Rob Bell, and His Primary Heresy (He Has 10,000 followers)

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Christian Articles | Rob Bell: No Hell

Rob Bell: No Hell

By: Kevin Probst

Rob Bell: No Hell

By Kevin Probst





The evangelical movement in America erupted in controversy recently in reaction to Rob Bell’s new book; Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Bell is being both defended and demonized by passionate evangelicals. The conversation has reached volcanic proportions which could benefit Bell greatly in the sale of his book.

Rob Bell was born in 1970. His father was a federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan to the federal judiciary. Bell grew up in a traditional Christian home. He attended Wheaton College and later achieved a Master of Divinity Degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Bell and his wife, Kristen, moved from California to Michigan and started a church in Grandville. Ironically, he named the church ‘Mars Hill Church’ after the place in the New Testament where Paul declared “I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” (Acts 17:23) Mars Hill runs nearly 10,000 people on any given Sunday.

The theological beliefs on the Mars Hill website are written in narrative form. They affirm a belief in the inspiration of God’s Word and the sacrifice of Christ. The emphasis is on relationship. There is no mention of ‘hell’ and it appears they promote strongly the idea that the primary reason for the sacrifice of Christ is to restore relationship both to him and among ourselves. There is also no mention of ‘sin’. The narrative does indicate that the children of Israel disobeyed God and neglected the poor and ‘mistreated the foreigner”.

The controversy regarding Bell’s latest book involves his leanings toward universalism. If your ultimate goal is to appeal to the masses, especially youth, then universalism is the way to go. I’ve discovered in my teaching of apologetics and in my conversations with college-aged youth that well over 50% of them have no problem with accepting the idea that Jesus saves not only Christians but also Muslims, Buddhists, etc. They are either unaware of or they easily slough off the verse found in John 14:6 “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me”

The Universalist believes that all men will be saved in the end. But Jesus taught us to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Many Christians today are pondering the absence of hell in Rob Bell’s theology. The natural conclusion is that Bell is a Universalist. If God eventually saves all men there is no need for a hell. They believe if there is a hell, then it is temporary. Those in hell experience judgment for their sins but finally God’s love wins. Hell is emptied as each and every suffering soul responds to the grace of God. This teaching clearly contradicts the teaching of Christ. “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:46)

Not only is Bell’s belief in hell questioned, his belief in the unique saving power of Christ is questioned. Pluralism is the belief that there is legitimacy in all religions and belief systems. Every major religion prepares a person for an eternal existence with God. Rob Bell stated, "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." I too believe that all truth belongs to God. But, I believe in a hell and hell is full of God’s truth but hell is a curse, not a blessing. Though there may be some truth in every religious system it doesn’t mean that system is of God. Indeed, many religions that oppose Christianity were specifically designed to draw people away from Christ, not to him. It seems Rob Bell is promoting universalism and pluralism.

Truth is not something we can just pick and choose. The post-modernists would like to decide for themselves just what is and is not truth. The belief in hell is particularly despised in today’s culture. The argument goes something like this: God is so good he couldn’t possibly send any one to an eternal torment.

Theodicy is the defense of the divine attributes, especially the goodness and holiness of God in view of the evil that exists in the world. A multitude of modern ‘theologians’ have run to the defense of God. They believe God’s reputation has been sullied by theologians who, down through the centuries have attributed the existence of hell to him. I’m reminded of a statement Sarah Palin made recently, “I need NOW’s defense like a fish needs a bicycle.” Our omniscient, all-wise, all-knowing God is in no need of being defended by the puny minds of men.

It is incomprehensible that men who would bring mega-destruction over the last few decades, men who would allow multimillions of babies to be aborted, men who would delve into a lifestyle of immorality and unbelief think it their duty to demand that God answer for the existence of hell and redefine himself to suit their whims.

This failure to recognize hell is non-sensible. If there is light there must be darkness. If there is good there must be evil. If happiness exists then sadness must also exist. Is light not defined by darkness and good by evil and happiness by sadness. If you ask the typical fellow today if there is a heaven he will say ‘yes’. But if you ask if there is a hell he will say ‘no’. If there is a heaven must there also not be a hell? Is one not defined by the existence of the other?

The removal of hell from our theology will changed who God is. There must be equilibrium in our understanding of God. When we choose only to see the love of God we tend to diminish the justice of God. The existence of hell clarifies the love of God. God sent his only begotten Son to deliver us from such a place. If hell doesn’t exist then what has Christ saved us from? I’m not sure if those in heaven can peer into hell but if they can, would they not be even more convinced of the love of God?

Kevin Probst - Is a teacher of Apologetics and History at Calvary Christian School and Associate Pastor of Crosspointe Nazarene Church church in Columbus, Georgia.

Author Resource:->  Highest Branch: http://www.kpprobst.blogspot.com/

Article From Christian Articles

This is Tom and Dave, from the Berean Call radio show. It is So Good.

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here’s this week’s question: Dear Dave and Tom, I’ve been listening to you talk about what you call the new militant atheism. You’ve stated that it is an aggressive form of materialism, and it certainly seems that way. It makes me wonder though, since it claims to be anti-religion, how do you see it fitting in with what the Antichrist will bring about? How can an anti-religion prosper in a time that the Bible indicates in Matthew 24, will be dominated by religious deception?
            Tom:
Dave, we certainly have seen an aggressive militant atheism to the point where they are just going after religion, but doesn’t anybody recognize atheism is a religion itself? 

Also, what about Atheistic Humanism? (Claudia)
            Dave:
Yeah, Tom, how is it going to fit in? Well, the Antichrist will pretend to be Christ, I believe. And we’ve documented that, I mean just going back very quickly, anti is a Greek prefix, it has two meanings: opposed to, or in the place of. And Constantinewas the first one who came up with it, but he called it, Vicarius Christi, because he was speaking Latin, so he called himself Vicarius Christi. Vicarius is the Latin equivalent of anti in the Greek. Vicarius Christi means in the place of Christ. So this is who—
But What if he doesn't pretend to be Christ? What if he offers some greater lifestyle, that is more attractive than Christianity? (Claudia)

            Tom:

The Vicar of Christ, as he is referred to.
            Dave:
Right. This is who the Antichrist will be. Now, look, atheism is out. These guys are not going to take over the world. A false Christianity will take over the world. Hinduism is not going to take over the world, Buddhism. Or Islam, and I have some ex-Muslim friends who try to persuade me that the Antichrist, he’s going to be an imam, he’s going to—this is going to be Islam. I don’t think so. Why would he be called Antichrist?
Isn't Antichrist a phrase that is in the Bible? But what if this Humanistic ruler doesn't use that term?(Claudia)
Be called some thing, anti something else. Tom, it will—it’s a religious trip. And religion is growing. They can’t get away from it, and you just said it: atheism is a religion.
            Tom:
Yeah.
            Dave.
No question about it.
            Tom:
But let’s throw another term in there, Dave. They like to refer themselves as humanists. Now that’s—when you take a look a humanism, now the Antichrist, to me, fits right in, because he sets himself up as God to be worshipped as God, but God is man, He’s the man/God. And he says, not only will he have signs and wonders—and there’s another side to that. Dave, you remember C. S. Lewis, we don’t promote everything that he says but he did have some incredible insights.
            Dave:
Yeah.
            Tom:
And one, in The Screwtape Letters he talked about this materialist. The materialist magician. One who doesn’t believe in miracles, but basically believes in psychic phenomenon and all these other kinds of things that come out of the human psyche. So, I think, these atheists, who are humanists, they just fit right into the religion of the Antichrist, as far as I’m concerned. 
            Dave:
Yeah, well it’s—but they will become believers in the false Christ, the whole world will.
            Tom:
The man, okay, the man of lawlessness, as the scriptures describe him.
            Dave:
Right. The whole world will be deceived. And there will be only those who open their hearts to Christ, who believe in Him, believe in the gospel. I believe the gospel will be preached during the great tribulation, because we read of a great company in heaven. They have come out of great tribulation, they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They overcame the Antichrist. Well, in Revelation 12, where it says the whole world will be deceived by the devil. It calls him, that old serpent the devil, the dragon who deceives the whole world. But not quite everyone because it talks about those who overcame him with the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, they loved not their lives unto death. And so out of this great tribulation there will be some believers, and apparently a huge multitude. But the rest will be deceived, including the atheists and the Dalai Lama, and whoever it is, and they will all be united. We’re heading for a one world religion, we know that, and a one world government. And it will be under the Antichrist who will be not only the world emperor, but he’ll be the Pope. I’m not saying he’s the Pope, he’s not the Catholic Pope. The Pope, I believe, will be his right hand man as the pope was of Constantine. So you want to learn a little bit about the Antichrist you could study Constantine.  He was the emperor of course, who supposedly became a Christian, but did not, and he was still a pagan to his death. Now that’s what it’s going to be.
            Tom:
Mmhmm. And Dave, again, the idea that atheism is anti-religion—only on the surface. But you have many of these atheists, militant atheists who they believe in psychic phenomenon, they believe in the kinds of things that they thing they can explain from a materialist world view. But just like the Buddhist who says, oh I don’t believe in God—just below that there are all kinds of gods and goddesses and demi-gods that they believe in, and they go through all of these religious rituals to appease these gods. So I think it’s the same thing.
            Dave:
The hard core atheist though, the Dawkins’ and Harris’ and Dennetts’ and so forth, they probably don’t believe in psychic phenomenon, but they believe in something as miraculous. Tom, they know the law of biogenesis: life only comes from life. And they tell you, Oh no, although this universe, big bang, was sterilized a trillion times over, what do you know, out of this dead matter came life! So, they are mystics, in another sense, although they would deny it.
            Gary:
If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay tuned, we’ll provide our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call.
 

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