Yesterday, I saw that Zondervan had dropped Rob Bell’s book proposal back when it was in process. The implication given for the relationship break was the book or author did not fit with Zondervan’s mission to “glorify Jesus Christ and promote biblical principles.” That book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
I mention it here in part because reviewers are taking Bell to task for misapplying the words of Martin Luther. Our favorite Reformer wrote: “It would be quite a different question whether God can impart faith to some in the hour of death or after death so that these people could be saved through faith. Who would doubt God’s ability to do that?” I’m told Bell believes this is a good example of those who believe or are open to believing the Lord will save people after their death.
Two great bloggers, whose shoes I am not worthy to untie, point to Carl Trueman’s article criticizing Bell’s quotation. The posts citing this one come from Jared Wilson: “So Luther’s letter is a clear denial of the idea that God will save faithless people after they die, but Bell quotes one or two lines to argue that Luther believes the opposite. At best this is sloppy; at worst, it is deceptive. I believe the worst.” And Justin Taylor: “To be sure, Bell’s misuse of Luther is relatively minor compared with, say, his handing of Scripture (which is among the worst I have ever seen in a published book).”
If you haven’t read Tim Challies and Aaron Armstrong’s review of Bell’s book, Love Wins
All of that to say, of course, that Bell is the next Billy Graham, and you should join his church. I don’t see how anyone could argue with that conclusion.
Oh, please. That last paragraph.
I live in Grand Rapids, and just about everybody here HAS joined his church.
Well, Grand Rapids is going to Creme Bonjour in a handbasket. What is your take on Bell? Does he appear to preach the gospel?
I’ve only heard him preach once, before he began Mars Hill. I read Velvet Elvis because my sons did. Not enough info to form a strong opinion, except that I’m not a fan of his style. But then, I am old. Many of our friends and some family attend Mars Hill and they are all firm believers in the gospel.
So really, my only opinion is that he is fantastic at getting the conversation about Jesus going. I applaud him for that. He wakes people up. The rest remains to be seen.
How could a loving and just god NOT punish the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, or Stalin? How could a loving and just god NOT punish someone who is a child molester, or a serial killer? How could a loving and just god NOT punish those who sacrificed their own children to Moloch?
Yes, but Hell is for everyone who rejects the Lord, who has not been given righteousness by God’s grace through faith.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…”
So, when people suggest that maybe God will save everyone, they are recognizing that our original sin is the only thing taking us to hell. All of the other evil is an aggravation or natural outworking of original sin (maybe aggravation isn’t a good word). So they look at people as fellow human beings, wondering why God would punish so many good people. But eating a bit of fruit wasn’t so bad a crime either, was it?
I’m a HUGE fan of C.S. Lewis’ picture of Hell in “The Great Divorce”. Of course, I know it is a work of fiction, but does it ever get me pondering…
Especially the part about how the people in hell didn’t even realize they were there.
We talked about hell during Sunday School, not because of Bell but because it was next in our Reason for God study. One idea thrown out was that if a self-centered person was given over to himself to be the prideful, ego-centric person his is then when that is extended into eternity he would certainly make a hell for himself. Keller said that he took the description of heaven as having streets of gold as meaning it will be better than anything we could imagine and the fire and gnashing of teeth used to describe hell means it will be worse than we can imagine.
So will people realize who they are, who God is, and why they are in hell? No, they may very will wonder how the hell they ended up where they are and what a rip-off everything is.
I would argue with Judy that “just about everybody here HAS joined his [Bell] church.”
I, too, live in Grand Rapids and know of several other churches who have several thousand attenders–Resurrection Life, Calvary, and First Assembly right off the top of my head. Mars Hill is not the only mega church in town.
My kids went to Mars Hill and both left because the gospel was rarely preached. Sin was never mentioned. They grew tired of more questions than answers and left when Bell held up the Bible and proclaimed “This is mainly a man-made product.”