As the associate publisher for YouthWorker Journal, I get the final word on editorial matters. Brands (such as YouthWorker Journal) aren’t people, so they can’t hold positions. So, in case anyone is wondering, I’ve read Rob Bell’s book Love Wins and am grieved by what I would describe as practical universalism. Bell arrives at his conclusions by taking biblical concepts such as sin and the call for moral responsibility and extending them beyond this life, indefinitely into the future. By doing so, he creates a sort of cosmic evolutionary scheme in which all people eventually will discover and choose God’s love (heaven) and reject a life dedicated to self with its inherent consequences (hell).
Unfortunately, in the process the radical distinctions of the Bible are diminished. Hell, to be sure is bad, but not as bad as we thought. Heaven co-exists with hell. Satan is an instrument of “God for God’s transforming purposes,” and while God is described as “great,” His holiness is overwhelmed by His love, which makes Him less than the God of the Bible. Sin is real and bad, but not a condition of the heart requiring the life sacrifice of a perfect Savior. Righteousness is the result of trusting God, but not a propositional status credited to us by God’s declaration when we are saved (justification).
It’s difficult to read Love Wins without getting the feeling that Bell simply is using a limited interpretation of Scripture to justify his commonly shared conviction that a good God simply cannot send people to an eternal hell. This again reveals a diminished view of sin and the radical and unalterable impact of sin on the human heart and condition apart from the transforming power of God. When we understand the extreme depravity of humanity, the extreme holiness of God, the extreme purpose of God and the extreme love of God, we understand they all meet at the extreme sacrifice of God in Jesus Christ and can begin to understand that an extreme hell is pretty reasonable for those who reject God’s extreme invitation to be extremely saved.
Bell’s compassion and pastoral spirit is clearly evident, which as a pastor myself I greatly appreciate; but people ultimately are not served (or saved) by a plan of redemption that requires no real redemption. Love Wins is an engaging and provocative book, but its neo-orthodox theology is nothing new. Rob Bell is a brother in Christ, but his theology robs the gospel of its worst and best realities and consequently its power to bring about personal and cultural transformation.
May God give all of us a deeper understanding of His love, His holiness, His purposes and His redemptive plan.
Click here to read Tony Myles’ review.
Click here to read Benjamin Kerns’ review.
Click here to read Carolyn Brown’s review.
Click here to read Jake Kircher’s review.
Other reviews:
Jeff Baxter (Part One) (Part Two)
By Shawn Harrison
By Nithin Thompson
