Rob Bell - Part 4

Chapter 7- "The good news is better than all that…"
In this chapter, Rob Bell repeats the parable of the prodigal son:

-The prodigal son’s story is in itself about misfortune and to no longer be worthy of being called 'son'.
-The father's story of the prodigal son focuses on the son being precious, longed for and loved.
-The story of the son who remained home-bound is about himself; he worked as a ‘slave’ his entire life without getting the least little share from his Father for it.
-The father's story about the dependent son was that he was rich and always had immediate access to the father.

The prodigal son believed in his father's story above his own and was the guest of honor at the home-coming celebration.
The son who had remained at home believed in his own story (interpretation) more than the father’s, and felt himself an outsider and did not want to be present at the party.

Life is all about which story of one’s life we want to believe. Should we believe our own version of story about ourselves or do we believe in the father’s.

So far, it's a great story retold in a fantastic way. But then, this follows: This is all about heaven and hell. Heaven and hell are here on earth and it's taking place right now. The two sons were in the same home-coming celebration yet one of them experienced heaven and the other hell.

This statement is repeated several times in the chapter. "Hell is to trust in God's story of your life" (p. 170). It is we ourselves who create hell when we fail to trust God's story of our lives (sid.173).

If hell is just something that is simply here and now I think that it presents a sad and very poor perspective. The future hope of eternity is lost, and heaven and hell is all about how we choose to live our lives here on earth. What about all the songs of eternity with the God who has built previous generations of Christians? Is there no hope beyond living as good a life as possible here on earth?

What was the intent of Jesus dying on the cross? Was it because we were to believe (give more credence to) more in the father's story than on our own? We could have had sufficient faith in the father's story as well, without Jesus having had to die on the cross?

I believe that Jesus' death on the cross had a much deeper and more significant motive than to simply offer a compelling story: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)

Chapter 8 - "The end is here"
In the last chapter Rob Bell tells of how he, as a young boy with his parents, prayed for salvation. Bell explains the significance the event had in his life.

Then Bell shares the many Bible passages and the seriousness in ‘choosing’; in making the right choices. He tells the story of the five virgins who were not ready when the time came and missed the festivities.

Bell writes:
"Whatever they told you about the end-
the end of your life
End
end of the world -
Thus, Jesus nudges us passionately to live as if the end is near,
Now,
today. "(p. 197)

A very nice chapter, and one that I find somewhat difficult to fit into the book as a whole - but, again, a very fine chapter.

I'll be back with my final comment in the next post ....

Peter Baronowsky

PS
This is not an attempt at a scientific analysis of Rob Bell's theology. This is a blog post. Blog entries typically express the spontaneous reaction to what we encounter in life. This is my spontaneous reaction when reading Rob Bell's book

Translation from Swedish: Dr. Sven Ljungholm