Love Wins was a recent non-fiction best seller that I finally got around to reading this week on my vacation (it’s a quick read). I’ve put this thread in GD instead of CS because the book is about religious themes, namely heaven & hell and how the understanding of what Jesus and the Bible actually say about the “age to come”/“kingdom of heaven”/etc.
I found the author’s style fairly annoying because
he tends to write
like this
which is why the book
is such a quick read.
However, I found his arguments pretty compelling. He’s been criticized as a heretic, though, by some religious conservatives.
Has anyone else read the book and would like to discuss it? I’m assuming that non-Christians would not bother reading it, but I’d be particularly interested in how someone who has rejected the popular Christian message (“God loves you soo much and wants what’s best for you. And if you refuse you’ll burn in hell forever”) would respond to it.
Turns out its a different guy, but you might want to give it a listen, as it seems to be about a pastor who reached similar conclusions. I’m an athiest, but found the guys story rather moving nonetheless.
I read it, expecting to agree somewhat but not be really impressed. It was a better book than I expected, tho I do like the review that said if you blended C.S. Lewis, N.T. Wright, & some Eastern Orthodox writings, and then skimmed off the froth at the top, that froth would be “Love Wins”.
Heck, my views on Hell could be described that way also- just add in Charles Taze Russell & Herbert W. Armstrong to the mix.
Heh, that’s a pretty good description. It certainly lacked the substance of the NT Wright I’ve read recently.
On the other hand, it’s written to be easily understood by the average pew-sitter without a background in theology. It’s over simplified (and I thought lacking in supporting cites) but easy to understand.
One of the most valuable things I got from it was the idea that all our (and the Bible’s) attempts to explain the mechanism of the Cross are imperfect metaphors. Ultimate sacrifice, ransom, etc - are all different ways of looking at atonement but none are exact explanations of how it works.