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)