In this chapter Rob Bell lays out the first issue underlying his questions about the afterlife.  Basically, his point is that we have over simplified and, in some sense, become unbiblical about the issue of salvation.  His take seems to be that it is too simple to say that if we just “believe in Jesus and have a pesonal relationship with him we will go to heaven.”  As Rob points out, there are some serious questions to this, including:

• Which Jesus?  How accurate does our view of Jesus need to be?  Also, what about those who have been mistreated in the name of Jesus?  If they reject the Jesus they have been presented, will God send them to hell for it?
• What is a “personal relationship with Jesus”?  Bell rightly points out that though this has become the cornerstone of our experiential version of salvation in the West, it isn’t really a biblical phrase or perspective.  Sometimes the Bible mentions “whole households” being saved when on person made the decision.  How does this work?  Demons, he points out, “believe and confess.”
• What about the thief on the cross?  What did he have to do, believe, think in order to be saved?  Bell states, “Accepting, confessing, believing—these are things we do. Does that mean, then, that going to heaven depends on something I do?”  But, he would ask, what would that be?  He then gives several examples of people who experienced the grace and salvation of Jesus in the NT in a variety of different ways that are different than simply “believing and confessing.”  For example, Paul says in Romans that “all Israel will be saved.”

Bell’s summary question in this chapter comes down to:  ”So demons believe, and washing Jesus’s feet with your tears gets your sins forgiven?”

REVIEW: I think the opening chapter is brilliant.  What Bell has pointed out is that our assumptions about salvation have become both simplified, simplistic, and non-(or at least “extra”)-biblical.  Scripture does present a message of salvation with “Jesus as Lord” at the center, but this isn’t simply a mindless mantra that serves as a pass-key into forgiveness, the afterlife, or the kingdom.  It’s more complex than that.  In addition, there are different versions of Jesus in our culture, just as there was in the first century. How do these different versions of Jesus come into the picture?

Chapter 2:  Here Is the New There

The focus of this chapter is on the issue of where the afterlife takes place.  Bell argues (correctly) that the primary Jewish and biblical view of the afterlife is about a renewed and reconciled earth in the “age to come” or the “world to come.”   His main points are that 1) Jesus spent most of his time talking about the present when faced with questions about eternal life; 2) the Greek word aion, often interpreted “eternity”, really means age or period of time; 3) life in the “world to come” (as described by the Hebrew prophets) is about God’s will (justice, mercy, love, etc.) on earth—in an “earthy” reality; and 4) that this earthy reality of God’s justice will be participatory.  People choose to join God in the reconciling/reconciled work of this reality—or not.  In this coming world, Bell argues, “a racist would be miserable.”    And, he also argues, the coming world overlaps the present one:  we can choose to join God now.  Heaven, earth, and Hell are, therefore, very real present realities and future realities in which we participate.  In fact, because heaven is about God’s will being done:

“Heaven comforts, but it also confronts . . . [it] has teeth, flames, edges, and sharp points [here Bell is clearly borrowing from C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce].  What Jesus is insisting with the Rich Man is that certain things will not survive in the age to come.  Like coveting.  And Greed . . . “

Bell then gives examples in scripture which point to a purging in the afterlife, such as Paul’s statement about everyone’s works being revealed by fire, and that though someone may be saved they will have to go through the purging of flame.  And that according to Matthew 25 who enters this heavenly reality may be surprising, even to those who make it.

REVIEW: Another effective chapter.  It does a good job of challenging escapist rather than participatory notions of the afterlife.  Bell is correct that the predominant Jewish and biblical view of the afterlife is that of the “world to come,” or more accurately “the coming world” (olam haba).   The Greek word aion does correspond to the Hebrew world olam, which has to do with ages rather than merely eternity as we often think of it.  For the NT authors, the concept was one of tension:  this present age and its values, and the coming age (sometimes ages!) with kingdom of God values.  Scripturally, God is committed to the creation.  It will be reconciled and redeemed.  A process already started with the resurrection of Jesus.

Chapter 3:  Hell

In this chapter