Heaven, Hell and Bell

There is quite a stir brewing regarding Rob Bell's new book "Love Win's" and I feel it appropriate to deal with the matter here in light of the fact many at Grace Point have seen or used "Nooma" material in a small group. "Nooma" is Rob Bell's trademark video study series consisting of titles such as Dust, Bullhorn, Noise, Flame, Rhythm, Rich... where Bell asks thought provoking questions, tells intriguing stories and leaves the audience to look to scripture for the answers. Inherently the study material itself may not be wrong as it very obscure in its teaching and at face value does not touch on the gospel, the participant is left to fill in that part. The issue with Rob Bells teaching heats up with "Love Wins", even before it's release it has communicated more about Rob Bell's stance on the gospel, Heaven, Hell and the God of the Bible. Through this book, previous books, interviews and his teaching at Mars Hill he has opened up a theology that is deep with questions but shallow at best in Biblical doctrine.

This leads me to the point where Rob Bell has been cleared from the shelves of Grace Point small group material, some may have even noticed the Nooma studies were not listed in our suggested material and this out of concern for his teaching over the past couple years . Not simply because of a three minute promotional video of his new books, but because his teachings do not line up with sound Biblical doctrine have I decided that I will not recommend Rob Bell as someone to look to for truth.

The following is taken from an interview with Christianity Today where Bell summarizes the gospel.

CT: You're essentially reframing the gospel—at least the gospel you inherited, the gospel we have known as the gospel in North America for the last couple hundred years.

Bell: I am leery of people who have very clear ideas of what they're doing from outside of themselves: "You have to understand that I'm doing this and doing this." I would say that for 10 years, I have tried to invite people to trust Jesus. You can trust this Jesus. You can trust him past, present, future; sins, mistakes, money, sexuality. I think this Jesus can be trusted.

I often put it this way: If there is a God, some sort of Divine Being, Mind, Spirit, and all of this is not just some random chance thing, and history has some sort of movement to it, and you have a connection with Whatever—that is awesome. Hard and awesome and creative and challenging and provoking.

And there is this group of people who say that whoever that being is came up among us and took on flesh and blood—Andrew Sullivan talks about this immense occasion the world could not bear. So a church would be this odd blend of swagger—an open tomb, come on—and humility and mystery. The Resurrection accounts are jumbled and don't really line up with each other—I really relate to that. Yet something momentous has burst forth in the middle of history. You just have to have faith, and you get caught up in something.

I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I'm really absolutely sure of some things that I don't quite know.

CT: How would you present this gospel on Twitter?

Bell: I would say that history is headed somewhere. The thousands of little ways in which you are tempted to believe that hope might actually be a legitimate response to the insanity of the world actually can be trusted. And the Christian story is that a tomb is empty, and a movement has actually begun that has been present in a sense all along in creation. And all those times when your cynicism was at odds with an impulse within you that said that this little thing might be about something bigger—those tiny little slivers may in fact be connected to something really, really big.

And the following is taken from an advance copy of "Love Wins", read and written about by Tim Chailles and Aaron Armstrong.

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)

As soon as the door is opened to Muslims. Hindus, Buddhists, and Baptists from Cleveland, many Christians become very uneasy, saying that then Jesus doesn’t matter anymore, the cross is irrelevant, it doesn't matter what you believe, and so forth.

Not true.
Absolutely, unequivocally, unalterably not true.

What Jesus does is declare that he,
and he alone,
is saving everybody.

And then he leaves the door way, way open. Creating all sorts of possibilities. He is as narrow as himself and as wide as the universe.

…

People come to Jesus in all sorts of ways.

…

Sometimes people use his name;
other times they don’t.

…

Some people have so much baggage with regard to the name “Jesus” that when they encounter the mystery present in all of creation—grace, peace, love, acceptance, healing, forgiveness—the last thing they are inclined to name it is “Jesus.”

…

What we see Jesus doing again and again—in the midst of constant reminders about the seriousness of following him living like him, and trusting him—is widening the scope and expanse of his saving work.

These are simply samples of where Rob Bell is heading with his teaching, which is very dangerous to the gospel of the Bible. God is a just God, a righteous God, a Holy God and a perfect God and one who reveals himself through his word not through our own understanding. My prayer is that the body of Christ will reflect His glory and His gospel, as it is communicated by the one who created it all. (2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 4:3-5)