Neal Punt on Rob Bell's controversial book, Love Wins -- heaven, hell & fate of everyone who ever lived

Frequently Asked Questions No. 24

Three observations about Bell’s book, 

Love Wins**

by Neal Punt

 Two critical and one positive observation about Rev. Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins.

  

    THE FIRST ― It is impossible to overestimate the value that the Bible places on the name of God. Therefore we know that Exodus 34:6, 7 reveals a pivotal truth about God and his relationship to sinners:

          “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming [His Name], ‘The

            Lord, the Lord the compassionate and gracious God, slow to

            anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to

            thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he

            does not leave the guilty unpunished’ ” (Ex. 34:6, 7).

      Unquestionably God speaks here about two distinct groups of sinners. The one group experiences the gracious abounding love of God in the forgiveness of their sin. The other remains in their guilt. The continuing existence of these two separate groups has to do with “proclaiming” something about God’s name.

       The Bible has many stories (accounts) about these two distinct groups. These biblical accounts can be chronicled. The two groups are never joined together and no one ever passes from one group to the other. Using the familiar metaphors we can say the one group experiences “heaven” the other “hell” on earth.

       Bell melds these two entities into a single mass of human beings that at times experiences Gods “abounding love” (“heaven”) and at other times is punished because they are “guilty” (“hell”). This “heaven” and “hell” are real, according to Bell, and have a major effect on our present day life.  Whether we experience this real “heaven” or “hell” depends on how we use the freedom of choice that God has given us.

      Bell uses the two metaphors (“heaven” and “hell”) throughout his book as though the way they function in our lives is a divinely revealed fact. However, they are nothing more than metaphors. Bell has deceived himself into thinking that those metaphors are “real.” The Bible does not tell us that real “hell” is ever experienced on earth in the way it is described in the preceding paragraph. With the exception of Jesus Christ no one has ever actually endured “hell” or even little parts or pieces of it and recovered from it. This observation negates a large portion of what Bell says in his book.

      THE SECOND ― Another critical observation is expressed in the words: “Jesus paid it all; all to him I owe.” Sinners often learn from their wrong choices. This learning process is not a judgment against their sin for those saved by the blood of Jesus. This is not an endurance of real “hell” as Bell claims. Jesus bore all the judgment against all the sins of his people.

                        

      Only a small portion of the extensive biblical evidence for this fact can be cited here: "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). "It is finished" (John 19:30). “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

     The sacrifice Jesus made is neither inadequate nor imperfect. To claim that God’s people still suffer some of the penalty (“hell”) for their sin is to demean the perfect sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. In this way the proclamation of God’s name is compromised.  This observation obliterates even more of what Bell's book says.

                           

    THE THIRD ― Bell correctly recognizes that for many centuries Christians have, for the most part, worked with the exclusive assumption that: “All persons will be finally lost except those the Bible declares will be saved.” This assumption, together with the teaching that hell is where unrepentant sinners will suffer physical torment throughout all eternity, has provided Bell the occasion to ask a host of disturbing questions. His purpose is to get the church to think about the devastating consequences of these teachings and to determine whether the Bible truly teaches these commonly accepted ideas.

      Are these two concepts soundly based on what the Scriptures say? There is nothing wrong with Bell’s questions; even the one about the flat tire. Many of his questions should be seriously addressed by members of the church.  Although not nearly as effectively, I have asked similar questions such as:

           “Has God determined that no one will be saved except by human

            proclamation of the gospel? Will the size of our missionary budgets

            and the quality of our outreach programs determine the number of

            people in heaven? Will the eternal destiny of some persons depend

            on whether or not someone made the effort to bring the gospel to

            them? Our salvation is not dependent upon our good works; does

            the salvation of millions of those living in non-Christian lands

            depend on our good works?” (Posting 8*).

      Bell recognizes that most denominations have been formed as a result of disputes about what a person must do, say, think, confess or be, in order to enjoy the “abounding love and faithfulness of God.” Answers to this question have been garnered from the Bible, from theological schemes, from common sense and from vivid imaginations. A large portion of Bell’s disturbing questions are aimed at these many proposals in the hope that all of them will be abandoned.

      The Bible is totally silent about the question of how those who are “dead” in sin come to new life in Christ other than to tell us that “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18). Bell correctly notes that there is nothing the sinner must do, no condition that must be met, in order to persuade God to save him or her. Sinners are called upon to simply trust that God has saved them. Therefore no saved person can “boast” (Eph. 2:9).  It is God “who has saved us and called us to a holy life―not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (2 Tim. 1:9).  It is for this reason I called my first book Unconditional Good News (Eerdmans, 1980).

     Bell would not have occasion to ask his disquieting questions if, instead of the “exclusive” view of the plan of salvation (mentioned above), the church had understood and faithfully proclaimed the “inclusive” view of God’s redeeming work namely that:  “All persons will be finally saved except those the Bible declares will be lost.” With this "inclusive" view the church would have had no reason to argue about “how” God brings salvation to his people. 

     The “inclusive” view (Evangelical Inclusivism) says we have biblical warrant for assuming that all persons are saved unless we have evidence to the contrary.  Such evidence to the contrary will not be given us until the last day.  Therefore we have “biblical warrant” for calling upon all sinners to believe they are recipients of God’s grace and to live a life of repentance, belief and joyful obedience consistent with that belief. Final refusal to do so ends in eternal death. Bell’s basis for calling upon sinners to accept such a testimony from God’s Word is not made clear in his book Love Wins.

     Biblical evidence for the inclusive view (Evangelical Inclusivism) of the plan of salvation can be found at Postings 1*, 2*, 3*, 4* and 14*).

     For a careful, biblical, response to Bell’s disturbing questions about God being a torturer throughout all eternity see Posting 19*.

                      

     Without these and similar corrections to Bell’s book many sincere believers will be greatly disturbed by it and rightly so.

* Postings at: www.evangelicalinclusivism.com

** FAQ No. 24 at www.evangelicalinclusivisim.com

 © Copyright 2011 by Northland Books. Box 63, Allendale MI 49401. Unlimited permission to copy and distribute this document without altering text is hereby granted if this source is acknowledged.

refWrite certainly does acknowledge the blog Evangelical Inclusivism, the blog's parent Northland Books and its website, and most of all the  theological leadership of now retired pastor, Rev. Neal Punt, survivor of the 1985 heresy trial in the Chicago area council of the Christian Reformed Church, the not-guilty verdict of which was sustained by the annual Synod (General Council) of the CRC embracing the entirety of the member CRC churches in the USA and Canada.  With many thanks for past courage and wisdom, and for present guidance regarding the the controversy over Rob Bell's recent book Love Wins.

-- Owlb, general editor, refWrite, posted for the publisher