A Book By Its Cover: Jake Rivers Satirically Reviews "Love Wins"

     Over the past several months it seems that just about everybody has found time to read, review, and comment on Rob Bell's new book Love Wins. Why is it so popular you may ask? According to common hearsay, Bell is calling into question traditional teachings and understandings about what the Bible actually says about Hell and raises a number of ideas to suggest that maybe what we grew up believing in Sunday School isn't fully accurate. Needless to say this book has created quite the firestorm of debate within the Christian community. Words like "Heretic", "Narrow-Minded" have been thrown around like hand-grenades.


Naturally I want in.


However, I must be brutally honest and confess that I still have not read this book. In fact, apart from the promo video, I haven't got passed the cover. Nevertheless, in the interest of staying relevant with the culture, I intend, in this review, to give my honest, unashamed, critique of this very book cover and what I believe its implications are for the future of evangelicalism.

The Book that Inspired the Legend

     To begin, lets take critical analysis of the title. Maybe I am on the lethargic side, but a title like "Love Wins" isn't going to make anybody want to read more. Let's be honest, the rest of the world has a million and one things on the mind and probably none of them involve going to the religious section in the local bookstore and grabbing what sounds like a cheesy romance novel and hoping to be divinely inspired. THIS IS THE 21st CENTURY BELL! As a pastor, you should know by now that Christianity isn't going to avail anyone if it doesn't sound exciting and popular. Save your boring words for after you get them into church, but until that time you need to use more flare! As most modern Christians could testify, this isn't so hard to do. Here is just a brief list of alternate titles submitted by other "recognized" Christian authors:


Joshua Harris: I Kissed Hell Goodbye
Joel Osteen: Your Best Afterlife Now
AC/DC: Bell's Hells
(And my personal favorite)
Robert Palmer meets Charlie Sheen: Might as Well Face it, I'm Addicted to Love Winning


It's not rocket science Rob. But after going over your title again and again, I just can't help but feel you were so concerned about what you believe, that you forget about the world you are trying to reach. Frankly, I don't think that's the example we see set out for us in scripture.

A Theologically Correct Christian Book Cover

     Number two: the cover illustration. Let's start with the background. It really only took me a few moments into my examination of Rob's book cover for be to seriously begin to question his theological grounding. For countless decades it has seemed second nature for biblically-grounded Christians to depict images of creation (waves, mountain ranges), classical art depictions of Jesus, or at the very least an image of teenagers staying in school. (see example on left) Yet after long minutes of studying, I was unable to detect any of these traditional evidences. Instead there was only this weird, darkness with a bit of red on the side. Upon further analysis, I came to realize that Bell actually has the book title re-printed in italicized grey letters in the background. Now maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall that type of font displacement appearing anywhere in scripture or even on any of the other Christian books on my shelf. Now I know I'm not dealing with anything explicit here, but I think this is strong evidence that Bell has left the realm of orthodoxy and is wandering into title-page apostasy.


Actually my idea for a better cover would have been a depiction of the devil, sitting in an alleyway outside Bell's church with a cardboard sign that says "homeless". But that may have to wait for the sequel.

     Last of all, I want to take an honest look at what so many people forget about when reviewing the cover.


The back page.


It is here that we find what many would deem the most controversial subject matter and that is the quotations from others who have read and endorsed  the book in question. I'm speaking of course about the Eugene Peterson quotation which (in all appearances) gives a hearty amen to the book's content.

‘It isn’t easy to develop a biblical imagination that takes in the comprehensive and eternal work of Christ…Rob Bell goes a long way in helping us acquire just such an imagination — without a trace of the soft sentimentality and without compromising an inch of evangelical conviction.‘”

- Eugene Peterson, Author of The Message

Now what stands out to me, (as I'm sure it does to every astute critic) is that this quotation is entirely without reliable evidence. Why should we so quickly assume that just because it's printed on the back, we should accept it as truth? Eugene Peterson has ACTUALLY read this book? Furthermore, he has ACTUALLY written and submitted this quotation? Really? We have evidence of this? Someone was there, reading over his shoulder, who can attest to this? We have  photographic evidence? Or are we all just to accept it, simply because we've been brought up believing the quotations on the backs of our books are always accurate? 

Is this the kind of arrogance the world needs?

     In summary, while I'm sure this cover may lead to some interesting discussions, it may be that it causes more division than it's worth. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, though I maintain that as far as covers go, Love Wins certainly doesn't play passively. It's a cover looking to (no pun intended) raise a little Hell. As for impact on the church of tomorrow, I anticipate that there will no doubt be many more controversial covers of this same caliber. But that's never been something new for the church. So next time you're in the bookstore don't be shocked if  there ends up being more to a book than meets the eye. The era we live in calls for discernment in what we choose to read, how we read it, and how we choose to respond. But a need for wisdom is nothing new. It's human nature to assume we're smarter than we really are.  In fact,  it's the fate of every person who ever lived.

Afternoon Naps

You know that feeling you get as soon as you step out the door after you finish work for the day?

Now add to that...

1. A delicious snack

2. A refreshing shower

3. A comfy place to lie down

4. A good book in hand

5. A hug and a kiss from my wife

...And you have my recipe for a perfect afternoon nap!

What's your recipe?

Blessings,

Jake Rivers

Taste of Toronto

Saturday marked for Ashleigh and I, our third annual date to downtown Toronto. Over the years I've come to love this city more and more and if ever it happened that God called us to ministry here in Ontario, Toronto would certainly be my first choice! One of the great advantages to a day trip in Toronto is there is always something fun going on. For us, our happy surprise was the Taste of the Danforth, a week long celebration of Greek culture and cooking. It was amazing to see such a long stretch of road converted into a crowded carnival! For us however, our culinary destination was an amazing Indian buffet called The New Haandi 2000 for an incredible mid-afternoon lunch! Needless to say, we needed no supper that night!

What's your favourite place to eat in Toronto?

Blessings,

Jake Rivers

And This Little Piggy...

I started my third week at Conestoga Meat Packers today. I seem to have a knack for finding the unusual employment options and this one is certainly no exception. At Conestoga, we kill pigs. Lots of pigs. Over 3000 a day! Then other people cut them into pieces and other people like me package them. Then people like you and me buy and eat. I remember taking my first full tour of the plant and actually seeing for the first time the rows and rows of slaughtered pigs and being surprised that inasmuch as the sight is disgusting, it's the smell that makes the biggest impact. But even that I am sure, as with other things, you get used to eventually. Though there is no denying it does something to a person to witness death on such an extensive scale, even if they are only animals. I don't think I could ever again read about blood or sacrifice, or mass execution without being reminded of what I have now observed.

But on a lighter note, to answer that ever present question, "Can you still eat pork now that you know where it comes from?" The answer is yes. I love pork. And my employee discount will certainly see good use during my time here. To close, I am submitting my list of top pork puns that have come to mind during my shifts.

Monotony: It's a boar-ing job but someone's gotta do it!

Monopoly: I have hotels on Boar-walk and Pork-place!

New Testament: What you Sow you shall Reeeeep!

Old Testament: [File not found]

That's all folks,

Blessings,

Jake Rivers

Vacation!

This weekend will mark the close of my first summer vacation in several years. Not to mention my first summer vacation with my wife! Although fairly humble to some standards, for me, these days of rest have been life-changing. What began as a plan for a week away at the cottage eventually metamorphosized into a seventeen day venture between Orillia, the aforementioned cottage, and our lovely home.

For the past several months I've found my energy levels steadily decreasing from 12 hour days and fluctuating shifts at work. As mentioned in the previous blog, I've been wanting to get out from where I worked for a while now! The real angst came with finding out my current job had scheduled me for two days right in the middle of our time at the cottage, which would have left us with only five days away. I don't know if this really exposes my human weakness or not, but I was so discouraged when I found out. Probably more than I have ever been for a long time. But like many of the seemingly despairing situations in life, all one can do is trust that the Father to know better than we do.

How stunned and amazed did I feel, when an unexpected offer for a new job, mere hours before my "final" shift before the weekend, signify the Lord's grace in this circumstance. A new job and the offer to delay my orientation 2 weeks! Needless to say the Rivers' apartment was quickly transformed into a bouncy, worshipful, hustle and bustle as we proceeded to adjust the rest of our plans for an early morning departure as soon as I finished my final shift that night.

There's no time to adequately surmise the many adventures we had! Suffice to say it was a very restful, very relational, very refining, very worshipful, and very transformational experience! I'm excited to see what other surprises are in store for this summer!

Blessings,

Jake Rivers

A Mechanic, a Pig Farmer, and a Youth Worker Walk Into a Bar...

Right now I'm entering into another entertaining life transition. An employment transition. At present I have three options I am carefully sifting through. They are as follows:

Stay working for Linamar

Pros: simplest solution, maintain friendships with co-workers

Cons: Job sucks, lousy pay, temp status, long hours, and (more than likely) another five months of being promised full time employment *any day now*

Take job at Conestoga Meat Packers

Pros: good pay, quick access to benefits, sweet hours, shorter commute

Cons: job is super gross

Take Child and Youth worker job

Pros: hardcore life skills and experience, opportunity to use my degree, opportunity to step way outside my comfort zone

Cons: 45 minute drive one way, even lousier pay

Yes, the next few days should be very interesting ones indeed!

Blessings,

Jake Rivers

P.S. Here's a shout out to all the babies who came into the world this week, and to the many more all set to arrive over the next few months. God is so good!

Prayer and Falsehood

Today I counted three reasons I find prayer very difficult above all other spiritual disciplines. It's partially because I get distracted easily. It's partially because most of the time I am content with life and feel no need to draw near to God. But primarily, I struggle with prayer because there are cavities in my heart that still cling to false notions about God; notions which have yet to undergo the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work.

By God's grace I can say that I am sick of the false life to which these falsehoods seek to subject me. By God's additional grace, I am seeking that over the next 30 days, the Holy Spirit will draw me into a deeper grasp of what is true about God's character. Here are some of the key falsehoods I desire to be freed from over the next month.

Falsehood 1: Men are to be feared and submitted to over God.

Falsehood 2: My standing, worth, and significance before God is based upon the work I do.

Falsehood 3: God's Word cannot be trusted

My prayer, is that above all, Jesus Christ will bring glory to himself by manifesting his power in my life in a way that transcends to even the slightest aspects of how I live the life he ransomed.

Blessings,

Jake Rivers