david wrote @ October 12, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Well. So many different ways to discuss this question. A non believer might, after reading this chapter, actually believe that their future realm is determined ONLY by what they DO. I say this based on what Bell says on pg 148 about the ” righteous “, third paragraph from the bottom. ” These are the kind of people who spend forever with God. Jesus measures their eternal standings in terms of not what they said or believed but how they lived, specifically in regard to the hell around them “. In the following paragraph Bell remarks that people are condemned for not taking care of people and chose hell by doing so. Maybe ( questionable ) Bell’s intent was not to say that eternal heaven or hell is based solely on works,but he sure implies this. As a believer I choose to see the impact on the way I live my life being based on what I believe, which in turn changes what I do. It comes back to the works as a result of faith/salvation , not as an attempt to gain salvation.

As far as the present realm I don’t agree with Bell that hell or heaven are present realities. I do agree that there are things that take place which may be representative of the future residents of hell or heaven.

Lastly I don’t like Bell’s statement on page 150 where he says ” The goal isn’t escaping this world, but making this world the kind of place God can come to “. Bell had given a footnote referencing Revelation 21-22 which talks of heaven. The scripture references that the first heaven and earth have passed away. Given this, what we ” make ” on earth doesn’t make any difference on whether or not God comes to it because it will be gone anyway. I think Bell is trying to motivate people to take action, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing,but his way of motivating is off base.