Pastor Rob Bell's recent book Love Wins resulted in mounds of controversy, particularly within the American "Reformed" domain. Having recently read the book, but without commenting on it directly at this time, I will write that I recommend it to anyone seeking to develop--to allow to grow--their relationships with the Word: YHWH. It is a work best received by those who value the journey as much as the destination.
Somewhat in response to the controversy, but also as a result of his own spiritual journey, Pastor Francis Chan has written a book on the subject himself, curiously titled Erasing Hell. For a profoundly humbling interview introducing the subject, I recommend watching the following clip. For further insight into the upcoming book (set to be released in July) and some of Chan's thoughts, refer to an interview by Relevant Magazine.
Followers of YHWH are called to work out their faith with fear and trembling. Work implies some kind of progress or growth. Growth suggests an organic quality: movement, adaptation, and sometimes even structural change. It is not dormant. It is not in essence stationary. The Word itself claims to be living, breathing, its Spirit moving in mysterious ways. Though certainly more vulnerable than a plastic potted plant--a decoration that really only provides the semblance of beauty and life, but whose color slowly fades and gathers dust in the neglect that its self-sustaining existence sells--a real living plant offers a rich gift for almost ever sensation: living frangrance, gratifying touch, fresh air, fragile yet vibrant beauty, a symbiosis or general equilibrium with creation. A plastic plant is created then let to sit in its place until it is no longer desirable or necessary. A rooted plant requires some form of care. It cannot be ignored. It must be nurtured. For it to survive it requires an active relationship: with water and creation, sometimes even with human beings--at least in the form of humanity not needlessly destroying it in the confidence that it is unnecessary or can be replicated with greater customized precision. The ultimate questions of why this is so is somewhat a mystery. But it is a beautiful mystery. It is a beautiful question. Yet for the question's truth to be given and received--the interchange of which is the essence of a relationship?--does it necessitate an immediate understanding?
Need it be called a tree or flower to stir something within us?
Need it be called anything to be true?
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