Rob Bell’s Love Wins has exploded onto the evangelical Christian scene, accompanied by both celebration and concern. But, interestingly enough, it has created hardly a blip on the mainline Christian scene.
So why the celebration?
First, Rob Bell is a celebrity pastor. He is the founding pastor of the 10,000+ Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Second, he is a best-selling author of other books and the creator of the NOOMA video series.
Rob Bell is a bright, shining star in the American evangelical galaxy. He is known. And, up to this point, he was a darling of the evangelical Christian crowd. Love Wins has, perhaps, changed some of that.
Why the concern?
Cutting to the chase, Bell is accused in many circles of promoting universalism, which says that everyone goes to heaven. No matter what. Bell is accused of saying that God’s love has the final say and that a loving God would never send someone to hell for not professing Jesus in this lifetime.
That’s saying that you don’t have to be a Christian in order to go to heaven. Or, to turn the coin over, if you are not a Christian then you don’t have to worry; hell is not in your future anyway.
The subtitle of Love Wins is this: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.
And people are upset because, if Bell is indeed promoting universalism, even if it’s Christian universalism (which means that, somehow, it all happens through Jesus Christ), then he is going to lead people astray and could be assisting in populating the neighborhoods of hell and keeping people out of heaven.
Actually, there is a lot at stake here.
So why read Love Wins?
Aren’t you going to be lead astray if you read the book?
If that is the case, then whoever is saying that isn’t giving you much credit for being able to think for yourself. They would be insulting you.
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV)
In other words, Christians need to have active minds that are well-informed about what it means to follow Jesus. We need to be sharp so we can tell what is of God and what is not.
Which, to my mind, means we should read, discuss and understand both what orthodox Christianity is AND the other views, opinions and ideas that are floating out there around us. We need to know what’s right in order to discern what’s wrong. But we also need to know what’s wrong so we can pursue what is right. In other words, knowing how ideas differ makes a difference. We are to have discerning minds, well-exercised and fit for the task.
How important is Love Wins?
Important enough to have elicited a number of thoughtful responses (along with an abundance of less-than-thoughtful responses) from noted heavy-hitters in the evangelical realm.
For instance, I just finished reading a book by Francis Chan (who wrote Crazy Love, a book we discussed last year) and Preston Sprinkle (a New Testament Ph.D.) called Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up.
Chan and Sprinkle wrote this book as a response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins. Apparently, they read his book, thought about it, and decided to weigh in. Good for them. It’s a good book. I’ve read it. But, like Bell’s book, there are some gaps and they bang the drums they want to be heard.
Mark Galli, the Sr. Managing Editor for Christianity Today (a must-read magazine for evangelical Christians), also read Love Wins. And he wrote a response called, God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News Is Better Than Love Wins.
I’m in the process of reading God Wins. But the fact remains that Mark Galli, a heavy-hitter, felt the need to respond to what Rob Bell wrote. In order to do so he had to read the book. And, apparently, he is not in any danger of either losing his Christian faith or becoming a universalist. In other words, he read Love Wins and he’s okay.
On the back cover of God Wins it says, “Love Wins has sparked a national discussion about the ultimate fate of human beings that has gotten people asking a lot of questions. … Mark maintains that “love wins” isn’t deep or rich enough–and that there is even better news for humanity. God wins. This book explores the biblical concept of what “God wins” means, and compare and contrasts that idea with the issues raised in Love Wins.”
Michael E. Wittmer, a Ph.D. who teaches systematic and historical theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary (right in Rob Bell’s backyard, almost literally!), also wrote a response. It’s called, Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins. He read Love Wins, too.
Seems like a lot of people have read Love Wins and have taken it seriously. Serious enough to warrant a response.
On the back of Wittmer’s book it says, “In this highly readable and wonderfully engaging response to Rob Bell’s New York Times best seller Love Wins, Michael Wittmer examines Bell’s claims about ‘heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived’ in the light of the Bible and historic Christian doctrine. Wittmer writes in the introduction, ‘I respect Rob Bell. He wrote Love Wins to start a dialogue about the most important issues of our faith, and this book is my attempt as an evangelical to join that conversation.”
And we are going to have a conversation about these important issues–heaven, hell and the destiny of every person–at Horizon, using Love Wins as our springboard.
And it looks like we’re not the only ones.
Our conversation begins on Sunday, October 2, after the morning service.
Bring some snacks but rest assured there will be plenty of theological “meat and potatoes.”
