Fifty Million Rob Bell Fans Can’t Be Wrong

In 1959 RCA releasedFifty Million Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong—Elvis’ Gold Records Vol. 2.¹ Elvis Presley was an exceptionally popular entertainer who was also one of the most controversial public figures of the late 1950s. The title of his second greatest hits album indicates a popular sentiment: It must be right, because millions of people believe it. But this sentiment does not translate to theology. Though many church fathers and theologians throughout the ages may have believed in a particular doctrine, it’s correctness is not established by that fact alone.

Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is the author of such books as Velvet Elvis, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and Drops Like Stars. Many evangelical Christians are familiar with his Nooma series of videos.² Bell is influential in Emerging Church circles and is a popular speaker. Though his previous books have sold well, Love Wins is especially popular.

The twin premises of Love Wins are that God is a God of love and that the evangelical Christian view of God is too narrow. “Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell?”³ Bell asks. Love Wins challenges the traditional views concerning heaven, hell, and salvation. For the sake of brevity this review concentrates on Bell’s view of salvation. Keep Reading...

Bell’s Inferno

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that religion is a means of gain (1 Timothy 6:3-5). Read it all HERE

Rob Bell, meet Clark Pinnock

I wish that Dr Pinnock had continued to hold to a consistent doctrine of biblical inerrancy through the remainder of his academic career.  Alas, he did not.  His early works, A Defense of Biblical Infallibility (1967) and Biblical Revelation (1971) are classic presentations of the historic doctrines of biblical authority, infallibility, and inerrancy.  However, though the 1970’s and 80’s Pinnock’s view of Scripture shifted, and he argued instead for what might be called an inerrancy of purpose. 

Other changes followed.  He moved from Reformed theology to classic Arminianism and eventually to Open Theism.  Pinnock advocated neo-Pentecostalism and third wave theology.  And as I said before, he embraced inclusivism, annihilationism, and post-mortem evangelism. For conservatives within the SBC that he had helped in the early days of the controversy and who had counted him as an ally, Pinnock’s theological wanderings were difficult to watch.

I would encourage anyone tempted to take Bell’s position to consider the sad twists and turns of Clark Pinnock. Read it all HERE

Rob Bell on the Cover of TIME

TIME magazine’s cover story this week is about Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. Here is John Meacham’s one line explanation of what the fuss is about:

“[Bell] suggests that the redemptive work of Jesus may be universal — meaning that, as his book’s subtitle puts it, ‘every person who ever lived’ could have a place in heaven, whatever that turns out to be.”

Every year during Easter season, the news weekly’s like to feature stories that tweak traditional Christian belief (for example, The Gospel of Judas, the tomb of Jesus, etc.). For these publications, Holy Week has become heresy week. I think it says something that Bell’s book has now taken a place next to these kinds of stories. Keep Reading...

See Also: “A Massive Shift Coming in What it Means to Be a Christian?”

Rob Bell: a Brother to Embrace, or a Wolf to Avoid?

If Christopher Hitchens or Deepak Chopra penned a book that scoffed at the biblical teaching on hell, we would not be surprised. So why would anyone be shocked or confused when Rob Bell writes Love Wins? Has Bell shown any more commitment to gospel truth, or any more devotion to the principle of biblical authority than Hitchens or Chopra? 

Is Rob Bell truly a Christian, or is he one of those dangerous deceivers Scripture warns us about repeatedly (; ; ; ; etc.)?

It's a fair—and necessary—question. Christ’s famous warning about wolves in sheep’s clothing is given to us as an imperative: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (). Our Lord clearly expects His true disciples to be able to spot spiritual imposters and wolves in sheep’s clothing—especially those who are purveyors of deadly false doctrines. Keep Reading>>>

Horton's Review of Bell's New Book (Updated in Seven Parts)

Here's Horton's review of Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins
Here's part one:  Bell's Hell (part one)
Here's part two:  Bell's Hell (part two)
Here's part three:  Bell's Hell (part three)
Here's part four:  Bell's Hell (part four)
Here's part five:  Bell's Hell (part five)
Here's part six:  Bell's Hell (part six)
Here's part seven:  Bell's Hell (part seven)

HT: Riddleblog

Two Cents, and Not a Penny More, on Love Wins.

I have  mixed feelings about putting this post up, mostly because I don't think very much else needs to be said about Rob Bell's book Love Wins.  If you haven't seen Martin Bashir's interview with him on MSNBC, you need to.  It tells you everything you need to know about the book and Bell's approach to these issues:  He clearly has about six highly-crafted and exquisitely ambiguous things to say, and is doggedly determined to avoid---at all cost---giving straight answers to any questions about what he really believes.  Bashir calls him out on it, and it's a service to the church and the world that he does.

Several friends have already done a great job of reviewing the entire book.  Both Tim Challies's and Kevin DeYoung's reviews are helpful pieces of work.  So this isn't going to be a full review.  That said, I do think it might be useful to point out a couple of details that I haven't seen talked about much, and that Bell simply got flat wrong.  You know the old quip about lawyers?  "Always confident, sometimes right."  That's an almost perfect description of Bell in Love Wins; he writes with amazing confidence about certain facts (word meanings, Jewish backgrounds, historical issues), and yet if you just pick up a dictionary or google a quote, you realize that what he's saying is simply wrong.  Pointing these things out isn't just a matter of "picking on" Bell, either.  It's a matter of doing our best to make sure little errors don't become part of our atmosphere.  Otherwise,  before we know it we'll have people in our churches saying, as if everybody knows it already, that Luther was a universalist and that the Bible doesn't have a concept of "forever."  So in the interest of preventing that, here are just a handful of the things that Bell gets flat wrong in his book. Keep Reading>>>

The New Evangelical Virtues

Asking questions is in, answering them in a clear and compelling way is out. Here is how Greg Boyd praises Bell in this regard: “Rob is first and foremost a poet/artist/dramatist who has a fantastic gift for communicating in ways that inspire creativity and provoke thought. Rob is far more comfortable (and far better at) questioning established beliefs and creatively hinting at possible answers than he is at constructing a logically rigorous case defending a definitive conclusion.” As just one example, the strength of the Emerging Church and its draw was far more in asking questions than in answering them. In fact, the New Calvinism and the Emerging Church arose by asking many of the same questions—questions that came out of the Church Growth Movement and the slow erosion of significant, weighty doctrine. Right teaching and right living were being replaced by mindless entertainment and those who became Emergent leaders asked many good questions. But their answers, when they were willing to give them, were lousy. Read it all HERE

We Have Seen All This Before: Rob Bell and the (Re)Emergence of Liberal Theology

Protestant Liberalism emerged in the 19th century as influential theologians argued for a doctrinal revolution. Their challenge to the church was simple and straightforward: The intellectual challenges of the modern age made belief in traditional Christian doctrines impossible. Friedrich Schleiermaher wrote his impassioned speeches to the “cultured despisers” of religion, arguing that something of spiritual value remained in Christianity even when its doctrines were no longer credible. Church historians such as Adolf von Harnack argued that a kernel of spiritual truth and power remained even when the shell of Christianity’s doctrinal claims was removed. In the United States preachers such as Harry Emerson Fosdick preached that Christianity must come to terms with the modern age and surrender its supernatural claims.

The liberals did not set out to destroy Christianity. To the contrary, they were certain that they were rescuing Christianity from itself. Their rescue effort required the surrender of the doctrines that the modern age finds most difficult to accept, and the doctrine of hell was front and center on their list of doctrines that must go. Read the rest HERE

Call it a Comeback: Evangelicals, Liberals, and the Problem of Hell

In his 1971 IFES addresses on "What is an Evangelical?" Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones referred to the tendency of denominations to so lose their way that they end up becoming institutions whose beliefs, values, and practices run counter to the convictions and vision of their founders.  Lloyd-Jones summed it up in the epigrammatical words of Dean Inge, "institutions tend to produce their opposite."

At first blush the thought that evangelicalism could prove itself capable of reproducing, under different circumstances, the virulant strains of liberal theology seems, frankly, implausible.  How could those committed to the authority of Scripture and the supernatural Christ of the Bible descend into a world where long held dogmas were routinely thrown overboard?

Part of the answer is in understanding liberalism as a mood, and a mindset, as well as a particular set of denials.  Another part of the answer lies in the tension evangelicals constantly feel when they relate the "scandal of particularlity," all those non-negotiable hard edged truths of the Christian faith, to the desires, aspirations, and intellectual and moral boundaries of contemporary culture. Keep Reading>>>

Seeing Good Providence in the Rob Bell Firestorm

Rob Bell didn’t fall out of the tree of orthodoxy overnight. He has been sticking his finger in the eye of historic Christianity for years. The problem is too many evangelicals didn’t realize it.

The bottom-line is that Rob Bell would not be nearly as popular as he is if there weren’t so many evangelical barnacles attached to him. I think of churches in my own city where evangelical pastors recommend his books and videos. The fact that evangelicals, especially pastors, did not see this coming is an indictment on the level of discernment of our movement. You could say, without exaggeration, that Rob Bell’s popularity and credibility comes through the impressionable, doctrinally shallow American evangelicals that are drawn after cool rather than true. It reminds me of the teenage girl who is searching for approval and identity. She goes after the cool guy. Then she finds out that the cool guy is not who she thought he was. She is crushed. Read it all HERE

See also:

The Blood-Drained Gospel of Rob Bell

Why I'm Thankful for Popular False Teachers

 

Rob Bell and Hell

Image: theolatte

Mark Driscoll

Kevin DeYoung

Denny Burk

Bill Z. Bull

Bill Muehlenberg

Carl Trueman

Christianity Today

USA Today

Douglas Wilson 

Richard Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary 

Book Review: Love Wins by Rob Bell

Bell begins the book with surprising forthrightness: Jesus’ story has been hijacked by a number of different stories that Jesus has no interest in telling. “The plot has been lost, and it’s time to reclaim it.” (Preface, vi)

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 torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. 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. (ibid)

You may want to read that again.

It really says that. And it really means what you think it means. Though it takes time for that to become clear. Read it all HERE

Universalism: Not a New Temptation

The temptation is not new: silencing certain biblical texts in order to say that eventually everyone will be saved. In fact, we could just call it recycled liberalism.

Desiring God focused on this subject 21 years ago at the Conference for Pastors — "Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment."

In his sermon that assesses the biblical and theological arguments for universalism, Sinclair Ferguson reminds us:

There is a mighty sermon in Gresham Machen’s book, God Transcendent, on the text in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who can kill the body; fear Him who is able to cast soul and body into hell.” And the sermon begins by the repetition of the text and with these words: “These words were not spoken by Augustine, or by George Whitefield, or by Jonathan Edwards, but by Jesus of Nazareth."

It behooves us to listen to Jesus' testimony; both because this is the testimony of the Savior, and because this is the testimony of the One who names himself as the living and true witness—who is the One who has come back from the dead to tell men that it is so.

Ferguson's other messages from the conference include:

1. Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment: Contemporary Preaching

2. Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment: The Justice and Mercy of God

4. Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment, Panel Discussion

Revising God by Hating Hell

Clark Pinnock commenting on why he rejects the classical position of hell as eternal punishment:

“I am rejecting the traditional view of hell in part out of a sense of moral and theological revulsion to it.  The idea that a conscious creature should have to undergo physical and mental torture through unending time is profoundly disturbing, and the thought that this is inflicted upon them by divine decree offends my conviction about God’s love” (emphasis mine).

- Clark Pinnock, “The Conditional View” in Four Views on Hell, edd. Stanley Gundry and William Crockett (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1996), 164. Keep Reading>>>

“Closet Universalists”

One of the things that the Rob Bell saga is doing is shining the light on the encroachment of universalism in the sphere of biblical orthodoxy.  I have no idea whether Rob Bell is a universalist or not, but my guess is if he is, then universalism will de facto become a cool and acceptable tenet by virtue of Bell’s dominant influence among those in his wide domain.  I even saw where Matthew Paul Turner (Jesus Needs New PR) on Twitter making the claim that “Jesus universalism has deep roots in Christian history” and has “been around since the beginning.”  Additionally, Scot McKnight argued, “My own estimation is that somewhere near 75% of my students, many if not most of them nurtured in the church, are more or less universalist.” Keep Reading>>>

To Hell With Hell

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

I am eager to read the book, not to pick a fight (though sometimes we need to fight, and this is one of those times), but because a book like this from a prominent pastor like this needs a response, many responses. We should be thankful for the clarity, but saddened by the content.

In the meantime, we must remember why God’s wrath is necessary to make sense of the Bible, the cross, and our growth in godliness.

We need the doctrine of eternal punishment. Time and time again in the New Testament we find that understanding divine justice is essential to our sanctification. Believing in God’s judgment actually helps us look more like Jesus. In short, we need the doctrine of the wrath of God.

First, we need God’s wrath to keep us honest about evangelism. Paul reasoned with Felix about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment (Acts 24:25). We need to do the same. Without the doctrine of hell, we are prone to get involved in all sorts of important God-honoring things, but neglect the one thing that matters for all eternity, urging sinners to be reconciled to God. Continue Reading>>>

See Also:

Denny Burk on Rob Bell’s Universalism

Rob Bell, Hell and Why I Hope I'm Wrong

Measuring Our Response to Rob Bell

Rob Bell Comes out of the Theological Closet…Is Anyone Surprised? 

Rob Bell and the Judgmentless “Gospel”: Holy Love Wins

Interview on Christian Universalism

Thank you to Linda Harvey of Mission America for recently having me on her radio program.  We discussed a recent article that ran on Sola Sisters which exposed a new heretical teaching - "Christian Universalism" - that is literally sweeping through today's church under names such as "the Wider Mercy Doctrine" and "Universal Reconciliation."  We also discussed how this teaching has even become prevalent in Missions. "Christian Universalism" is being taught by very popular and prominent writers, teachers and pastors today, among them:

Leonard Sweet (Jesus Manifesto) 

Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis, NOOMA videos) 

Dallas Willard (The Spirit of the Disciplines)

William P. Young (The Shack)

Continue reading HERE

This is Not Good - Rob Bell's theological trajectory

"Performance Artist"