My Rough Conclusions on Rob Bell's "Love Wins"

“And God let heretics vex His Church so as to arouse the mind by conflict, and to lead it to search God's Word.” – Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit

Having read Rob Bell’s previous works, “Velvet Elvis,” “Jesus Wants to Save Christians,” his many Nooma short-films, and even my familiarity with his preaching, I looked forward to what would be revealed about his doctrine and theology in his new book, “Love Wins.” The phrase, “Love Wins,” is years-old and apparently on bumper stickers adorning vehicles all over the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area, where Bell is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church. With all of that being noted, this will not be a dissection and exegesis of the book. Read the book, or don’t, but as with any teaching, discern it carefully. I hold the strong belief that if you are going to judge the book, then you should first read it. This mitigates the need for backpedaling, apologies, blog updates, flux capacitors, forget-me-now amnesia pills, the proverbial eating of proverbial birds, and the subtle proverbial sweeping of things under proverbial rugs (that being said, I will update this as is necessary). It is okay to be informed. This is a brief version of my review and conclusions.

Book Review: My Father, Maker of the Trees, by Eric Irivuzumugabe

Eric is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. He is a Tutsi, and most of his family, along with over a million others, were murdered in the genocide over the course of 100 days. He has written a book about his experience, but that is not what makes Eric special. What the book conveys is the work of God in him and through him. He is a living example of Christian forgiveness, and he preaches forgiveness and reconciliation and peace.

It is of course moving and emotional. I couldn't make it through the prologue where he listed off the names of his family who had been killed without breaking down. That is not the point. The power of his message is not in his victimhood, but in the proclamation of Christ's love towards those who perpetrated these heinous acts.

Eric documents his journey of living Jesus' command to love one's enemies. He will be blessed for that, and so will those who take this message to heart.

Purchase My Father, Maker of the Trees at Barnes & Noble.

Eric (center) after speaking at The Underground youth gathering in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Book Review: The Year of Living Like Jesus, by Edward Dobson

Before reading Dr. Dobson's book, The Year of Living Like Jesus, I brought to the table a number of prejudices including, but not limited to, my fandom of Dr. Dobson and my expectations of what someone living like Jesus would do and act and look like. I looked forward to a step-by-step how-to process that one could patent and license to churches all across North America along with clever t-shirts for the franchise such as "Served Over 1 Billion." A list of laws on how to be more like the man who fulfilled all laws from a trusted evangelical source.

The welcome slap in the face to bring me out of my fanboy hysteria was when the subtitle finally sank in: My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do. This is not a how-to book. This is not some instructional manual tailoring a Jesus wardrobe. This is not a devotional on how being a sacrificial giver will come back to you in a specified outline of prosperity. The guide for how to properly kill a bull for evening meal is nowhere to be found.

Instead what I read was an appropriately candid autobiography detailing the author's frustration at just how difficult this task really was. It was a story of his journey to learn more about what Jesus would have done, and his deliberate discipline to execute those tasks. And when he fell short, then he conveyed his feelings and responses to his own shortcomings. This was not a mere task of living the Bible literally. This was an attempt to keep pace with his rabbi so that he would be covered in his dust, not left in it.

The disjointed connections of the first and second halves of the book are only a momentary distraction as the content of the second half becomes less broken and more flowing. The difference is not bad, just noticeable and admitted. The break in the month of July was a good joke, and I liked that it went by quickly.

The book really shines as Dobson relates his past life experiences to what he is going through at this time. The honest emotional struggles to even accomplish the physical tasks as he is reined in by ALS give an immediacy and tension to something as simple as camping and fasting. The fond and poignant reflections of his own journey that brought him to this place at this time are welcome context for someone unfamiliar with who this smiling, bearded, and bespectacled really is underneath the tasseled undershirt.

All of this is to say that this was a good book. It was insightful to the frustrations that come about when trying to mold ourselves to our own interpretation of someone else, while being cognizant of others' interpretations of that same person. Perhaps, more than anything, all of the frustration adds up to an appreciation of God's grace that he made us to be his disciples, and that we don't do that in our own power. We do that in his.

Purchase The Year of Living Like Jesus at Barnes & Noble.