Rob Bell wants to rescue Christianity.
From itself.
From the Bible.
From the truth.
(This is the format of his book, by the way)
80 pages of writing.
Spread out.
Over 200 pages of book.
Rob Bell is a Universalist, although he is hopelessly ambiguous on nearly every page of his new book, Love Wins. Universalism is the belief that everyone will eventually be saved and spend eternity with God in Heaven. Bell is convinced that "love wins" in the end and the doctrine of Hell is wholly misunderstood and misrepresented by the church at large. To make this claim, Bell must use Scripture. Unfortunately, he does not do this well.
This might sound odd, but my encouragement to anyone who does not have a firm grasp of the Bible's content and teaching is this: Don't read Love Wins. I fear that a shallow understanding of Scripture (which many Christians possess) makes one susceptible to false teaching. Similarly, I don't think Christians should read Bart Ehrman (and others) for the same reason. If you're not "inoculated" with a firm understanding of the truth, you will not see through falsehoods. So seek a deeper faith (John 17:17; Acts 8:30; Acts 17:11), and then you can (and should) "destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God..." (2 Corinthians 10:5).
In Love Wins, I believe Rob Bell (1) frequently misuses Biblical texts; (2) draws erroneous conclusions based on false assumptions; and (3) reveals that he cares more about the "story" than the truth.
#1. Rob Bell frequently misuses Biblical texts.
Love Wins reveals this problem on PAGE 1. And when I say page 1, what I mean is "vii" of his Preface. The book is entitled "Love Wins" so, naturally, why not include the most famous Bible verse on love: "For God so loved the world..." And Bell presents it just like that - with the "...". What's amazing is that the rest of Jesus' statement in John 3:16 undercuts the central premise of Bell's book! Jesus states, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him, will not perish but have eternal life" (italics mine). The "whoever believes" is implicitly dismissed...
On.
Every.
Page.
Chapter 1 is a mess. It is the most provocative chapter of Bell's book (in my opinion) and displays "Major Error #1" on nearly every page. I have given a careful analysis of his use (or misuse) of Scripture in this chapter here.
A few more examples from other chapters:
-On page 134, Bell states, "Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that all of humanity died through the first humans, so 'in Christ all will be made alive' (italics mine). When I read this, I laughed out loud because I saw exactly what Bell was doing (or should I say had to do). Interestingly, 1 Corinthians 15 does not say that all of humanity died through the first humans, but states, "For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" (italics mine). Paul gives an almost identical teaching in Romans chapter 5. So...was this a typo by Bell? Why would he say "humans" (with the plural)? The answer lies in his understanding of Genesis. He frequently refers to the creation account of Genesis 1-2 as a "poem" (which got rather irritating). He does this on page 44 and 133 (among others). In my experience, people who refer to the creation account of Genesis as a poem tend to be theistic evolutionists (i.e. God used evolution to make mankind). With such a view, their only option is to also not believe in a literal Adam and Eve. Why? The short answer is because Eve was created from Adam and this is not how evolution works, although there are other reasons as well. Therefore, Adam and Eve are merely symbols or mythical allusions of the first humans. I know this is an "argument from silence" (because Bell does not explicitly go there), but I would bet my Mustang that this is his view and explains why he uses this "humans" term when the text of 1 Corinthians 15 says no such thing.
-On page 152, Bell quotes John 10:16, which states, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold..." In the context of his chapter, Bell is implying that Jesus is speaking of others (outside of his followers), whom he intends to gather to himself. This implication supports Bell's overarching premise that it's not just Christians who will be a part of the fold...but this is not what Jesus meant. When Jesus speaks of the sheep in this passage, he is referring to the people of Israel, the Jewish people, God's "chosen people." This verse is laced with Old Testament allusions, one being Isaiah 56:8: "The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered." Who are the others (in both of the passages)? You guessed it - Gentiles. This is consistent with God's original promise to Abraham that "in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3), which is an early prophecy of the redeeming work of Christ. The reason I bring up this specific verse of John 10:16, and Bell's interpretation, is because there are many similar examples (his quotations of Pslam 65, Ezekiel 36, Isaiah 52, Zephaniah 3, and Philippians 2, etc.). If you've read Love Wins, you know what I'm talking about.
-On the very next page, Bell quotes Paul from Colossians 1:23, saying the gospel "has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven." And then he states:
Every.
Creature.
Under.
Heaven.
As wide as creation.
Including everybody.
The whole world.
I'm not sure exactly what point Bell thinks he is making. It appears that he wants his reader to go, "Wow, the gospel is for everyone!" Um...yes, of course. And then I guess we're also supposed to think, "Wow, Universalism must be true then." But this simply does not follow. The gospel is for everyone, but that does not mean everyone will accept it. Furthermore, Paul is simply proclaiming in his letter to the Colossians that the gospel has spread throughout much of the known world. After all, he is writing from Rome, where the Gospel has already traveled. And it's likely the early 60's when he is writing this letter, so the gospel has spread mightily by this point.
-On pages 114-115, Bell states: "We read in these last chapters of Revelation that the gates of that city in that new world will 'never shut'...But gates, gates are for keeping people in and keeping people out. If the gates are never shut, then people are free to come and go." Bell is referring to the wonderful last two chapters of Revelation, but he has conveniently left out chapter 20, which ends, "And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (vs. 15). It is only after this judgment do you arrive at the scene of heaven with the gates that "never shut."
-In one of his most egregious examples of misusing the text, he discusses John 14:6 in which Jesus states, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Bell then goes on to state:
What he doesn't say is how, or when, or in what manner the mechanism functions that get people to God through him. He doesn't even state that those coming to the Father through Him will even know that they are coming exclusively through him. He simply claims that whatever God is doing in the world to know and redeem and love and restore the world is happening through him. (Page 154)
This is an unfortunate interpretation, especially when the immediate context of Jesus' statement is taken into account:
-Vs. 1 of the same chapter calls on the listener to "believe" in God and Jesus
-Vs. 7 speaks of "knowing" the Father
-Vs. 10-12 speak of "belief" four times
Finally, toward the end of the fourth gospel, John states, "these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (20:31).
I cannot overstate how irresponsible Rob Bell is with the Biblical text. The few examples I have provided do not even begin to scratch the surface...
#2. Rob Bell draws erroneous conclusions based on false assumptions.
Bell confuses God's desires and God's plan:
On page 97, he writes:
that God is mighty, powerful, and "in control"
and that billions of people will spend forever apart from
this God, who is their creator,
even though it's written in the Bible that
"God wants all people to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2).
So does God get what God wants?
I think the answer to this question is yes and no. God does not want or desire for you and I to sin and rebel against Him...but we have and we do. This is a consequence of creating free creatures. God (literally) cannot force a free creature to follow Him and never rebel. Nevertheless, God is directing history toward an end that will bring glory to Himself, while upholding perfect love and perfect holiness...in this sense, I think the answer is yes.
Bell does not properly appreciate God's holiness and justice:
On page 97, Bell writes:
How great is God?
Great enough to achieve what God sets out to do,
or kind of great,
medium great,
great most of the time,
but in this,
the fate of billions of people,
not totally great.
Sort of great.
A little great.
My response is this:
We.
Are.
Guilty.
We have committed crimes against God, and He was under no obligation to save mankind from guilt and punishment. He has offered no redemption plan to angels, and this (in no way) takes away from God's goodness. At one point, Bell asks (as many have), "Have billions of people been created...to suffer infinitely for the finite sins they committed?" (pg. 102) The criticism implicitly being expressed here is that it would be unfair to receive an infinite punishment for a finite number of crimes. There are two possible responses to this assessment. First, it's possible that the punishment for rejecting God...is eternal separation from Him. When a man is sentenced to 80 years in prison for committing a murder, he cannot claim, "That's not fair to punish me for that long, because the crime only took a few seconds to commit!" Duration is rarely relevant to a crime. The second response is that it is possible that sin and rebellion against God will not stop in Hell, thereby making the finite criticism invalid.
Bell wrongly assumes that we are all God's children:
On page 102, he states, "Is God our friend, our provider, our protector, our father - or is God the kind of judge who may in the end declare that we deserve to spend forever separated from our Father? Later he states, "If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities. If there was an actual human dad who that volatile, we would contact child protection services immediately" (page 174).
The problem here is that God is not the Father of everyone. Only those who have a relationship with Him can rightly call Him their "Father." It is true that everyone (and everything) on the planet is a creation of God, but it is not true that everyone on the planet is a child of God! We are orphans, separated from God because of our sin. Romans 8:9 states, "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." And 9:4 states, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons..." (italics mine). Notice in the second passage that adoption is something we have "received." This is because our status before God has changed from "orphan" to "adopted child of God" when we are saved.
Bell believes the "rescue" language by Christians subtly teaches people that Jesus rescues us from God:
This is simply not true. I needed to be rescued from my sins, my guilt, my punishment. I was not rescued from God. I was rescued by God through His perfect Son, the image of the invisible God, Jesus Christ (Col. 1:15). I think Bell's language distorts this truth, as he attempts to make his point.
Bell dismisses the sovereignty of God when discussing the opportunity for people to call on Him:
On page 9, he writes:
What if the missionary gets a flat tire?
This raises another, for more disturbing question:
Is your future in someone else's hands?
Which raises another question:
Is someone else's eternity resting in your hands?
The answer to these latter two questions is NO. This view is not Biblical. Bell is only using these questions to cause the reader to abandon any view that there is a specific message that must be believed in order to be accepted by God. He's using reductio ad absurdum. He is reducing the belief to absurdity, so the reader will want to avoid such thinking.
The problem is Bell is committing a Straw Man Fallacy, because this is not the orthodox position. Yes, we are commissioned to take the Gospel everywhere and to everyone, but people are ultimately responsible for themselves...even if the missionary gets a flat tire!
Paul states in Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." And in Acts 17, Paul teaches, "God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us" (vs. 26-27).
So the Bible teaches that God's existence is revealed in and through creation, and that He has determined the time and place of our birth, so that we might seek after Him. This truth makes us all "without excuse."
Furthermore, Jesus teaches us in John 16 that the Holy Spirit "will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (vs. 8). And in John 6:44, Jesus states, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him."
So the Father draws people.
The Holy Spirit convicts people.
Jesus saves people.
...and God doesn't get flat tires.
#3. Rob Bell demonstrates that he cares more about the "story" than the truth.
In what I found to be the most absurd passages in Love Wins (110-111), Rob Bell states:
It'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. Telling a story about a God who inflicts unrelenting punishment on people because they didn't do or say or believe the correct things in a brief window of time called life isn't a very good story.
In contrast, everybody's 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. It is bigger, more loving, more expansive, more extraordinary, beautiful, and inspiring than any other story about the ultimate course history takes.
Whatever objections a person might have to this story, and there are many, one has to admit that it is fitting, proper, and Christian to long for it. We can be honest about the warped nature of the human heart, the freedom that love requires, and the destructive choices people make, and still envision God's love to be bigger, stronger, and more compelling than all of that put together...
I think our concern should be to tell the truth. Truth is knowable. Truth is discoverable. And the truth should be proclaimed. The "story" that we can tell is a true story in which the God of the universe created each and every one of us uniquely and loved us enough to give us freedom - a freedom to follow after Him or a freedom to follow after ourselves. But we all chose rebellion. Our list of crimes against God is exhaustive and damning. But He has made a Way. He has offered reconciliation through His Son, Jesus Christ. And at the End of Days, we will either be paying for our own sins, or Jesus Christ has paid for them for us on the Cross...
It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment... - Hebrews 9:27
This is the true story. God is not to be made in man's image, but we have been made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27).
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves
teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the
truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
- 2 Timothy 2:4-5
truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship,
do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
- 2 Timothy 2:4-5
