2011 will always be remembered as the year of the "hell debate." Last year saw a torrent of writing that rattled the popular evangelical conception of heaven and hell, such as Rob Bell's <em>Love Wins</em>, Jonathan Brink's <em>Discovering the God Imagination</em>, and Jimmy Spencer Jr's <em>Love Without Agenda, </em>among many others. The one positive result upon which Christians on all sides of the debate can hopefully agree is that last year was a year of vigorous theological reflection through which we have hopefully started to separate some of the eternal wheat of God's truth from the chaff of our Western European presumptions.

The following five questions

1) Is God's primary agenda to <em>love humanity</em> or <em>glorify Himself</em>?

2) Is God's justice primarily <em>retributive</em> or <em>restorative</em>?

3) Is God's holiness an <em>intolerance for imperfection</em> or an <em>intolerable perfection</em>?

4) Is the cross supposed to change <em>God's mind about us</em> or change <em>our minds about God?</em>

5) Are we saved <em>by</em> proving something to God or does God save us <em>from</em> having something to prove?

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