Rob Bell is a popular Protestant pastor of Mars Hill Church, a mega church with a weekly attendance of 10,000, located near Grand Rapids Michigan. Bell has caused controversy recently with more traditional Christians with the release of his book on March 22 entitled
“Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.” Columnist Cathy Lee Grossman interviewed Bell in a March 14, 2011 article in USA Today. The link to the USA Today Article is below and contains a promo video of Bell’s book:
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/spirituality/story/2011/03/Pastor-Rob-Bells-Love-Wins-bedevils-traditionalists/44835214/1?loc=interstitialskip
According to Grossman, Bell teaches:
• Heaven and hell are choices we make and live with right now. "God gives us what we want," including the freedom to live apart from God (hell) or turn God's way (heaven).
• Death doesn't cut off the ability to repent. In his Bible, Bell sees no "infinite, eternal torment for things (people) did in their few finite years of life."
• Jesus makes salvation possible even for people who never know his name. "We have to allow for mystery," for people who "drink from the rock" of faith "without knowing who or what it was."
• Churches that don't allow for this are "misguided and toxic."
Dr. Richard Mouw, the President of Fuller Theological Seminary (where Bell was a graduate), defends Bell’s book by calling it within the bounds of orthodoxy. However, many others strongly disagree. Justin Taylor, VP of Editorial at Crossway Books says Bell’s teaching is contrary to the Bible. Dr. Al Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says Bell is teaching old fashioned theological liberalism and heresy, well packaged to sell in Post Modern America. A link to Mohler’s review is here:
http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/03/16/we-have-seen-all-this-before-rob-bell-and-the-reemergence-of-liberal-theology/
Fellow Michigander Kevin DeYoung, pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing Michigan, gives probably the most comprehensive appraisal of Bell’s book in his review entitled “God Is Still Holy & What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins.” A link to DeYoung’s review is here (NOTE: the review is 20 pages long):
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/
What is my take on Rob Bell? I haven’t read his book and probably won’t buy it. others have done a better job at evaluating bell than I ever could. In my mind, the most important way to evaluate Rob Bell is by reading and studying the Bible, understanding what it teaches, then deciding for yourself if you believe what Rob Bell says or not. One of the consistent criticisms of Bell’s book is that he doesn’t support his beliefs with Biblical references, a dead give away that Bell’s teaching is simply his own opinion that cannot be supported scripturally.
What does the Bible teach about the fate of unbelievers and hell?
Matthew 13: 40-42 “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus is explaining the parable of the weeds, saying that He and His angels will not allow lawbreakers in His Kingdom, sending them instead to a place of judgment that doesn’t seem like a very nice place.
Matthew 13: 47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In the parable of the nets, Jesus reiterates what he said in the parable of the weeds. The angels will sort out the evil from the righteous, and send the evil ones into a "fiery furnace." It doesn't sound good at all.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In what is probably the most well known verse in the Bible, Jesus indicates there are two kinds of people: those who believe and have everlasting life, and those who do not believe who will perish without everlasting life.
2 Thessalonians 1: 5-10 “This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”
The Apostle Paul is speaking here to the believers in Thessaloniki, who are being persecuted for their faith. He is telling them: 1.) God will repay those who are afflicting them. 2.) At His second coming, Jesus and His angels will come in “flaming fire” to inflict vengeance on those who do not believe. 3.) God’s vengeance inflicted on unbelievers includes suffering eternal destruction.
2 Peter 2: 4-10 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
Similar to Paul, the Apostle Peter is warning Christians in Rome that: 1.) God didn’t spare even angels from judgment. 2.) God didn’t spare the ancient world when He brought the flood of Noah. 3.) When God turned Sodom & Gomorrah into ashes, He also condemned the inhabitants to extinction as an example to the ungodly. 4.) All unrighteous persons will face a day of judgment.
Revelation 20: 11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
In the Apostle John’s vision above, he sees what the future holds for those whose names are not in the Book of Life.
Have you noticed a pattern here in these verses? What Jesus and the Apostles all teach here is the same thing that Rob Bell says is “misguided and toxic,” namely that God will judge the unrighteous, that the punishment is real, and will be eternal. The Bible is repeatedly warning us of that fact. The God of the Bible is a God of truth who is completely Holy and just, not just a God of love who will make us feel good or is relativistic. What is very unfortunate is that some readers of Rob Bell’s book may not heed the Biblical warning. I suspect that God will hold Rob Bell partly responsible for that.
Below are sobering words from Jesus about the final judgment:
Matthew 25:31-46 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
“Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
