kvanlaan
Puritan Board Doctor
The Biblical God is not popular.
Ain't that the sad truth...
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The Biblical God is not popular.
Such novelty (if novelty it should be called) becomes most requisite, when the truth is to be maintained against calumniators who evade it by quibbling. Of this, we of the present day have too much experience in being constantly called upon to attack the enemies of pure and sound doctrine. These slippery snakes escape by their swift and tortuous windings, if not strenuously pursued, and when caught, firmly held. Thus the early Christians, when harassed with the disputes which heresies produced, were forced to declare their sentiments in terms most scrupulously exact in order that no indirect subterfuges might remain to ungodly men, to whom ambiguity of expression was a kind of hiding-place.
As the controversy exploded last week, HarperOne moved up to March 15 the publication date of Mr. Bell’s book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.”
Judging from an advance copy, the 200-page book is unlikely to assuage Mr. Bell’s critics. In an elliptical style, he throws out probing questions about traditional biblical interpretations, mixing real-life stories with scripture.
Much of the book is a sometimes obscure discussion of the meaning of heaven and hell that tears away at the standard ideas. In his version, heaven is something that begins here on earth, in a life of goodness, and hell seems more a condition than an eternal fate — “the very real consequences we experience when we reject all the good and true and beautiful life that God has for us.”
While sliding close to what critics consider the heresy of “universalism” — that all humans will eventually be saved — he never uses the term.
Excerpts from Rob Bell's Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate
of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived
"A staggering number of people have been taught that a few select Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."
"At the center of the Christian tradition since the first church has been the insistence that history is not tragic, hell is not forever, and love, in the end, wins."
"When people say they're tired of hearing about "sin" and "judgment: and "condemnation," it's often because those have been confused for them with the nature of God. God has no desire to inflict pain or agony on anyone."
"For some, the highest form of allegiance to their God is to attack, defame, and slander others who don't articulate matters of faith as they do."
"None of us have cornered the market on Jesus, and none of us ever will."
In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, Bell jokes: "I am not aware that labels are the highest form of goodness and truth." He rebuffs critics who say he presents a Jesus-optional Christianity: "Jesus spoke of the renewal of all things. He said, 'I have sheep who are not of this flock.' Through him, extraordinary things are happening in the world. If saying that gets you banned from the E-club, so be it."
Bell's view is "that God is love, that he sent Jesus to show us that love, that love demands freedom. So making definitive judgments about other people's destiny is not interesting to me. The heart of God is to rescue everyone from everything we need to be rescued from."
It's a mercy that Bell doesn't read his press or social networks.
Justin Taylor of the Gospel Coalition, a network of traditionalist scholars and pastors, says Bell's views are "dangerous and contrary to the word of God. ... If Bell doesn't believe in eternal punishment, then he doesn't think sin is an offense against a holy God."
It was Taylor's critique last month, based on reading a few chapters, that triggered explosive arguments radiating from Christian sites to CNN. Now that he has read all 200 pages, Taylor is even more convinced of Bell's errors. "Whether you like it or not, the Bible presents true teaching and warns against false teachers, even those who look like great people," says Taylor, digging at Bell's highly stylized videos circulating online and among churches coast to coast."
But Richard Mouw, president of the world's largest Protestant seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary based in Pasadena, Calif., calls Love Wins "a great book, well within the bounds of orthodox Christianity and passionate about Jesus.
The real hellacious fight, says Mouw, a friend of Bell, a Fuller graduate, is between "generous orthodoxy and stingy orthodoxy. There are stingy people who just want to consign many others to hell and only a few to heaven and take delight in the idea. But Rob Bell allows for a lot of mystery in how Jesus reaches people."
It's easy to throw out questions that have no answers. Children do that to their parents all day long. So I guess I think that Bell's style is rather childish in a world that is so screwed up (without a clue most of the time) that we need to spell out the truth the way the old-timers did--Edwards, Wesley (opposite poles), Carl Henry--even John Stott, Colson. These are guys that put forward answers, not puzzles, to a truth-starved world.
We are very close to the Great Apostasy as it is, and God's people need a clear trumpet sound, not a whimper from a piccolo.
With all due respect, I know this is a Reformed board and Rob Bell certainly does not fall under that but I think it is very close to a ninth commandment violation to be speaking ill of a book that we have not read. We are going off the assumptions and thoughts put forth in a blog whose author has not read the book either. If he does say that he is universalist in his book then we can discuss the implications from their. If you have not read the book you have no right to be making definitive statements about what he says in it.
What about Mark Driscoll is he any better?
I only asked because I was surprised to hear this guy was a founder of Mars Hill church which I've heard a lot of people talking about (particularly Driscoll).
Strange to have such differing views within one church (though Bell's not there anymore I don't think..?).
Thanks for that. He seems to be much better.
I only asked because I was surprised to hear this guy was a founder of Mars Hill church which I've heard a lot of people talking about (particularly Driscoll).
Strange to have such differing views within one church (though Bell's not there anymore I don't think..?).
I don't know Bell and McLaren's hearts, but I must wonder of their sencerity. Do men like these truly believe in the drivel they produce that diminishes the attributes of God and twists scripture to fit their theology? Or are they aware of the many weak minded professing christians today, and thus come up with this heresy to make lots of money. I guess we'll never know this side of eternity.