Undoubtedly, many of you have heard about the recent Rob Bell hoopla; whether in the New York Times, Good Morning America, or the blogosphere. The stirring is related to his upcoming book “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived” due out on March 15. The debate has raged on for a week now, with social media blowing up because of the issue Bell’s addressing. That issue, of course, is universalism – the belief that no person is damned to hell when he or she dies. Liberal Christians have argued that a loving God could never do such a thing. The terrors of hell are no place for people to go because, after all, aren’t most people “good”? The Bible has something entirely different to say. The reality is that hell exists and that real people will go there for eternity. God is loving, but also infinitely holy and dwells in unsearchable light.
There are three men in particular who have solid responses to Rob Bell’s video: Justin Taylor, Kevin DeYoung and Al Mohler. Below are their responses to the video and the upcoming book. Click the links to see their entire responses:
1. Justin Taylor – “If Bell is teaching that hell is empty and that you can reject Jesus and still be saved, he is opposing the gospel and the biblical teaching of Jesus Christ. You may think that’s judgmental to say that; I think it’s being faithful. I would encourage a careful study of 1 Timothy to see what Paul says about false teaching and teachers.”
2. Kevin DeYoung – “Rob Bell is right about one thing: what you believe about heaven and hell says a lot about what you believe about God. That’s why theological error of this magnitude cannot go unchecked. The God of the Vimeo clip is not a God of wrath, not a God of eternal recompense, not a God who showed us love in sending his Son to be a propitiation for our wretched sins, not a God whose will it was to crush the Suffering Servant in an exercise of divine justice and free grace.”
3. Al Mohler – “The Emerging Church movement is known for its slick and sophisticated presentation. It wears irony and condescension as normal attire. Regardless of how Rob Bell’s book turns out, its promotion is the sad equivalent of a theological striptease. The Gospel is too precious and important to be commodified in this manner. The questions he asks are too important to leave so tantalizingly unanswered. Universalism is a heresy, not a lure to use in order to sell books. This much we know, almost a month before the book is to be released.”
Thanks for posting this Dan. Nate and I attended and served at Rob Bell’s church in Grand Rapids before moving to Chicago and before he branched off with his new church – Mars Hill. My parents sat under his dad’s bible teaching in their Sunday School class which was awesome. (I had a chance to also and was so blessed by it – I still remember the lessons!). I was amazed to learn of this controversy when it broke last week, but once again, the Lord reminded me of this passage…
“I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)
I don’t know about you – but doesn’t it seem like when people reach a certain level of popularity in the Christian realm, suddenly something like this happens? Could it have something to do with this verse? In other words – God being faithful to not allow a person’s popularity cloud our view of His glory? I think in a way it can be helpful when this happens, because it causes so many people to turn from their leaders to God and to God’s Word and to make a decision as to whom they will follow. I think Rob wants that too – and so wouldn’t it be really cool if he were doing this whole thing just to get people to do that? He perhaps is not, but I always like to hope for the best until there are no other options! : )
Either way – let’s press on to be people of the Word and people who cling to and follow the God of the Word. Then when something like this happens again, we won’t be in a panic. We will press on, hoping for the best, and following Christ.
Love in Christ,
Kim
I am actually looking forward to his book coming out and having a chance to read it. All of this controversy has been brewing before more than a handful of people have actually the book, and it will be interesting to see if Rob Bell has earned these accusations of heresy. RELEVANT magazine is coming out with an in depth article on his book in their May/June issue and will include an interview with Rob Bell, too. There is currently an article on their website (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/24878-universalism-and-the-doctrine-of-rob-bell) in response to all of the debates.
I’m not much of a book reader, but the controversy over this book has sparked my interest. Will definitely buy it when it comes out! To all who blog on this website-Thanks for your stories and your input. I’m new to SixTen and am loving the discussions you have on here.
Thanks Melody for those grace-filled comments! You encourage us very much and I am so glad you are finding the site helpful (and I’m sure the other leaders feel the same way). Thanks also to Cindy for your comments. Cindy – I think it would be awesome for you to lead a book discussion once this thing gets published – what do you think? Let me know – we could perhaps set it up for a Wednesday evening in May? So glad to be in this with you both, and thanks again Dan for the original post!
Dan, thanks for the post.
Two things:
1. Regardless of what the book says, the ads and video were irresponsible at best. The content of the ad itself is being criticized for what it is, apart from the book. See Kevin DeYoung’s article for better than what I could write:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/02/28/bell-brouhaha/
If his goal is to bring attention to the matter by pretending to be a heretic, I would have a hard time believing that Jesus (who is God and is described as “Truth”) would condone such methods.
2. Contrary to popular opinion, people have read the book. There have been advance copies out for the purpose of review. No one, that I know of, who has read the book and offers a review, challenges the notion that what Bell implied in the video is contradicted in his book. In fact, they would indicate that he tries to flesh out exactly what he appears to teach in the video. See
http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/love-wins-a-review-of-rob-bells-new-book#more
for a review of the actual book.