The Day I Told a Girl She Is Going to Hell & Rob Bell’s Love Wins Part 1

When I was in high school and college, I served as a waiter for Bob Evans Restaurant. Outside of the joke, “Your name is Evan. Do you own the place?”, I have mostly fond memories of that job (e.g., my wife and I started dating when we were both working there). However, there’s one memory that haunts me to this day–

the day I told Char she was going to hell.

I’m not really proud about how I handled the situation. In fact, burned-out-Catholic Char kind of cornered me when she asked, “Do you think I am going to hell?” As a good evangelical and student at a bible college, I knew the correct theological answer, “Yeah,” followed by, “If you don’t believe in Jesus, I think you are going to hell” (although I’m not sure I said, “I think;” perhaps, I want to remember myself as more compassionate than I was). No discussion. No follow up. And Char just walked away.

That day haunts me.

It’s not a matter of theology. I may have been theologically correct. But I wasn’t compassionate because I didn’t see God as compassionate. I saw God as someone who was just waiting to smite everyone who didn’t believe like I did. I saw God as someone ready to send billions of people to hell and eternal torment because they weren’t “saved.” I saw the world “going to hell in a handbasket” and the rest of us just had to hang on before God would judge everyone except…me and people who believed like me.

I wish I had read Rob Bell’s Love Wins. I wish I had hinged my theology on statements like,

Our eschatology shapes our ethics (p. 27).

And even,

…what Jesus does again and again is warn us against rash judgments about who’s in and who’s out (p. 31).

Because, maybe if I did, Char would have been in a better place to hear the good news about Jesus. Char may have been able to hear about God’s relentless love for her, and I might not be responsible for her eternity. Rob Bell’s Love Wins reminds me to be compassionate.

I don’t really want to debate all the theology of Rob Bell. I am actually of the opinion that Rob Bell is smarter than I. I would rather hit the questions people have been asking me about the book. I will be doing this over the next couple of posts or so.

But, for now, what questions do you have?