In the preface, Bell begins with his motive for writing the book Love Wins, namely, because, “a staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in” hell (Bell, Rob. Love Wins. New York, NY: Harper Collins. 2011. p.viii). This belief, he says, is “misguided and toxic” (p.viii).
But is this belief truly misguided and toxic or is it the truth? Why is it that a staggering number of Christians believe that only a “select few” will be saved while many will be damned? Because Jesus said so. His disciples asked him explicitly, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” to which Jesus responded, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:23,24). In the parallel passage, Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13,14).
It is interesting that what Jesus describes as the wide gate and broad way being a path that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13,14), Rob Bell likens to the Christian faith saying it is a “wide stream we’re swimming in,” and “The Christian faith is big enough, wide enough, and generous enough to handle that vast range of perspectives” (p.110). Rob Bell asks how a person ends up being one of the few if there are truly a select few that are saved (p.2). Chance? Luck? Random Selection? Bell neglects to provide a biblical answer for his question. The Bible declares: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). It has nothing to do with chance, or luck, or being born in the right place, family or country but has everything to do with a person’s relationship to Jesus Christ.
“Which Jesus?” Bell asks (p.7). Good question. Jesus the Christ is the answer. Jesus the Person, the Bread of life, the Light of the world, the Door of the sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Son of God, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth and the Life. I mention these titles to illustrate that the answer to Bell’s question is the biblical and historical Jesus. With Him we must have a relationship by God’s grace through faith. But, “the phrase ‘personal relationship’ is found nowhere in the Bible” (p.10). True, this is an extra-biblical phrase, yet it accurately sums up what is required for salvation: an obedient, love, faith relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
I can hear Rob Bell now sarcastically responding, “all we have to do is accept and confess and believe, aren’t those verbs? And aren’t verbs actions? . . . How is any of that grace? How is that a gift?” (p.11). I couldn’t answer to his question any more directly than the Apostle Paul: [T]he righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (Romans 3:22-27). We are saved by grace through faith (faith is not a work according to Paul), but true faith is demonstrated in love and obedience (Galatians 5:6; James 2:20). Absolutely salvation and heaven is “dependent on something I do?” (p.11)
Bell raises many good questions in his book, as does the Emergent conversation as a whole, but their greatest problem is that they often leave the questions hanging and, more importantly, don’t consult the Bible for their answers. For instance, Bell points to the death of a high school student and raises questions about the “age of accountability” (p.4). What does the Bible say?
Though children are born with a sinful behavior, all children are God’s children. It may be that a child must reach a certain age or maturity before they truly know good and evil as Isaiah prophesied, “For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good . . . ” (Isaiah 7:16). Though children behave as sinners, it is as though they do not possess a moral accountability before God and are granted an immunity from the Judgment if they die in their infancy. Jesus said that children belong to the Kingdom of Heaven: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). Jesus also said, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). The same kind of thought in Matthew 18:5 places a child in the same status with God as a Christian (Christ’s brethren) even though the child did not have the wisdom or maturity of a Christian. Also, Jesus said, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). The ministry of angels is to those who belong to God. Hebrews 1:14 tells us that angels are, “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” Thus, Jesus is placing children in the class of the saved heirs of salvation since they have guardian angels.
So at what point is a person held accountable? Condemnation and wrath comes upon a person at the point when they reject light and choose darkness instead by suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). At what point in a person’s life are they condemned or accountable and why does the wrath of God abide on them? “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:18). It is not at a specific age such as twelve (as Bell postulates) that a person is accountable, but when they receive revelation of the truth in Christ and deny it.
Again, Bell opens a can of hypotheticals about the “age of accountability” and what a person must do to be saved in this short window of time: perform a rite or ritual, take a class, be baptized, join a church, say a prayer? (p.5) It is very simple: “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
Rob Bell criticizes:
“If that’s the gospel, the good news—if what Jesus does it get people somewhere else—then the central message of the Christian faith has very little to do with this life other than getting you what you need for the next one” (p.6).
Unfortunately, this diminished understanding of the Gospel is how many Christians believe. They reduce the Gospel to a ticket to heaven while neglecting its power for here and now. I agree with Bell that, “The good news is better than that” (p.179), but not excluding that. God hasn’t just dealt with the penalty of sin: guilt, condemnation, hell, etc. But God has also dealt with the problem of sin here and now. Many professing Christians camp out on forgiveness when there is so much more to the Gospel. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:1-14). This is the Gospel, that death and sin have no power over you. Before believing, you have no power: you were a slave to sin and death. But now through faith in Jesus Christ, sin and death no longer have any mastery over you. You are not under the law but under grace.
Rob Bell asks, “Is that the best God can do?” (p.6) Bell puts major emphasis on heaven and hell being “here and now” but he fails to emphasize the true Gospel of salvation from sin by grace through faith in Jesus Christ here and now: “Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20,21). Jesus will save us from our sins, not just from the effects of our sins like guilt, depression, anxiety, fear, and shame but from the source of all these things, the sins themselves. Jesus came to save us from our sins, not just from hell and condemnation but from the very sins that make us deserving of the wrath of God. Jesus will save us from our sins, not merely forgive us in our sins and take us to heaven.
But even Bell’s understanding of forgiveness is flawed. Bell says, “Forgiveness is unilateral” (p.189). This idea is carried over from Bell’s previous book Velvet Elivs:
“Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God’s” (Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2005. p.146).
In whose reality is Rob Bell trusting, his or God’s? Jesus said very clearly that there are some people who will not be forgiven: “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15); “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men” (Matthew 12:31). Likewise Jesus warned that “he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:29). Hell is not full of forgiven people but unforgiven souls. God has offered the gift of salvation from sin and forgiveness of sin to all people, but it is conditional. Jesus told a parable about those who would not forgive: “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:34,35).
So I agree with Bell that the Gospel is being diminished and reduced by Christianity today to “a question of whether or not a person will “get into heaven,” a ticket to heaven or merely forgiveness (p.178). He says that “the good news is better than that” (p.179). Indeed the Gospel is better than a ticket to heaven, but Bell is mistaken in expanding the Gospel to something it is not. He adds to the Gospel teaching that Jesus “is saving everybody” (p.155), when, in fact, the New Testament frequently affirms a distinction between those who are being saved and those who are perishing. For example, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18), and “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:15,16).
Bell writes about a speaking engagement he had in San Francisco at which protestors lined the sidewalks of the theatre with the message, “Turn or Burn” (p.63). With Bell, I share an aversion to these types of protestors and this kind of proselytizing. “Is that what Jesus taught?” (p.64). Well, it’s true but that’s not the message we are commanded to preach. Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). He didn’t say, “Go into all the world and preach, “Turn or Burn.” While true, I can’t wholeheartedly agree with such a message because it’s not saving truth. Nobody is going to be saved by signs like “Turn or Burn,” God Hates You,” “Don’t Follow Rob Bell to Hell,” etc. because they proclaim bad news, not the good news. The Apostle Paul told us to rejoice even if the Gospel was preached out of contention and not sincerely (Philippians 1:16), but that’s when it’s the Gospel. The mere preaching of truth, even biblical truth, apart from the Gospel, will never save a soul from the grasp of hell. The only saving truth is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Gospel message itself is power. And this is the powerful message that must be preached in purity and simplicity; it doesn’t need any wisdom of words or craftiness of speech. The simple proclaimed Gospel stands all on its own (1 Corinthains 1:17-24). The foolishness of preaching Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God. God destroys the wisdom of the wise by changing lives through the Gospel of Jesus, not the bad, nonetheless truthful, news about hell.
But Rob Bell’s wants to rid the truth from the bad news altogether. Bell seeks to rob the Gospel of its dark backdrop that makes it shine so glorious. To answer his own question, “Is that what Jesus taught?” (p.64), Bell shows you every verse in the Bible in which we find the word “hell” exploring the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Gehenna, Tartarus, and Hades (pp.64-70). More often than not, the English word “hell” is translated from the Greek word “Gehenna,” almost exclusively by Jesus himself (as Bell points out).
Gehenna or Gehenna of fire refers to the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned. Because of the idolatrous practices that associated with the valley of Hinnom, pious Jews considered it unclean. Because garbage was constantly being thrown into the valley, the fires were continually burning and the worms continually eating. Thus, to the Jews, the valley of Hinnom came to be understood as a place of fire, a valley of slaughter, and a place of judgment. It has been argued by universalists that Jesus could have been using Gehenna literally, that is, the actual valley of Hinnom. In fact, this is how Bell ultimately interprets the word: “Gehenna, the town garbage pile. And that’s it.” (p.69).
However, because of its perpetually burning fires, Jesus spoke of Ghenna as a symbol of the literal hell of eternal torment for the wicked after the resurrection. The picture of an unclean garbage dump where the fires and the worms never died out became to the Jews an appropriate description of the ultimate fate of the wicked. Prior to Jesus’ life and teaching, Gehenna came to be understood to the Jewish mind as the final, eternal garbage dump where all the wicked idolaters would be after the resurrection. In both Rabbinical Jewish and Early Christian writings, Gehenna was a destination of the wicked.
Certainly Christ knew what Gehenna meant to the contemporary listeners of His day. The fact that Jesus utilized the rabbinic language connected with Gehenna demonstrates that He deliberately used the the term to impress the idea of eternal punishment of the wicked after the resurrection. The majority view of Gehenna was that of an eternal, conscious torment of the wicked after the resurrection.
Furthermore, Jesus’ use of the word Gehenna in Luke 12:4,5 and Matthew 10:28 describes how God is “able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” In other words, God is not finished with them after their body has died, but their soul also will be cast into Gehenna. This describes an event that cannot be isolated to the garbage dump outside Jerusalem or merely the AD 70 judgment upon that city via the Roman armies. The Romans could have cast a body into the garbage dump but not a person’s soul. It is very possible that corpses were thrown into the burning fires of Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, but there are no specific references in Josephus’ account of The Wars of the Jews. The type of judgment Jesus is referring to is post-mortem.
Additionally, there are ample references elsewhere to the concept of hell. Many passages describe the weeping and gnashing of teeth which corresponds to the traditional concept of hell (Matthew 13:50; 22:13; 24:51). Paul spoke of the Second Coming of Christ saying, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9). Jesus will say to the wicked, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The author of Hebrews also spoke of “eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:2).Paul spoke of future judgment saying, “Unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile” (Romans 2:8,9).
Jesus spoke of the Day of Judgment saying that the wicked “shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). The words “eternal” and “everlasting” come from the Greek word aionios which comes from the word ion or an age. Aionios describes that which is never to cease, everlasting, without beginning and without end. Of course Bell says, “Jesus isn’t talking about forever as we think of forever. Jesus may be talking about something else” (p.92).
In the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus said, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30). That Day of Judgment is a day that cannot be rehearsed or put into words. Peter speaks of that Day saying, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: . . . But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption . . . These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Peter 2:9,12,17).
I pray to God that Rob Bell will not be found in the category of those in 2 Peter 2:12, but is he not “speak[ing] evil of the things that [he] understand not” when he likens hell to “somewhere down below the earth’s crust” with “a really crafty figure in red tights holding a three-pointed spear, playing Pink Floyd records backward, and enjoying the hidden messages” (p.70).
Bell makes the bold claim that “In the third century the Church fathers Clement of Alexandria and Origen affirmed God’s reconciliation with all people” (p.107). This is historically inaccurate. Clement of Alexandria and Origen speculated that, after disciplinary punishments of Gehenna, perhaps all persons would be reconciled to God. But neither of these men affirmed this, as Bell states, or taught this dogmatically. In fact, Origen taught:
“The apostolic teaching is that the soul . . . after its departure from the world, will be recompensed according to its deserts. It is destined to obtain either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness (if its actions will have procured this for it) or to be delivered up to eternal fire and punishments (if the guilt of its crimes will have brought it down to this)” (Bercot, David. editor. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Fifth Printing, 2003. p.246).
The early church, as a whole, did not believe in universal salvation. For instance Barnabas (c. 70-130) taught, “The way of darkness” is “the way of eternal death with punishment.” The Letter to Diognetus (c. 125-200) says, “You should fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the eternal fire.” Justin Martyr (c. 160) wrote, “Gehenna is a place where those who have lived wickedly are to be punished,” and, “The unjust and intemperate will be punished in eternal fire.” (Bercot, David. editor. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Fifth Printing, 2003. p.242). What we need in this day and age is not to re-invent a new Christianity as Bell is doing, but rediscover the old apostolic Christianity according to Scripture.
Bell says he believes in a literal hell, but then goes on to cite pages of “here and now” illustrations of hell (pp.71-79). He says there is hell now and hell later (p.79), but does he really believe that? Bell is dogmatically undogmatic. After reading his books, it is difficult to understand what Bell actually believes. In Velvet Elvis, he says he believes in the Virgin Birth of Jesus after he has given every argument against it (Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2005. pp.26,27). In Love Wins, he claims to believe in a literal hell, yet the entirety of the book is arguing against the traditional doctrine of hell. He dismisses Jesus’ references to future judgment saying,
“it’s important that we don’t take Jesus’s very real and prescient warnings about judgment then out of context, making them about someday, somewhere else. That wasn’t what he was talking about” (p.81).
Furthermore, Rob Bell asks, “Will all people be saved, or will God not get what God wants?” (p.98). Bell likens God not getting what He wants to failure. Bell goes on to say that “God does not fail” (p.100) obviously implying that all people must go to heaven. Indeed, it is God’s will that none perish and that all come to repentance and salvation (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). But God does not force His will upon others. For example, the Pharisees who rejected His will: “the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him” (Luke 7:30). “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3), and yet, even professing Christians resist the will of God and perish in their sins. Likewise, God’s will was to gather all of Jerusalem into His kingdom but they rejected His will as Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Luke 23:37). This does not mean that God failed! A husband whose adulterous wife forsakes him, though he did everything in his power to save their marriage, is not a failure. The husband cannot be faulted for his adulterous wife’s decisions in the same way that God cannot be faulted or found a failure for the choices of people who reject Jesus. “Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). God is not helpless, not powerless, not impotent even if people go to hell (p.101).
Bell continues to offer false hopes after life, this time suggesting that people will be given a second chance:
“Many have refused to accept the scenario in which somebody is pounding on the door, apologizing, repenting, and asking God to be let in, only to hear God say through the keyhole: ‘Door’s locked. Sorry. If you had been here earlier, I could have done something. But now, it’s too late'” (p.108).
However, this scenario is identical to Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins. In the parable, there are no second chances. Jesus taught, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matthew 25:1-12). In other words, it’s too late, no second chances.
When asked point-blank by Martin Bashir on MSNBC, “Are you a universalist?” Bell responded, “No.” I don’t know how he can possibly say that unless he’s playing word games. Love Wins presents several arguments in favor of universalism. I suppose the only way Bell can say that he is not a universalist if he really doesn’t know what he believes. Bell points out the biblical phrases “all things” and “world” in certain soteriological passages to suggest that God will restore all of creation (pp.126-135). First of all, we must give prudent care and careful attention to the use of the words “all” and “world” in Scripture. For instance, many of the passages quoted by Bell and other Emergents to lend support to universalism can be instantly refuted by properly understanding the biblical use of these words: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32), “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21), “the free gift came upon all men” (Romans 5:18), “all things are put under him” (1 Corinthians 15:27), “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19), “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10), “having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself” (Colossians 1:20), “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). The words “all” and “world” very rarely mean all persons, taken individually, but some of all types. Charles Spurgeon explains:
the whole world has gone after him [John 12:19].” Did all the world go after Christ? “then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan [Matthew 3:5,6].” Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem, baptized in Jordan? . . . “the whole world lieth in the wicked one [1 John 5:19].” Does the whole world there mean everybody? . . . The words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts — some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted His redemption to either Jew or Gentile (Spurgeon, Chrales H. Particular Redemption, a sermon. February 28, 1858).
Likewise, Jesus said, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:22). He certainly didn’t mean every individual but was referring to those apart form Christians. When Jesus said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22), He did not mean literally all things but all righteous things that are according to the will of God. When the Bible says, “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1), it does not literally imply the whole world because Caesar did not rule the entire world. In Philippians 2:10,11, the eschatological fact that “every knee should bow” and “every tongue should confess” does not teach universal reconciliation. Bended knees and confessing tongues does not constitute salvation but conveys the exaltation of Jesus, that the whole creation must be subject to Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. We must consider passages like this in light of the whole of Scripture, not as isolated proof texts for universalism, universal reconciliation, Christian universalism or whatever they want to call it.
The reason Rob Bell believes and teaches what he does is very simple: he doesn’t like the traditional understanding of hell. In his book Love Wins, Rob Bell writes
“[I]t’s important that we be honest about the fact that some stories are better than others. Telling a story in which billions of people spend forever somewhere in the universe trapped in a black hole of endless torment and misery with no way out isn’t a very good story” (p.110).
Conversely, Bell says that, “everybody enjoying God’s good world together with no disgrace or shame, justice being served, and all the wrongs being made right is a better story” (p.110). While Bell says he’s not a universalist, he certainly does attack the traditional understanding of hell. Rob Bell would prefer to have it both ways, but justice cannot be served as well as everybody enjoying God’s good world together. One of man’s greatest problems is that God is good and that He is love (1 John 4:16). Because He is good, we can expect that justice will be served. If you caught a man in the act of murdering your family, turned the murderer in to the authorities, and at the trial the judge set him free because he was a “loving” judge, is that justice? No, that judge is more vile than the criminals he sets free. If justice is served, then everybody cannot enjoy God’s goodness. But Bell’s version of the story makes him feel better. Bell’s story is just that: a story, a fable that tickles the ears. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3,4).
To Rob Bell, if hell is real, then God is “terrifying, and traumatizing, and unbearable,” and “can’t be loved” (p.175). To Bell, the whole idea that “God will punish people for all of eternity for sins,” is an “unacceptable, awful reality” (p.176). Thus, Bell is exchanging biblical reality for his own reality, and teaching a god of his own image.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Love does win in the end, but not the kind of love without truth that Bell is advocating. “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Love without truth is a liar and truth without love is a killer, thus we are exhorted to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) which Rob Bell’s book Love Wins fails to do.
Bell is correct about hell being terrifying, but this does not mean we change God’s message to make it more palatable to a postmodern generation. Bell is operating under the fear of man and not the fear of God. John continues, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). In reality, love wins by our having boldness in the day of judgment by being as Jesus in this world who, “in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (Hebrews 5:7). Even Jesus feared God. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). I conclude with a single statement from our Lord Jesus Christ, in refutation of Bell’s version of hell and exhortation to Bell and his readers, “Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:5).
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