A lot of people are upset about Pastor Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived because in it, he says that he doesn’t think God has condemned all the billions who never heard of Jesus Christ or the millions who heard of him but failed to believe.
I am reminded of a young, quasi-Buddhist friend who is convinced the “church” is nearing the end of its arc of relevance. I wonder how right she may be …
Have we followers of the triune God forced God into too small of a space? Is it possible that God is so huge and grand that there are God-plans that we have not been made privy to?
And if the answer to those questions could be “yes,” what does that say about our faith?
The Jesus I have come to know has amazing forbearance for the sincerely ignorant (and that would include me on many days) and is also sorrowful and reproving toward the belligerently sure and satisfied (that would also be me on my other days). So, I admit, I do not have a corner on understanding what God is all about.
I have a really hard time seeing Jesus in some of what is being said by many so-called Christians today (are you listening, Glenn Beck?). I don’t see the compassion of Christ in the American exceptionalist movement claiming divine guidance, which is how Mary Beth Norton, a professor of American history at Cornell University, describes an element of the Tea Party movement.
Church attendance in mainline denominations continues to decrease. Is the church age coming to some kind of sputtering finale not foretold in our holy writ? Or, is the church transitioning into something more?
I confess I am so spiritually needy that I have no other option than to follow Jesus. He captured me with only a corner of his eye and I have remained spellbound ever since. I have been compelled to seek him. Since that time I first felt the hem of his garment, I have been tripping after him. He called my name and I have been calling his name daily, if not moment-by-moment.
I just wish I could see him more when people claim him—you know?
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