Brother Justin labels brother Bell a heretic -- to hell with that!

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Update:  If you're curious about the subject matter below, 
particularly the fierce hereticizing of  Rob Bell becawz
of a HarperCollins new book, Love Wins, by this 
megachurch pastor around his seeming, to some, to be a 
Universalist, I have a recommendation. Please click up and 
read Tom Batterson's blog, Being the Body: Apostolic 
dreams for the body of Christ, where in its entry for
Feb26,2k11, entitled "Love Wins," the blogger takes up 
brother Justin Taylor's fierce hereticizing of the bellwether  
Bell for seeming to some to be some sort of Universalist. 
Now, here's my blog entry of the same day -- Owlb --





And I had thawt the Gospel Coalition was more charitable and
open-minded than what Justin Taylor exhibits here.

Universalists.  I'm a soteriological near-universalist,  believing
in the Interim State (death without the sting) where the
Ascended Lord Jesus comes to each of us (as King, He holds
each of us together in our human individuality, reconstitutively,
so that we each can dream him and dialogue with him ("what
dreams may come ... in that dream of death") -- he comes
to each to teach, heal, prepare for us for the final judgment
before the Throne of the Most Hi God of All Power who gave
His Son for us, for the whole world.

If we believe in Him after He has come to us as Christos 
Paidwgos (see St Irenaeus on Christ the Teacher), we shall
then be saved, whether we had been in this pre-life, or not.
We firm believers in Christ today can hope riteously that
(nearly) all humans -- indeed, also those who never heard
the Gospel at all, due to our 'excellence' in mission 8-) --with
its historically-recurring bloody trail and its list of sinful
complicities) will be saved "body and soul" (all
dimensions). As St Simone Weil (her nonRoman sainthood
recognized by T. S. Eliot), declared, tho there is some  doubt
she actually converted prior to her death,  A lot happens after
death.

We don't remain simply corpses; science teaches us that we
ripple out into the universe, at least electro-chemically, carrying
off and dispersing our info-load in particles/waves (wavicles),
everything in our life leaving its forensic trace in God's
providence for who we will yet be in the Resurrection.

A lot happens after death, not least of all becawz of the
Church's historical failure in its gospellizing mission, a lot
happens both on our Lord's side of the inter-communication,
and ours too.  We who sincerely confess Christ as both
Saviour and Lord are still privileged, since our God-given
Christian faith in this life gives such Elect a new
self-conscious opportunity to take up the task where the
Church had last messed up; indeed, our task now prepares
us for our individual work of the Interim State (that's
where my theological reflection nowadays dwells,
individuality after death ... is there a social dimension even
in that state? -- tentatively, I woud probably say, Yes).
In any case, Christ our Lord is the Ultimate Evangelist,
the evangelist we truly need in our death, so that this
mortality may put on immortality (1 Corinthians: 15-54).
We're then ready for the completeness of the Resurrection.

Rob Bell seems to have struggled with these matters, tho
perhaps Ibwoudn't agree with much of his book or many of
his theological formulations.  I don't like those of Brian 
McLaren much either.  But we don't have to hereticize these
well-intentioned folks,  as all that such a procedure woud
accomplish woud be to show we have nothing to say to these
regarding the problems of theological thawt and Christian
practice that they feel called to struggle with.  It's we then who
are barren, old wineskins offering putrified wine. Let's not be
putrified-winebibbers.  Rather,  don't we have an ecumenical
responsiblity to the Lord not to simply cast aside our
exploratory theologians of this day who come from the
Evangelical mix and who try to re-learn an ethos of compassion in
Christ?

Poor brother Justin, all he can manage to do is bedeck a big red
letter "U" around the neck of brother Bell -- why?  becawz that
bellwether preacher-thinker won't stop chiming in with the Lord.

As an antidote to Justin, read C. S. Lewis on George MacDonald
(1824-1905),  an out-and-out Evangelical universalist who Lewis
regarded as one of the greatest Christian literary minds with
whom God had gifted us, and also the present Bishop of Durham,
England, Dr. NT Wright, the most thawtful intellect with whom
Evangelicals have been blest in these latter days -- in the video
where he talks about the meaning of "Hell" in the New Testament
(it ain't what bros. Justin and Kevin are giving us from the
Reformed Scholasticism of another day).

YouTubeServices; see refWrite's channel, yUT2ube for our full collection.

Tho with Justin I do find some powerful stuff in the cited post
by Kevin DeYoung on the Hell-theme.

I consider my view as Reformed in the stream of a gestating,
yet-to-be-born theology breaking free from Scholasticism
in a radically reformational way, philosophically and
scientifically informed, artistically engaged and willing to find
a more biblical way than offered by Fundamentalism, whether
Reformed or not, whether citing the neo-orthodox H. Richard
Niebuhr or not.

Indeed, Justin's quote from Niebuhr is a misuse becaws “a God 
without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without 
judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross,” 
The Kingdom of God in America (1937: 193) is apt for 
describing the same Liberalism that J. Gresham Machen fawt
from a Reformed Fundamentalist standpoint -- but even Machen
gave room for Cornelius Van Til to pathbreak a different
direction in their contestation with the oncoming spirits.  And,
today, we can't go on mimicking either Niebuhr, Machen,
Van Til, or the VanTillian who wanted to put all homos to
death, Greg Bahnsen who has made Van Til's name a hissing
sound.  But that's for the post of another day.

-- Owlb

JUSTIN TAYLOR|11:44 AM CT

Rob Bell: Universalist?

Note: I’ve added an update at the end of this post.
John Piper once wisely wrote, “Bad theology dishonors God and hurts people. Churches that sever the root of truth may flourish for a season, but they will wither eventually or turn into something besides a Christian church.”

It is unspeakably sad when those called to be ministers of the Word distort the gospel and deceive the people of God with false doctrine.

But it is better for those teaching false doctrine to put their cards on the table (a la Brian McLaren) rather than remaining studiously ambiguous in terminology.

So on that level, I’m glad that Rob Bell has the integrity to be lay his cards on the table about  universalism. It seems that this is not  just optimism about the fate of those who haven’t heard the Good News, but (as it seems from below) full-blown hell-is-empty-everyone-gets-saved universalism.

Here is HarperCollins’s description of his next book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

Fans flock to his Facebook page, his NOOMA videos have been viewed by millions, and his Sunday sermons are attended by 10,000 parishioners—with a downloadable podcast reaching 50,000 more. An electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” Rob Bell is the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation. Now, in Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.

I haven’t read the whole book yet and was hesitant to say something based on the publisher’s description (which usually isn’t written by the author). But this video from Bell himself shows that he is moving farther and farther away from anything resembling biblical Christianity:

Update: Thanks for all of you who have weighed in. I cannot respond to each comment, so I thought this might be the best way to make a few points.

1) One of the things I get criticized for is having comments in the first place, but this is a place where you can tell me if you think I’ve done things wrong or in the wrong way. I want to be open to correction, and this is one forum by which to do it.

2) I updated a couple of things on the original post. First, I deleted “seems to” with regard to Bell’s moving farther away from biblical Christianity. Second, I changed “unambiguous about his universalism” to “lay his cards on the table about universalism.” Third, I deleted the 2 Cor. 11:14-15 reference at the end. I do think it’s important to recognize the biblical theme that false teachers look like cuddly sheep and like angels of light. But let’s wait for the book so we can see all his cards laid out on the table.

3) I have not read all of Bell’s book, though I have read some chapters that were sent to me. When the book is published there will be detailed reviews, and I will link to them. I think that the publisher’s description combined with Bell’s video is sufficient evidence to suggest that he thinks hell is empty and that God’s love (which desires all to be saved) is always successful. I should have been more careful in my original post not to imply that Bell is definitely a universalist. He may believe that some people go out of existence and are not thereby saved. The materials I have seen sound more like universalism though (note it sounds like no one goes to hell, and that the title promises to talk about the fate of everyone who has ever lived, which sure sounds like it’s the same for everyone).

4) I highly doubt that this is a mere marketing stunt or that Bell is merely asking questions or playing Devil’s Advocate. If it turns out that the full book is diametrically opposed to his publisher’s description and to the conclusions he wants you to reach in the video, I will make that clear on this blog.

5) If Bell is teaching that hell is empty and that you can reject Jesus and still be saved, he is opposing the gospel and the biblical teaching of Jesus Christ. You may think that’s judgmental to say that; I think it’s being faithful. I would encourage a careful study of 1 Timothy to see what Paul says about false teaching and teachers.

6) For those who are not regular readers of this blog and think that the perspective advocated here is totally out to lunch, you may want to check out Kevin DeYoung’s post, “To Hell with Hell,” which gives a nice brief summary on the importance of understanding the wrath of God. As H. Richard Niebuhr wrote 75 years ago, too often we want “a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross,” Kingdom of God in America (1937), p. 193. Also see Denny Burk’s post where he seeks to answer Bell’s questions from a biblical perspective.

7) Let’s remember to pray. Rob Bell needs to know and teach the liberating gospel of grace—including that Christ absorbed the Father’s wrath on behalf of those who trust in him and repent of their sins. And there are tens of thousands of folks who look to Rob Bell as a biblical teacher and leader. May God give much mercy.

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