In his controversial book, Love Wins, Rob Bell states that, “It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief [in hell as conscious, eternal torment] is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.”

Belief in hell, and just what we believe about it, has been a hot topic in the NZ Baptist. Both Love Wins and Mark Galli’s response, God Wins, will further fuel that debate. Galli, an editor with Christianity Today, responds to what he sees as the watered-down theology presented in Rob Bell’s book.

Galli argues that Love Wins isn’t rich or deep enough and that there is better news for humanity in a thorough understanding of what the Bible really has to say about God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

God Wins weaves a well-argued, well written examination of the issues raised by Rob Bell. As well as quoting extensively from Scripture, Galli quotes leading Christian thinkers down through the ages – C.S. Lewis, Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon etc.

The book is also a great example of how Christians can strongly disagree with each other without being offensive. I can imagine Rob Bell reading this without getting unduly upset. Letter writers to the NZ Baptist, please take note!

Finally, a note to Tyndale House and other Christian book publishers: Please, please, just for once can we have a book that doesn’t have those patronising discussion notes. We’re not stupid; we are capable of having an intelligent discussion about a book without prompting in the form of questions that sound like they belong in an NCEA Level One exam paper.

By Mark Galli
Tyndale House
ISBN 978 1 4143 6666 1

– Duncan Pardon