Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived

Written by Rob Bell

Narrated by Rob Bell

In Love Wins, bestselling author, international teacher, and speaker Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis, Drops Like Stars) addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—hell and the afterlife—arguing, would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever?

Rob Bell is an electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” with millions viewing his NOOMA videos.

With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial with a hopeful message—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062080936

Rob Bell

Rob Bell is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and spiritual teacher. His books include Love Wins, How to Be Here, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, Velvet Elvis, The Zimzum of Love, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and Drops Like Stars. He hosts the weekly podcast The Robcast, which was named by iTunes as one of the best of 2015. He was profiled in The New Yorker and in TIME Magazine as one of 2011’s hundred most influential people. He and his wife, Kristen, have three children and live in Los Angeles.

Reviews for Love Wins

[Jordan Apodaca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell writes well, reads well, and thinks well. The only negative to his argument in this book are 1) he doesn't interact with church history a ton and 2) he doesn't address the possibility that some would eternally reject God and never give in to His love.

Good book.

[jo1968_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Written in Bell's typical fashion, this book was a rumination of a Christian's belief of Heaven and Hell and where we're all heading. Bell asserts Grace over Works. It was an easy book to read, but he could have made his point quicker. I was a little put off by the never-ending series of questions in the first chapter. Overall it earned a three-star rating because of the style and conclusion.

[Bolted Jaw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

amazing book and perspective. if you have experienced any church abuse of any kind i highly recommend a read or listen of the book.

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Essentially, this book asks a lot of questions - ones which some Christians may see as over-challenging or controversial. The writing style is in short sentences, inviting readers to start thinking about God, about the Bible, and about their beliefs. We all have preconceived ideas - those we have been taught, those we have assumed, and Rob Bell does an excellent job of getting back to first principles, of asking who this God is whom we worship, and what the Bible means by love, by redemption, and by Heaven and Hell.

I found it very readable and thought-provoking. It doesn't give a lot of answers, and those it gives are left open to the reader to consider, and perhaps answer differently. The main focus which I thought very positive was of the importance of how we live, and how we grow in relationship with God and each other, and how we continually need to question our assumptions - the 'stories', as he puts it, which we tell ourselves, or perhaps which other people have told us.

While this book is surprisingly controversial, and has many critics, I thought it a helpful overview of what many Christians believe, and would recommend it to anyone, particularly those who have been hurt or damaged by images of a slave-driving or vengeful God, or indeed by well-meaning Christians who don't really answer genuine questions.

[Kristina Godau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another fantastic book by the author. He provides a truly freeing perspective on salvation, heaven and hell, including as always compelling research to back it up.

[Damon Gardiner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic, easy-to-understand, very compelling, It blows Francis Chan's rebuttal book out of the water. He destroys Chan's arguments without having to rebut the rebuttal; this work stands the scrutiny of the attack without compromise

[Dave Ihde · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As always, mind and heart expanding. Thinking outside the box in the best possible way. Read this about 5 years ago but it hit me way more powerfully this time around.

[Joe Henson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This embodies the love and peace that may accompany a total shift in someone’s world view. Beautiful written. It may be the most important lesson in Christian culture.

[Beverley Rogers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mr Bell perfectly articulated a thinking man’s dilemma with the Americanized gospel and brings God and Jesus into clearer focus.

[Kurt Brown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very good, insightful and jarring at times but a good read.

[Andy Asplund · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful. Read by the author and he makes it a joy to listen to. I may listen to this a second time. Thanks!!

[stephenbarkley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell sure knows how to create a stir! Like Jesus turning over the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, Bell has turned over some hot-button doctrinal issues held by the evangelical (and specifically the neo-Reformation) world. I’ll confess: I stopped reading Bell after his second book because I realized I had already read most of the cited works in his bibliography. I bought this one because of the Twitter war the promotional video launched.If you want to take a short cut and find out just what he believes about Heaven and Hell (and the fate of every person who ever lived), Mars Hill Church has written a nice little two page FAQ.If you’re an evangelical Christian who wonders what all the fuss is about, here’s the issue: Rob Bell suggests that God could allow people a chance to repent after death. That’s it. That’s what all the exaggerated zeal is about.If you only stick with the summaries, you’ll miss something. That would be a bit like asking for a bullet list of points from one of Jesus’ parables because you’re more comfortable with lists than narrative. Rob Bell excels at narrative. The entire book reads like a long Nooma message.I would encourage anyone concerned about heaven and hell to give this book a read. Don’t just read it to pick apart Bell’s theology, either. Ask God to reveal himself to you as you walk through the various chapters. Whether you agree with him or not, we Christians all have something to learn from each other.

[kblinn_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this book, and I suspect that it is probably easier listening than it is reading. I had heard ahead of time that Bell's writing style drives a lot of readers nuts. He narrates his own book, and it's a little much to take in all at once while driving. I listened to two out of the three discs twice, and I'm still not sure I really absorbed everything he has to say. I will say that he does seem to believe in Hell, and his main thesis is, in my opinion, that Jesus is probably a lot broader than mainstream Christianity gives him credit for being as far as reaching out to all corners of the world. I've always heard that we will be surprised at who we see in Heaven, and Bell certainly agrees with that theory. Whether he is correct or not, I cannot say. He does make for interesting reading and pondering.

[fmgolden · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian scholar, says that when we speak or write that the words we use have meaning to us that comes from the groups to which we belong, our culture, and that those who are reading or hearing those words spoken hear or read them with the meaning that they bring from their groups, their own culture. I did not see Love Wins as the heresy that others believe it to be. Rob Bell has taken passages from the Bible and followed them back to the original time in which they were written, the original language, and the original culture. While there are some things that he says that I don’t necessarily think he proves, I think he brings up some excellent questions. One of those questions is; If as Christians we are to prepare for our life in Heaven, then would that mean that our entire life on earth is to be spent preparing for another place? Bell says, “What you believe about the future shapes, informs, and determines how you live now.” Bell says, “ Jesus brings a social revolution, in which the previous systems and hierarchies of clean and unclean, sinner and saved, and up and down don’t mean what they used to. God is doing a new work through Jesus, calling all people to human solidarity.” However he admits that there are questions that cannot be answered. Traditional Christianity often teaches that God is loving one moment and vengeful the next, but if we accept Jesus then we will “ be saved”. Bell says this subtly teaches us that Jesus rescues us from God. He makes the statement that a gospel with the key message is don’t sin, avoid hell runs the risk of reducing it to something that is “just for humans”. Bell says that we have the responsibility to be careful about making negative judgments about eternal destinies of others for as he points out, even Jesus said “I did not come to judge, but to save the world John 12: 47. Just for the record, I would like to point out two things that I was told about Bell’s book, that he says we can do anything we want to because there is no hell. In reading the book I discovered neither of these things are true. Bell says that what we spend time and effort on will all endure, and that a “proper view of heaven” will give us more desire to engage with this world to improve it. As for hell, on page 79 he says, “ There is hell now, and there is hell later, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously”.

[jwendleton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell does a great job articulate some of most Christian challenging issues.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Actually, it was just okay for me. A super quick read, as it is really a small book with amazingly trim margins and lots of one word "sentences". I bet it's only 70 real pages, and am glad I checked it out from the library rather than pay the full price of a hardcover book for something that really reads like a long pamphlet.

[Corban Stone · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell is a good writer and speaker but he took some verses out of context. And his ideas of Hell is not what the Bible teaches.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author reads (and in some places ad libs) and makes this a very interesting book. Very well written and conversationally argued.

[Megan Putney · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't get into this one at all. Too slow of a pace and too cliche for me.

[tohno-481779 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I appreciate that this books caused me to think about a lot of topics in faith I don't always think about. Although Rob Bell probably wanted me to think about topics A, B, and C, I often found myself thinking about topics X, Y, and Z instead. I understand the controversy around Bell, this book, and his beliefs, but I never really felt like he made a clear point about the topic of Universalism. Instead, I was just happy to have him encourage me to think more deeply about how we approach faith, in his personal style (that many of us know from the Nooma video series).

[longhorndaniel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

a good book that helps you see things differently; try not to take some of it too seriously to the point of it being contradicting to the Bible; read with an open mind "?"

[ishanella · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

After finishing this book, I have to say that I am not quite sure what Rob Bell was really going on about.

There were a lot of talk about what heaven might be and what hell might be. There were a few stories from the Bible, but in the end, I didn’t close the book feeling as though I gained any new insights.

To take one aspect of God and elaborate on just that one aspect is a little dangerous. God is love, but why is it so difficult to believe that He is also wrath? In a way, I felt that this book pushes God into a box and wraps Him in the pretty paper the author wants him to be.

There are some interesting points in the book, but in the end there wasn’t much that I could take away. Also, I was a bit put off by the writing style. It kept jarring me out of the narrative and I had to put it down many times before finally pushing through to the end.

If you want questions with hardly any answers, then Love Wins is the book for you.

[bertha_-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really great book. A little repetitive at times, but I'm pretty sure that's the whole point. Not too casual, not too God-ish, just right. Love wins. Plain and simple.

[porch_reader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The subtitle of this book is telling - Rob Bell shares his interpretation of what the Bible tells us about heaven, hell, and eternal life. Bell's interpretation aligns in many ways with my own, but he also shared insights that expanded and clarified my views. Bell narrates the audio book, and he is a compelling speaker, but the content is weighty enough that I know I missed a lot in a single listening. I'll likely revisit this one in paper.

[stevebishop-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are obviously two versions of Rob Bell's Love Wins book that are available. The one in which he is a universalist and the one in which he isn't.

The furorer started with Justin Taylor's post about Bell's promotional video. Piper responded with a tweet: "Farewell Rob Bell". What he meant by that is anybody's guess -- farewell from Christianity, from evangelicalism, from new calvinism, from Zondervan (the book was Bell's first from Harper Collins)? I don't know about love winning but the publicity certainly meant that the publishers won!

Why the fear? What is wrong with posing questions? I don't agree with all Bell's answers, but the questions he raises are important and need to be addressed.

How biblical is the so-called 'traditional' view of hell? Many evangelicals have taken different views on this topic - does that stop them being evangelicals or even Christian? Why the concern over boundaries - who is and who isn't an evangelical? Since when has a correct view of hell been an indicator of whether one is 'in' or 'out'? Since when has a literal reading of the Bible been an indicator of whether one is an evangelical or not?

There are many types of universalism - some may have some biblical warrant others clearly do not. Likewise, there are many views of hell - some may have biblical warrant others don't.

Here's my rough draft of a range of views:

1. Hell as a place of eternal torment/ punishment (either mental or physical or both)

2. Hell as a place of separation from God

3. Annihilation

3.1 Conditional immortality
3.1.1 Those in Christ are resurrected the rest are annihilated
3.1.2 All are resurrected – then face judgment those not in Christ are then annihilated
3.2 All are created immortal after the resurrection the unbelievers are punished and then annihilated.

4. Purgatorial view

4.1 Hell as a place of discipline
4.2 Hell as the opportunity for post-mortem decision

5. Inclusivism – some may be saved - even if they have not heard of Jesus - based on the revelation they have received

6. Universalism

6.1 Christian universalism: all will be saved through what Christ has done
6.2 Pluralistic universalism: all will be saved – no matter what


Bell seems to hold to a version of 6.1; for example:

What Jesus does is declare that he,
and he alone
is saving everybody (p. 155)

but and it’s a big but with a form of 4.2. But it seems that human free will trumps all that God has done:

God gives us what we want, and if that's hell, we can have it.
We have that kind of freedom, that kind of choice. We are that free. (p. 72)


and

And that's what we find in Jesus's teaching about hell - a volatile mixture of images, pictures, and metaphors that describe the very real experiences and consequences of rejecting out God-given goodness and humanity. Something we are free to do, anytime, anywhere, with anyone. (p. 73)


Bell is then no universalist - we have the freedom to reject what God has done.
On the other hand he seems to be arguing as follows:


1. God is sovereign and in control of all things
2. God wants all to be saved
3. Therefore, all will be saved.


If 1 and 2 are true then 3 must follow. However, Bell seems to want to add

4. Unless we want to reject the offer of salvation


Bell is obviously questioning evangelical shibboleths- he is an iconoclast, and doesn't mind whose toes he steps on - more power to him!

The focus of the criticism has been on Bell's view of hell. This misses some of the excellent points he makes, particularly in chapter 2. This is a brilliant chapter: for example this extract:

Honest business
redemptive art
honorable law
sustainable living,
medicine,
education,making a home,
tending a garden --
they're all sacred tasks to be done in partnership with God now, because they will all go on in the age to come.
(p. 47)


Ultimately, Bell's message is that free will is sovereign: we get what we want.

[2wondery_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'll have to read more Rob Bell. I find him clear and spot on.After reading the reviews, I'm struck by an Evangelical tendency of the critics to lean on Tradition rather than Scripture. Bell doesn't make this mistake.

[xuebi-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bell is a pastor known for the controversy his books raise in Christian circles and this one is no exception. Supposedly dealing with universalism and salvation, ultimately Bell asks many questions (which are important for Christians to ask anyway) but gives no substantial answers. However, it is good to promote serious thinking about soteriology and responses to it.

[adaynasmile-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are a lot of universalist ideas in this book. I don't know how much of it I am willing to agree with but I do appreciate the way that he opened my mind to start thinking about what the church has taught and what the Bible actually says. I need to remember to base my faith on the Bible and not what others might say. This book reminded me of that.

[chucks65 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I was seriously disappointed by this book. While I do not share Bell's theological position, I was hoping for a read that would engage and challenge me to reassess my position. Instead, I found rehashed universalist theology, a truckload of selective reasoning, fancy biblical footwork that conveniently ignores contradictory scriptures and a nearly nauseating dose of sentimentality. If theology were the result of what we wish for and makes us feel good, the Bell's fantasy would be wonderful, but if our faith is forged in deep wrestling with difficult passages with a solid foundation in reason, then he comes up way short.

There are many things Christians need to evaluate in what they believe and teach. This was a great opportunity to enhance that discussion, but that opportunity was completely missed. This really is too bad. I had so much respect for Bell prior to this read.

[aevaughn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked the book overall. I think I'm mostly in agreement with Rob Bell and N.T. Wright on this. Firstly, love does win! Secondly while I'm not a universalist (i.e. everyone goes to Heaven regardless), I do believe that everyone who wants to be there will be there. Thirdly, we need to rethink what Heaven/Hell really are. Since, most of the popular thoughts about Heaven/Hell are influenced by Dante's Divine Comedy more than the Bible. My only regret about the book is that I which he would have dealt with larger passages and in more detail. I also would have liked Bell to discuss how his views stand with other scholars, etc. All of that is secondary to the purpose of the book however. Overall, a thought-provoking read.