Gehenna, the town garbage pile. And that’s it. Those are all of the mentions of ‘hell’ in the Bible. There are two other words that occasionally mean something similar to hell. One is the word ‘Tartarus,’ which we find once in chapter 2 of Peter’s second letter. It’s a term Peter borrowed from Greek mythology, referring to the underworld, the place where the Greek demigods were judged in the ‘abyss.’ The other Greek word is ‘Hades.’ Obscure, dark, murky – Hades is essentially the Greek version of the Hebrew word ‘Sheol.’ We find the word ‘Hades’ in Revelation 1, 6, and 20 and in Acts 2, which is a quote from Psalm 16. Jesus uses the word in Matthew 11 and Luke 10: ‘You will go down to Hades;’ in Matthew 16: ‘The gates of Hades will not overcome it;’ and in the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus in Luke 16. And that’s it. Anything you have ever heard people say about the actual word ‘hell’ in the Bible they got from those verses you just read.” (Pages 67-69)

·      This section of Rob’s book makes it sound like the Bible hardly speaks about hell and when it does it isn’t much more than a burning garbage dump. Actually, there are over 162 references in the New Testament that warn of Hell. Over 70 of these references are attributed to Jesus. According to the gospels, Jesus spoke more on Hell than on any other subject. Based on these statistics, do you think the topic of hell is of primary importance in the Bible?

·      Following are a few statements of Jesus made about hell:

o   “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:41-43)

o   “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (Matthew 18: 8-9)

o   “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. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25: 41-46)

Based on these passages, do you Jesus gives a clear idea of what hell is? How would you describe it?

“For many in the modern world, the idea of hell is a holdover from primitive, mythic religion that uses fear and punishment to control people for all sorts of devious reasons. And so the logical conclusion is that we’ve evloved beyond all of that outdated belief, right? I get that. I understand that aversion, and I as well have a hard time believing that somewhere down below the earth’s crust is a really crafty figure in red tights holding a three-pointed spear, playing Pink Floyd records backward, and enjoying the hidden messages. So how should we think, or not think about hell?

·      Rob is having some fun with his description of Satan. How does the Bible actually describe him? (See Ezek. 28:13-17; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Revelation 12:9; 1 Peter 5:8).

From page 74 to 79, Rob refers to the following story Jesus told about hell:

·       “There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I’m suffering in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’ The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’ The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’ Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31 CEB)

·      According to this story, do you think there is a place of torment that a person who is not ‘right with God’ will go to? Does it sound like a person can escape from this place of torment if they repent? In your opinion, should pastors and Bible teachers be “warn (people) so that they don’t come to this place of agony?”

·      Rob observes that those who are “most concerned about others going to hell when they die seem less concerned about the hells on earth right now, while the people most concerned with the hells on earth right now seem the least concerned about hell after death.” (Pages 78-79) While no one would deny the need to relieve the torment of people on earth, do you think it is still appropriate to warn people of a future tormet after death? Why or why not?

·      Rob continures, “What we see in Jesus’s story about the rich man and Lazarus is an affirmation that there are all kinds of hells, because there are all kinds of ways to resist and reject all that is good and true and beautiful and human now, in this life, and so we can only assume we can do the same in the next. There are individual hells, and communal, society-wide hells, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously. There is hell now, and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously.” (Page 79) After reading this story in the Bible, what do you think Jesus’s main point was?

“Now, on to the passages that seem to be talking about hell, but don’t mention it specifically. Let’s start with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the poster cities for deviant sinfulness run amok.” (page 83) Rob goes on to describe the severe judgment that resulted in total destruction of the two cities with fire and brimstone. “But that isn’t the last we read of Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophet Ezekiel had a series of visions in which God shows him what’s coming, including the promise that God will ‘restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters’ and they will ‘return to what they were before’ (chapter 16). Restore the fortunes of Sodom? The story isn’t over for Sodom and Gomorrah? What appeared to be a final, forever, smoldering, smoking verdict regarding their destiny…wasn’t” What appeared to be over, isn’t. Ezekiel says that where there was destruction there will be restoration. But that still isn’t the last we hear of these two cities. As Jesus travels from village to village in Galilee, calling people to see things in a whole new way, he encounters great resistance in some areas, especially among the more religious and devout. In Matthew 10, he warns the people living in the village of Capernaum, ‘it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for you.’ …There’s still hope? And if there’s still hope for Sodom and Gomorrah, what does that say about all of the other Sodoms and Gomorrahs?” (Pages 83-85)

·      Another pastor and author, Kevin DeYoung, writes, “In one place, Bell argues from Ezekiel 16 that because the fortunes of Sodom will be restored (Ezek. 16:53), this suggests that the forever destiny of others might end in restoration (page 84). But it should be obvious that the restoration of Sodom in Ezekiel is about the city, not about the individual inhabitants of the town who were already judged in Genesis 19. The people condemned by sulfur and fire 1,500 years earlier were not getting a second lease on postmortem life. The current city would be restored. And besides, the whole point of Sodom’s restoration is to shame wicked Samaria (Ezek. 16:54) so that they might bear the penalty of their lewdness and abominations (Ezek. 16:58). This hardly fits with Bell’s view of God and judgment. If that weren’t bad enough, the other discussion on Sodom is even worse. Because Jesus says it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for Capernaum (Matt. 11:23–24), Bell concludes that there is hope for all the other Sodoms and Gomorrahs (85). Bell takes a passage about judgment—judgment that will be so bad for Capernaum it’s even worse than God’s judgment on Sodom—and turns it into tacit support for ultimate universalism. Jesus’ warning says nothing about new hope for Sodom. It says everything about the hopelessness of unbelieving Capernaum.”

·      After reading the passages in Ezekiel 16 and Matthew 11, do you think they express hope for second chances? Why or why not?

“This story, the one about Sodom and Gomorrah, isn’t the only place we find this movement from judgment to restoration, from punishment to new life. (Page 85) Rob points to Jeremiah 32 and 5 to show that “God crushes, refines, tests, corrects, chastens, and rebukes – but always with a purpose. No matter how painful, brutal, oppressive, no matter how far people find themselves from home because of their sin, indifferece, and rejection, there’s always the assurance that it won’t be this way forever.” Rob cites a number of Bible passages about restoration (Pages 86-87) and then concludes, “I realize that’s a lot of Bible verses, but I list them simply to show how dominant a theme restoration is in the Hebrew scriptures. It comes up again and again and again. Sins trodden underfoot, iniquities hurled into the depths of the sea. God always has an intention. Healing. Redemption. Love. Bringing people home and rejoicing over them with singing… Failure, we see again and again, isn’t final, judgment has a point, and consequences are for correction.

“We see this same impulse in the story Jesus tells in Matthew 25 about the sheep and goats being judged and separated. The sheep are sent to one place, while the goats go to another place because of their failure to see Jesus in the hungry and thirsty and naked. The goats are sent, in the Greek language, to an anion of kolazo. Aion, we know, has several meanings. One is ‘age’ or ‘period of time;’ another refers to intensity of experience. The word kolazo is a term from horticulture. It refers to the pruning and trimming of the branches of a plant so it can flourish. An aion of kolazo. Depending on how you translate aion and kolazo, then, the phrase can mean ‘a period of pruning’ or ‘a time of trimming,’ or an intense experience of correction. In a good number of English translations of the Bible, the phrase ‘aion of kolazo’ gets translated as ‘eternal punishment,’ which many read to mean ‘punishment forever,’ as in never going to end. But ‘forever’ is not really a category the biblical writers used.

“The closest the Hebrew writers come to a word for ‘forever’ is the word olam. Olam can be translated as ‘to the vanishing point, in the far distance, a long time, long lasting, or that which is at or beyond the horizon.’ When olam refers to God as in Psalm 90 (‘from everlasting to everlasting you are God’), it’s much closer to the word ‘forever’ as we think of it, time without beginning or end. But then in the other passages, when it’s not describing God, it has very different meanings, as when Jonah prays to God, who let him go down into the belly of a fish ‘forever’ (olam) and then, three days later, brought him out of the belling of the fish. Olam, in this instance, turns out to be three days. It’s a versatile, pliable word, in most occurrences referring to a particular period of time.

“So when we read ‘eternal punishment,’ it’s important that we don’t read categories and concepts into a phrase that aren’t there. Jesus isn’t talking about forever as we think of forever. jesus may be talking about something else, which has all sorts of implications for our understandings of what happens after we die, which we’ll spend the next chapter sorting through. To summarize, then, we need a loaded, volatile, adequately violent, dramatic, serious word to describe the very real consequences we experience when we reject the good and gtrue and beautiful life that God has for us. We need a word that refers to the big, wide, terrible evil that comes from the secrets hidden deep within our hearts all the way to the massive, society-wide collapse and chaos that come when we fail to live in God’s world God’s way. And for that, the word ‘hell’ works quite well. Let’s keep it.” (Pages 85-93)

·      Rob is revisiting some of the same discussion of original languages. I’m not an expert in the original languages of the Bible, so for this section, I’ll cite again the comments made by Dr. Jim Samra, the pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, MI. “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?

·      Rob is building toward one of his primary points in Love Wins, that God’s punishment of humans is always with the intention of restoration and that, therefore, hell is not forever. He wants us to think about the word hell as a description of the consequences people receive for actions on this earth and as a temporary punishment with the view toward repentance and restoration. Are you following his logic? Do you agree with his conclusions? Why or why not?

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?