This will be the second (and sadly, final) post I am making in response to Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. If you have not read my first post responding to this book, I encourage you to do so.
I have been quite busy lately, and I continue to be, so I will not be going through the book chapter by chapter as I originally intended. Rather, I will simply make some general observations about the book.
Bell essentially re-invents the gospel and Christianity itself. Instead of the Lord being a just, holy, righteous God who, out of His love, sent Jesus Christ His Son to fulfil the Law and die for our sins, He becomes one who cannot possibly execute His justice – since that would be contrary to His love. Bell writes of salvation as if it were an obligation, rather than a privilege. His main support is emotional appeal, coupled with out-of context scripture quotations. He ignores a whole host of scriptures which would cry out against the things he are teaching. It goes on and on.
The book teaches universalism (the belief that all will be saved) without actually claiming to. On Page 107, we read this: “At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart , and even the most “depraved sinners” will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God“. He then goes on name church “fathers” who supposedly believed it, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Eusebius.
While that position would certainly be something a lot of people would be very willing to believe, the Bible does not teach it. There are some scriptures which would seem to suggest it, such as Colossians 1:20. However, if you would like to believe that such verses teach it, you have quite the mill to grind.
Consider, for example 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” To reconcile this with Universalism and Rob Bell’s position would be difficult indeed.
Even more difficult to reconcile with Universalism is Jesus’s Parable of the wise and foolish virgins.
” Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.” (Matt. 25:1-13)
This parable is quite clear – there is coming a time in which grace will no longer be extended. Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). If sinners do not repent in this life, it will be too late in the life to come.
Consider the terrifying proclamation in Revelation 22:11: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” This verse is, in itself, a death-blow to universalism. In the world to come (which is being dealt with in Revelation 21 and 22), there will be no more sinners repenting and no more saints sinning. Those who died as unregenerate sinners will forever be unregenerate, and those who died redeemed will forever be redeemed.
Do I recommend anyone reading this book? Are there a few good points we can get out of it?
I do not recommend it to anyone who is grappling with the questions the book deals with. To such people I would rather recommend Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell and Mark Galli’s God Wins. If you are firmly rooted in the truth, and you are not easily swayed, then it may be good for you to read it – it gets you thinking, at the very least.
That said, does Love Wins raise any good points? A few.
1. We do not believe in Christ merely to escape hell. Bell repeatedly protests the fact that Christians seem to be Christians for the sake of avoiding hell. There is so much more to being a Christian than simply avoiding hell – he is right in that regard. However, a proper understanding of the gospel, rather than universalism, should serve as an antidote to the “I’m just in it to avoid hell” mentality.
2. People think hell is cruel – it is a very disturbing thing for people to believe in. Thus, when preaching even doctrines such as hell, we must do so in a way that is both faithful to the truth and loving. We teach hell because we do not want people to go there, not because we like being mean and preaching hellfire.
This will wrap up my response to Love wins. I realize a lot more could be said when writing about this book, but I don’t have time to do a chapter by chapter response, and besides, entire books and websites have been devoted to answering this book. Thank you for reading.
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