Does Love Win?

     Rob Bell just came out with a new book entitled, "Love Wins"

     Controversy exploded.
     (Well, it didn't explode, I guess you could say that it proliferated)

     From what I gather (having listened to several of his interviews), Mr. Bell is putting forth the idea that, given enough time God could get people to acknowledge that He is God. I would agree. My God is awesome like that.

     Next, from that conclusion, Bell says that an eternal Hell would not work with His character, since He could win everyone eventually. Here's where it breaks down.

     In Man Group* (you could call it a bible study), I came up with this analogy.

     Imagine for a moment that entrance into heaven is contingent on one thing, namely drawing a picture of a dog.

     Only, you need a realistic, completely life-like picture.

     The only problem is, no one has ever seen a dog.

     There was a time, back at the beginning (Adam to Moses) when people tried to draw dogs. A few would cry out for help and God would teach them. But eventually everyone quit trying to draw a dog and decided to draw whatever was on their mind. It turned out like a lot of free-verse poetry does today:

Crap.

     So God decides to take this guy, Noah, and start over. Everyone drawing crap is dead, and Noah and his family are still trying to draw dogs. Time goes by and the same thing happens. People start giving up. They don't know the first thing about drawing, much less what a dog looks like.

     God steps in again. This time, he takes Abram and says, "I'm going to teach you how to draw." Abram jumps on board and off they go. Finally, when Moses comes around, God decides he can start laying out what a dog  looks like. So he calls up Moses, and gives him the top ten things every dog picture needs to have.

- 2 ears

- 2 eyes

- A Big nose

- A Waggly tail

- 4 legs

- fur/har

- A lolling tongue

- teeth

- claws

- A Collar

     Knowing this, Moses begins teaching people what a dog looks like. Things get better and better until, boom, they get out of hand. The guys trying to draw greyhounds beat up on the ones trying schnauzers, saying, "all dogs have the little tiny legs and the big barrel chests (not part of the top ten).

     Anyway, God gets tired of the bickering and sends Jesus to draw a dog.

(A Snapshot of that drawing) 

     After he's done with the drawing, he tells those around him, "I'm going to send a helper to teach you to draw well."

---Sounds a bit like Rob Bell so far, yeah? (If you don't know the answer, maybe you shouldn't be criticizing the dude) Anyway...

     Here's the deal. You've already started your drawing, and you used pen. Oh, and you suck at drawing. In fact, we all do. And the "Perfect Picture" proviso still applies.

Here's your picture so far

     Good news is, Jesus is willing to help you out.

     In fact, He'll draw your picture for you. The catch is, you have to ask him to do it. You have to let him take your hand and guide it. You have to give up control.

     You can't say which lines belong on your dog. Yeah, even that one there, the one about, "that person that makes you feel really good when they do that thing," but you wouldn't talk about it in public.

     You have to let Him do His thing with your picture, your hand just the tool. But, as long as you two are working together, His original picture counts for entrance, so that His teaching can continue for eternity.

     So Mr. Bell, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. A person has this life, their allotted time span, to realize that no matter how hard they try, they can't draw a freaking dog. If they refuse to let God help them, that's it, they aren't going to have their ticket when they get to the gate.

     Make sure you have your ticket. Make sure that Jesus is drawing your dog.

*Man Group meets Fridays at six in Rhonda Brown's office in the epicenter. We talk about God, the Bible, and life in general. All Men are welcome.