Why do we need the word “hell”?

We need a loaded, volatile, adequately violent, dramatic, serious word to describe the very real consequences we experience when we reject the good and true and beautiful life that God has for us. We need a word that refers to the big, wide, terrible evil that comes from the secrets hidden deep within our hearts all the way to the massive, society-wide collapse and chaos that comes when we fail to live in God’s world God’s way. … Let’s keep it.

That quote comes to us from Rob Bell. He’s talking about why we need to retain the concept of hell, in his book Love Wins.

Why am I bringing this up again? I’m bringing it up in hopes that you’ll read David Dark’s excellent review of Bell’s book. Dark quotes that passage in one of the most thoughtful considerations of the book I’ve seen. And it’s also the only review I’ve read that concludes with a Tom Waits song. So that has to count for something.