Love Wins – My Approach – I Haven’t Read It Yet.
It’s here. At last I finally got my copy of Love Wins (no thanks to Amazon – don’t bother pre-ordering) and I’m beyond excited to crack it open.
I’m fully aware of the uproar about this book. I’ve read blogs by authors who haven’t even held a copy of this book (they pre-ordered too) and yet they are already making huge judgments regarding the fate of Rob’s soul. They are literally judging the book and author by its cover.
But my copy is here (kindle version) and here is how I’m going to approach it. In case you were wondering.
1. I don’t expect any of my questions to be answered completely. And the more I think about it, I don’t think that having all the answers is the point.
Authors like Piper, Driscoll, MacAurthur, and whoever else rushed to judgement all take pride in having all the answers to every imaginable question. This effectively ends any sort of conversation that might come. Bell doesn’t do that, as we all saw with the MSNBC interview. Instead he asks more questions, he keeps the conversation going and makes the reader actually think about what they think. That frustrates a lot of people who rely on pat answers, but invites many more in to the conversation.
2. I’m expecting a great critique on Election and Limited Atonement, two foundational pillars of the Calvinistic viewpoint. People don’t react well when there paradigm is being questioned. Another reason for the harsh reaction.
3. I don’t have to agree with everything Bell writes. It’s a crazy thought for some people to read something that you don’t agree with, as if your bookshelf is a picture of your theology. There might be some things in here that I won’t like. But I’ll still read it.
4. I don’t think this book is for everyone. Some people shouldn’t read this. Bell’s style is one that asks a lot of questions and muddy’s up water, and for some people’s faith journey this isn’t the time for that.
So I’ll let you know what I think. AFTER I read the book of course.
