Bell begins his book by acknowledging all of the questions he’s ever heard anyone ask related to Christianity and following Jesus. Although many are “disturbing” (2), It’s an invitation to open the mind, unlock the treasure chest of beliefs we have that answer these questions, and re-question them. In so doing, he also recites many answers he’s heard to these questions, and without quite accusing them of being wrong, he leads the reader in a certain direction – what if they are? He particularly does this with questions related to a Reformed way of thinking.
Here are a few examples:
If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few? Chance? Luck? Random selection? Having a youth pastor who “relates better to the kids”? God choosing you instead of others? (emphasis mine)
What kind of faith is that? Or more important: What kind of God is that?
Here I see a glimpse of what to expect in this book: a record of common questions arranged to show Bell’s opinion of the answers. The quote referenced above is a perfect example of this. Bell emphasizes the most offensive part of the predestination position in an aggressive way (i.e. “the billions who burn forever”) in order to lead us to question the character of God (i.e. “What kind of God is that?).
Which is fine. In fact it’s good writing. Bell’s willingness to actually go there prompts any reader, no matter how well-versed in the Scriptures, to question even his deepest beliefs and convictions. I guarantee anyone who cracks this book will be forced to do one of two things: 1. Reevaluate their beliefs (hopefully by using the Bible), or 2. Reinforce their beliefs by having a mental argument with Bell as they read. And for this, Bell should be commended.
That said, I find myself becoming increasingly aware that Bell does have an agenda other than just qualifying the religious debates that exist in the world today. There is a purpose behind his book; he has a message to share. After all ” This isn’t just a book of questions. It’s a book of responses to these questions,” (19).
Filed under: head
Here is a timely response to this book by Timothy Dalrymple, WORLD News Service:
WNS) — A marketing coup: Get a small book on eternal destiny to the top of best-seller lists by sending out heretical-sounding promotional materials that garner condemnation. The winners: Rob Bell, the famously hip 40-year-old founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, and his publisher, the Rupert Murdoch-owned HarperCollins, that dubs Bell “the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation.”
Bell’s book, Love Wins, argues that a good and loving God could not condemn people permanently to hell—and that, because of the orthodox conception of hell, many see the Christian message as “an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies.” The truly good news, he says, is that “love wins.” This message, coming from a pastor dubbed by Time “a singular rock star in the church world,” provoked critiques from Christian leaders including John Piper. One prominent blogger, Justin Taylor, argued that Bell “is moving farther and farther away from anything resembling biblical Christianity.”
After Piper sent a message on Twitter that linked to Taylor’s post and said, “Farewell, Rob Bell,” Taylor’s critique received 250,000 viewings over the next 48 hours. The central theological criticism was that Bell promotes “universalism”—the view that all humankind will ultimately be redeemed—or so dilutes Christian teachings on salvation and the afterlife that what remains is no longer Christian at all. Many secular publications, including The New York Times and CNN, gave Bell’s book favorable publicity.
HarperCollins, which had won the rights to Love Wins with a six-figure advance, flew Bell to New York, where Bell told an interviewer that he was not a universalist, “if by universalist we mean there’s a giant cosmic arm that swoops everybody in at some point, whether you want to be there or not.” Christ alone is the means of redemption, he said, but people of all faiths and those who reject Christ in this life will have abundant postmortem opportunity to receive forgiveness and to enjoy the new heaven and the new earth. Bell strongly suggests that everyone, or nearly everyone, will eventually succumb to God’s endless pursuit.
Those statements escalated the criticism, with Reformed pastor and blogger Kevin DeYoung’s 20-page dismantling of Bell’s argument attaining large circulation. Those whose names appeared in endorsements on the back of the book found themselves on the defensive. Endorser Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary (where Bell was trained), contended that Bell was well within the bounds of a “generous orthodoxy.”
How to make sense of all this? Pastors and writers sometimes take unorthodox positions. Bell is not a theologian or biblical scholar, and no one would mistake him for one, but Love Wins is particularly questionable for its caricature and condemnation of historical orthodoxy. As many critics have noted, Bell never offers a thorough or sympathetic explanation of traditional Christian views of salvation and the afterlife—yet he condemns them as “misguided and toxic,” “tragic,” even “terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.”
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Seminary, argues that Bell sees the Bible as a collection of stories and “believes it is his right and duty to determine which story is better than another.” Mohler contended that it is “audacity of breathtaking proportions” to replace with a different story the hard Christian teachings about sin, the cross, and atonement through sacrifice: Mohler notes that Bell “alienates love from justice and holiness. . . . There is no genuine Gospel here. This is just a reissue of the powerless message of theological liberalism.”
The Chicago Sun Times asked about Bell, “Is he the next Billy Graham?” Some publications may anoint him as such. But if evangelicals let the secular media choose their leaders, there never would have been a Billy Graham in the first place.
And some excerpts from the words of Indywatchman, who issues a clear WARNING:
Rob’s message is not only NOT “decidedly hopeful,” as he promotes, but it removes all hope, and leads his followers to a hell he claims does not exist. He bases this on his own brilliance, which the Bible says is darkness, “Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness” Luke 11:35.
The Bible is either God’s word, and therefore the truth, or it is not the truth. If it is not the truth as written, then throw it out, but throw out Rob Bell also, because he claims he is a follower of God. If Jesus was not God as He said, and was lying, then He was the Devil, because He said He was The Way, The Truth, and The Life, and that He should be followed to get to Heaven; and he said He could forgive sins, and only God can do that. If the Bible cannot be trusted, and Jesus cannot be trusted, where does that leave Rob Bell? Is he now made to be the way, the truth, and the life?
Read more: http://www.indywatchman.com/apostacy/warning-love-wins-by-rob-bell/#ixzz1KjLdA5ww