Here is the written transcript of the short promotional video that Rob Bell id for his 2011 book Love Wins.
Several years ago we had an art show at our church and people brought in all kinds of sculptures and paintings and we put them on display. There was this one piece that had a quote from ghandi in it
And lots of people found this piece compelling. they’d stop and sorta stare at in and take it in
And reflect on it
But not everybody found it that compelling
Somewhere in the course of the art show somebody attached a handwritten note to the piece
And on the note they had written
Reality check – he’s in hell.
Ghandi’s in hell? He is?
And someone knows this for sure?
And felt the need to let the rest of us know?
Will only a few select people make it to heaven? And will billions and billions or people burn forever in hell?
And if that is the case, how do you become one of the few? Is it what you believe or what you say or what you do or who you know?
Or something that happens in your heart or do you need to be initiated or baptized or take a class or converted or being born again?
How does one become one of these few?
And then there is the question behind the questions. The real question: What is God like?
Because millions and millions and millions of people were taught that the primary message – the center of the gospel of Jesus is that God is going to send you to hell unless you believe in Jesus.
And So what subtly gets caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God.
But what kind of God is that, that we would need to be rescued from this God? How could that god ever be good. How could that God ever be trusted? And how could that ever be good news?
This is why lots of people want nothing to do with the Christian faith. They see it as an endless list of absurdities and inconstancies and they say why would I ever want to be part of that?
See what we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important. Because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like.
What you discover in the Bible is so surprising, unexpected and beautiful
That whatever we’ve been told or taught - the good news is even better than that. Better than we could ever imagine. The good news is that Love wins!
