“And God let heretics vex His Church so as to arouse the mind by conflict, and to lead it to search God's Word.” – Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit
Having read Rob Bell’s previous works, “Velvet Elvis,” “Jesus Wants to Save Christians,” his many Nooma short-films, and even my familiarity with his preaching, I looked forward to what would be revealed about his doctrine and theology in his new book, “Love Wins.” The phrase, “Love Wins,” is years-old and apparently on bumper stickers adorning vehicles all over the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area, where Bell is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church. With all of that being noted, this will not be a dissection and exegesis of the book. Read the book, or don’t, but as with any teaching, discern it carefully. I hold the strong belief that if you are going to judge the book, then you should first read it. This mitigates the need for backpedaling, apologies, blog updates, flux capacitors, forget-me-now amnesia pills, the proverbial eating of proverbial birds, and the subtle proverbial sweeping of things under proverbial rugs (that being said, I will update this as is necessary). It is okay to be informed. This is a brief version of my review and conclusions.
Rob Bell has been accused of being a universalist, anathema to orthodoxy. I would say that this teaching is as close to Universalism as possible without actually crossing that line. He is teaching something else, kind of. These teachings stop short of Universalism, in that not everyone will be “in heaven.” Specifically, that it is possible that some will not be “in heaven” as Bell describes it, and they will be “in hell” as he describes it. This teaching is more similar to some doctrine of Evangelical Purgatory (and no, I don’t mean a grey waiting room where the televangelist shows are being broadcast 24/7).
The interpretations posited in “Love Wins” are overreaching and unnecessarily broad. The correct view that the Kingdom of Heaven/God is for the Here and Now incorrectly and unnecessarily eclipses the view that it is also eternal, in the Here and After. This prejudice informs Bell’s good (and Godly) desire and hope for all to be called home to Jesus. Sadly, it is just not the case that all will be called home.
In the book, Bell proposes that there is no point at which God will close or lock the metaphorical door to heaven, or God’s Kingdom. This either conveniently ignores the parable of the narrow door (Luke 13:23-30), or looses it to mean something else. Something limited. Something that limits Jesus’ words. A door that is locked… for now. This is not what Jesus teaches. Let me say that again: Rob Bell is teaching a conclusion that Jesus does not.
Bell is preaching an anthropocentric Christology (gracious, but humanist), even while attempting to guard against it (incompletely). The God that Bell preaches in Love Wins has been anthropomorphized so greatly that Bell is accurate when he states, “We shape our God, and then our God shapes us.” He has formed his God in his own image. He has caused his understanding of God to bend down to humanity and then given him superpowers. He has elevated humanity and humanism and the things it means to be human to celestial and righteous levels, but God would say, “No. You may reject the things of humanity and be more Godly. The story I am telling about you is one that rejects your heart and human nature and instead seeks my heart and I reveal my nature in you.”
His eschatological doctrine is incomplete and incongruent. His logic does not follow, and it’s sad to say. I simply cannot draw the same conclusions. In none of the approximately 253 questions Bell asks, not one is, “How could I be wrong about this?” The answer is “yes.” (that’s an in-joke for those who have read the book.)
And yet, the questions Bell raises about the afterlife and the rigmarole that has everyone up in arms across the planet are a distraction from something far more simple to identify. Don't miss this. In this same book, Bell seems to be positing Christology that undermines the actual work of the death and resurrection and the very person of Jesus. Worse than toxic, this is tragic. Our faith lives in the person of Jesus and his real sacrifice.
This is not weak tea.
This is not living water.
It is a bitter kool-aid.
The ingredients were all there,
but then human hopes and rationalization crept in
to help fix God.
