Different Versions of the Same Story - A Review of Chapter Seven of Love Wins

French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in his play No Exit that “hell is other people.”  (l'enfer, c'est les autres)  And sometimes I think he was right.  Other people limit my freedoms, and my choices. Other people force themselves upon me with their demands for my attention and my concern.  Other people demand my time and my energy.  They take and take and take.  They drain me. They devour.  They consume me.

But I’m also convinced that heaven is other people.  They share with me.  They give gifts. They tell jokes and make me laugh.  They comfort and console. They help. 

I don’t remember where I read it first (and a brief search of the internets hasn’t helped me to discover the original source…) but there is a story of a man (or a woman) who was given a glimpse of hell.  She (or he) saw people seated at a long table for a feast.  Foods of every variety were laid out for them, roasted meats, hot warm breads with melting butter, succulent fruits, and deserts to die for.  “How is this hell?” he (or she) wondered.  Then she (or he) realized that the people gathered for this feast had no elbows.  They could not, no matter how they bent themselves or twisted or stretched, put that sumptuous food into their mouths.  They were tortured by the unattainable feast in front of them.

This person then saw a corresponding vision of heaven – again there was the gorgeous feast and again, the people had no elbows.  “How is this heaven?” the observer wondered. “This looks a lot like hell.”  But then he (or she) watched as the people gathered for that feast used their elbow-less arms to feed each other.

Heaven is other people.

In chapter seven, the penultimate chapter, of his newest book, Love Wins, Rob Bell reminds us of the story of the prodigal son – or, rather, he reminds us of the stories (plural) within that parable.  There is the story that the younger son believes of himself and his father, and there is the story that the father tells his returning son.  There is the story that the older brother believes and the story that father tries to tell him.   They are different versions of the same story.

Hell is other people.  Heaven is other people.
Hell is a feast without elbows. Heaven is a feast without elbows.
Hell is older brother who won’t join the party.  Heaven is the younger brother who can’t believe he receives a party.

Different versions of the same story and, according to Bell, “Hell is our refusal to trust God’s retelling of our story. (Love Wins, pg. 170)”