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 Rob Bell is under fire for his latest book before it even hits the shelves.
March 1st, 2011
06:00 AM ET
Christian author's book sparks charges of heresyBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Rob Bell, a pastor and author who has achieved rock star status in the Christian world, is preaching a false gospel, his critics say. And some of those critics are Christian rock stars in their own right. The pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Bell has authored a book called Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, which ignited a firestorm of controversy over the weekend, weeks before it arrives in bookstores. On Saturday, in a blog post on the popular Christian website The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor blasted Bell's new book, out March 29, for teaching "false doctrine":
Universalism, in its broadest terms, preaches that everyone goes to heaven and that there is no hell. Critics say it represents a break from traditional Christianity, which they say holds that heaven and hell are very real places. In most Christian circles, universalism is a dirty word. Taylor's post was quickly tweeted by several prominent pastors, including John Piper and Mark Driscoll, connected to the Gospel Coalition, a coalition of theologically conservative evangelical churches, and a full-blown theological controversy was on. By Monday, Taylor's response post had racked up a quarter million hits. Other bloggers, meanwhile, are calling Bell an outright heretic. Bell is not the first prominent Christian pastor to be recently accused of wading into theologically troubled waters. Bishop Carlton Pearson, once a mentee of famed Pentecostal televangelist Oral Roberts, has been run out of two churches and branded a heretic for preaching what he says is a gospel of inclusion with broad universalist themes. Last year, Brian McLaren - a popular Christian author and a former pastor - was accused of breaking with Christian orthodoxy and delving headlong into universalism in his book A New Kind of Christianity. But it's rare that theological arguments become top ten trending topics on Twitter, as Rob Bell did on Saturday. “To be honest, it was a pretty rough weekend,” Taylor said in a phone interview. The 34-year-old heads the editorial content for Crossway, a Christian publishing company in Wheaton, Illinois. Taylor he says his blog expresses his personal opinion not the opinion of the coalition. "We’re talking about the big things here, things that have been historically defined as orthodox, " he said. "I have a high degree of confidence in what God is saying and what we can understand." Though many things that separate Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians, “this isn’t one of them," Taylor said. "We’ve historically agreed on many things, the person of Christ, heaven and hell. This isn’t a peripheral academic debate. What Rob Bell is talking about gets to the heart of Christianity.” Taylor has not read Bell's forthcoming book in its entirety. His blog post was in response to the description released by Bell publisher HarperOne and a promotional video that features Bell. "Rob Bell hasn’t sinned against me personally,” Taylor said, which is why he did not go to Bell before making his comments public. Instead, Taylor said, Bell's book represents a clear example of false teaching. In the promotional video Bell refers to the nonviolent Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, and asks, "Gandhi's in hell? He is?" "And someone knows this for sure?" Bell continues. "Will billions and billions of people burn forever in hell? And if that's the case how do you become one of the few? " The video follows a trend in Bell's career as a pastor: he has long asked tough theological questions and challenged traditional answers. The short promotional video raises lots of questions without offering definitive answers. "What we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like," Bell says in it. " The good news is that love wins." Those lines raised eyebrows for Taylor and others. "It is not preaching the gospel as found in the New Testament," Taylor said. "The New Testament is pretty clear if someone preaches a false gospel… that we are to reject that and have nothing to do with them." For all his hipster leanings - including black rimmed glasses - Bell has a traditional pedigree. He went to Wheaton College, the Harvard of Christian schools, and later graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. But the Mars Hill Bible Church, which Bell founded, is not attached to any denomination. Were it attached to one - the Presbyterian or Catholic church, say - his book and video could raise eyebrows in the hierarchy and might lead to a church trial that could result in Bell's expulsion. "A larger denomination would take his credentials and excommunicate him like they did to me,” Bishop Pearson told CNN. By Sunday evening, Pearson was getting sent articles about the Bell flap. He said it reminded him of his days as a charismatic leader of a big church in the largest Pentecostal denomination. His questioning of hell from the pulpit led to his ouster. "What happened to me is happening to Rob Bell," Pearson said. "If you denounce hell, it's like you are denouncing God. You’re going to be called a heretic." “I thought my people loved me and would walk through the valley of the shadow of death with me, but they didn’t,” Pearson said. Bell's church did not respond to requests for an interview. His Twitter feed has been silent since he posted about writing a piece for CNN's Belief Blog a few weeks ago. His publicist at HarperOne said he would not be doing publicity until his book hits shelves. soundoff (2,200 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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There is certainly a lot to be said on this topic and the discussion will only grow come March 29th. I thank all the even-headed commentators out there.
Feel free to peruse my post on the topic "When All H*** Breaks Loose in the Evangelical Twitterverse" at http://ubuntuspirit.wordpress.com
I disagree that the idea of Universalism is not found in Scripture. I'm sure his new book has Scriptural references that support his belief in Universalism. To make it clear, the earliest Universal beliefs do not support a NO-HELL theology. Universalists, particularly Christian Universalists, believe that Jesus is the One Way to salvation and hell is REAL... with a purpose for cleansing the individual from sin. If Jesus' gospel was called "Good News," it sure seems good that all people will one day find their way to God.
Christ was born a Jew lived as the king of Jews . As a Jew did he kill himself. You who hate Jews hate Christ him and his father/ God who sent him. Your bible was written by Satan for Satan. It will all be revealed to you in hell as it should
Luke 6:42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Notice how the conclusion of this verse is to still remove the speck from your brother's eye. To point out someone's fault is not hypoctrical unless you are doing the same thing. Christians's hold each other accountable. While not everyone does that with tact (to their own shame), it doesn't mean it shouldn't be done at all.
Take note as you read this Bible scripture that even Hell didn't change the rich man. He still expected Lazarus to serve him and treated him like a servant:
LUKE 16: 19-31: JESUS said: "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury everyday. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In HELL, where he was in torment he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side so he called to him, 'father Abraham have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony, And besides all this between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' The rich man answered, 'then I beg you father, send Lazarus to my father's house for I have 5 brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' 'No father Abraham, the rich man said, but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent.' Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" from Luke 16: 19-31
Linda, please read Christs parrable again...which part is the actual true situation of hell....following is something I posted here a couple days ag that pertains to the laz parrable and its being used to support an ever burning hell doctrine that is the typical doctrine
Oh wont that be fun...heaven a few yards from hell so the saved can enjoy the shreiks of the lost, especially those of their moms and dads, children, brothers and sisters, husbands or wives, etc.. how joyful...and the excruciating pain of burning but not consuming will be alleviated with a drop of water? And of course they can talk to one another. And of course the tortured ones will continually blaspheme god. Friends, please wake up ...there is no way you will stick with Jesus in the crunch thats coming if you believe such things. There is no way the human mind can reconcile an all loving and merciful God (which God is) to a monster that would torture one for all eternity for a brief life of sin on earth (think of that 16 year old girl or boy who died in a car crash but never accepted the salvation God held out to them). a few years on earth not accepting Christ and God will tortur for trillions and trillions of years which is a split second in terms of eternity. Please actually study the bible instead of imbibing satanic teachings which have only one purpose-to turn people from God or for those who dont turn away, have that ominous black cloud regarding the rightous character of God in their brains, which will come to the fore at just the right time to get them lost. Satans plan.
By the way, many protestant theologians also say that this parrable of jesus' is not about the subject of hell (the modern popular version) at all, but about there being no second chance (like purgatory) or any other second chance scenario (like futurism).
Who do you believe? God or Rob Bell?
http://jesusovercoffee.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/are-emotions-and-people-influencing-your-belief-more-than-god/
The bible (* both the Hebrew/Aramaic texts and the Christian/Greek texts ) does not teach a torturous hell as the eventuality of evildoers. Neither does it teach that all good people go to heaven. Neither does it teach that the earth as we know it will be destroyed.
To truly understand what hell is you first need to study what Hell, Hades and Gehenna and The Lake of Fire are as used in their respective contexts. Then you also need to reconcile those 'parts' of the bible with the bible as a whole. This also applies to heaven, earth, and any other doctrine you wish to examine.
In fact, many so-called 'Christian' doctrines, when studied and scrutinized against the rest of the bible as a whole, do not hold up when viewed in light of 'popular' interpretations. You cannot lazily accept only a few scriptures or snippets here and there that conveniently support your preconcieved interpretation, deny the rest, and expect to know the truth.
Far too many are not willing to open their minds and ask the question 'what is the truth'? Most will give a canned response of 'it's a mystery' and give up searching the truth, accepting their current understanding as 'good enough'. Others may insult those who would question popular interpretation as sinners or heretics or fanatics or cults.
But the simple fact is, asking the hard questions and diligently seeking the WHOLE truth is critical to coming to truly know our maker, what he expects of us, and what the future holds for all mankind.
You don't have to believe the Bible to at least understand that those who do believe it hold it as the only revealed source of God's Word, without error. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense that if someone claiming to be an under-shepherd of the Lord Jesus is saying something that does not line up with what the Bible says, which is what the Church is reponsible to teach, then they would be held accountable to it?
If Rob Bell is going to try and represent God and what the Bible says about anything, then he is willingly putting himself in a place that requires a higher degree of strictness concerning his accuracy. This is a simple lesson in accountability. This happens to be a spiritual context, but anyone who has held a job before should understand this necessity.
If you preach something other than what the Bible teaches, then you will certainly, and rightly, be labeled a heretic, especially if it has to do with salvation, of which biblical Christianity teaches the most unique doctrine from every other world religion: Salvation is through faith in Christ only, by grace and Jesus is the Son of God, making him God.
Love it or hate it, this is what pastors are accountable to.
i appreciate your nice, sensible post. thank you.
Thanks 🙂 I appreciate THAT!
Amen!
Ben, while you've nicely summarized one way of viewing the situation, you've neglected to consider that not all who call themselves Christians believe the Bible is literally true in every aspect. As strongly as you believe Rob Bell may be wrong, he most likely believes just as strongly that he is right. Since neither of you holds the same basic presuppositions, it is essentially impossible to meaningfully compare positions on this matter.
all these "blasphemer" criers are just crrrazzzyyyy.
Unfortunately, most of the Christian world has got it all wrong about hell. Their beliefs have been shaped by Greek and Roman thought related to their concept of Hades. There is such a thing as hell fire and it does destroy the wicked, but like all fires it runs out. The effects are eternal but the torment is not. For more information go to http://www.helltruth.com and find out for your self.
I just read through some of your site. Very informative, thanks.
Is God infinitely wise? Then what use are petty hatreds we humans ascribe to him or her? Is God infinitely compassionate? Then what use is punishing an ignorant being like us with an eternity in a place called Hell? If dying is ceasing to suffer all the indignities, humiliations, diseases, old age and so on, is life on Earth not, in actuality and in comparison, Hell?
What the Bell??? http://tinyurl.com/n63p82
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me." Jesus
That just means Jesus will judge who gets into heaven, not that everyone has to believe in Jesus to get into heaven.
To say that Jesus can be quoted in the Bible is a misnomer. Mark, the ealiest Gospel that quotes Jesus, wasn't even written until 60 – 70 C.E. No one can remember verbatum that long for that many passages, let alone pass it down a generation for them to write it.
Fundi christians are no different than fundi muslims.
Except that fundamenatist Christians don't blow themselves up to murder others and to get into heaven.
Bob, They don't??? What about those who blow up abortion clinics? Or those who will volunteer for this unjust war?
The christian god concept is a telephone game gone horribly wrong.
Jesus is based on solar mythology and Yahweh is a volcano god.
We're in the 21st century not the 12! Wake up and stop making excuses for bloody desert cults!
Heretic? What is this, the Middle Ages? Is the Inquistiion next? Bunch of people afraid to allow independent thinking who want to control your every thought. And please spare me the religious diatribe. Keep your religion to yourself; I want no part of it.
Umm...aren't you the one commenting on a 'religous' blog post???
NOBODY expects the Inquisiton!
I have always wondered why so many are certain about what happens to them why they die when there are so many mutually exclusive possibilities supported by different groups. Even fundamentalism takes many forms yet you might wonder if the number of failed prophecies about the end times might eventually give rise to a bit more caution. Since Christ himself was thought to be a heretic (and crucified for it) and many since who are now considered respectable thinkers
eg Galileo the heretic astronomer, the various Bible translators whose heresy was that they thought the Bible should be translated into the language of the people, James the heretic letter writer etc etc I would also wonder if if a charge of heresy in itself really matters. For example all the Roman Catholics prior to 1950 were told by early Popes that if they believed in the assumption of Mary they were heretics. Then one of the Popes had a rethink and made an infallible pronouncement and now any Catholic who fails to believe in the assumption of Mary is a heretic. I only hope St Peter at the pearly gates gets a update on who is to be allowed in and who is to be consigned to hell every time someone writes a sentence that offends some self appointed guardian of the faith.
http://billpeddie.wordpress.com
Interesting observations. I would just mention, though, that right after Jesus was raised from the dead and then ascended to Heaven in front of the disiples (Acts 1), they began preaching and teaching to the people, telling them that Jesus was the Messiah they were waiting for all along. The people were cut to their hearts and asked what they had to do to be saved. They realized that their cries of heresy were wrong. Granted, not everyone came to that ackowledgement, but thousands and thousands did all throughout the book of Acts. The Jews who didn't understand were the ones that weren't searching the Scriptures thoroughly because the OT points to the coming of the Christ all over it. All over it. Others did search the Scriptures intently (1 Peter 1:10-12) and knew about it.
I guess I would also just point out that there are HUGE differences in the Roman Catholic Church theology and the mainline Protestant reformed theology (biblical Christianity). Other world religions do certainly move from one belief to another at times, like the Mormons have, but the Bible has always been the sole source of truth for the Christian Church and that has not changed. Because of that...when guys like Bell start challenging, yet again, the divinely inspired word of God, he will be held accountable to it. Pastors have to expect that anyway. They are held to a higher degree of strictness when it comes to accurately portraying the Bible.
Ben-
The things that biblical Christians believe are hardly unchanged. If you'll do a little research, you'll find that believers in Mary's virginity at the point of Christ's conception were much less common 200 years ago. The Bible was not always taken as literal fact. The widespread acceptance of fundamentalism is a relatively recent phenomenon.
God is 100% just and rightous in all that He does. Just because the vast majority of Christians are uninformed on the issue of the nature of man (ONLY God hath immortality) they believe Satans program: man has an immortal soul (truth: man is a living soul-please read the creation account in Genesis), therefore at death that soul has to go someplace: heaven or an eternal torture chamber called hell (truth: when a man dies he goes to the grave, doesnt praise God, knows nothing...is dead which means non life..until the ressurection). By the way, the vast majority of Christians are also uninformed about the nature of Christ when he was on this earth. Cant go into it here in detail, takes a while to go through the scriptures, but it may be concluded with this statement: Jesus had no advantage regarding living rightously that is not offered to every human being... all who ask may have the fullness of the Spirit, the mind of Christ, etc. The reason folks are so uninformed is exceedingly few ever study scripture...they are surface readers. Few have ever actually studied even one subject through the bible-from genesis to revelation. Their real reliance is on what someone tells them, usually their clergyman or their denominational teachings, which 99% are absolutely wrong. God gave the scriptures that no man may be decieved. Today we have bibles all over the place, readily available, even free on the internet. Yet folks have unlimited time for their sports and entertainments and virtually no time for eternal realities, and so, unfortunately , will not not have a whisper of a chance when the crunch comes, but will be led to perdition, just as if they have never even heard of a book called the bible..
Bibletruth:
Nicely said. While I am not an overly religious person, I agree that reading the source and not relying on canned interpretations is the proper way to address questions of faith.
Well said. "Jesus had no advantage regarding living rightously that is not offered to every human being... all who ask may have the fullness of the Spirit, the mind of Christ, etc."
Too many of my fellow Christians see Jesus as something more than the human he was. He may have performed miracles, given he is the son of God, but he had to be human in every other sense to accomplish what he was sent to do on earth. If He is a supernatural diety, we humans have no possibility or hope of salvation, and his sacrifice is meaningless. Though we are saved, all of huanity, by God's grace it was Jesus' sacrifice, as a human, that reconcilled us with God's grace. Another point lost to too many Christians is that Jesus was/is a Jew. His protest of reform was against the false teachings and sinful nature of the people, not against the Jewish faith or its people. The whole of his coming is told in the Old Testament–the Jewish holy book. Jesus had to be Jewish by decendancy and in person, just like he had to be human, to accomplish the will of the Father.
Im going to heaven! NOOO your not I'm going to heaven. No your bad, I'm good so I'm going to Heaven! No no no I'm the one going to Heaven cause I love god more than you do. No I do An I can prove it I bought my wife and kids nicer things for Christmas that you did so I'm going to heaven. Ya but the church I go to is far nicer and has way more tv cameras than your church, so god obviously loves us more than you. bla bla bla me me me me.
Think of it in these terms if you have extra money(any) and there is one starving/hungry person any where in the world you are not gaining entry to the pearly gates period.
"If He is a supernatural diety, we humans have no possibility or hope of salvation[...]"
This is exactly correct, but in the fact that we have no hope of attaining salvation ourselves as humans. Jesus was a real human man as he was the real incarnate God at the same time. His grace is sufficient for us because we can't do anything to save ourselves. It's all because of his sacrifice on the cross that we have salvation through Him.
He had to be human to meet the requirements of the OT geneaologies as being in the line of David and tribe of Judah and all that and offering himself as a blood sacrifice, but he also had to be fully God, which he is, because only a perfect, spotless sacrifice, as found in Christ, could atone for the sins of everyone who calls on his name...the Lord.
Jesus had to be fully human and fully God in order to fulfill the requirements of paying for our salvation for us. We deserve Hell, but thank the Lord we don't have to go there if we are willing to give our lives to him in obedience, by His grace.
Thoughts?
Your comments are only opinion...yours. Which is fine but like it or not you have no evidence what happens in the end, only faith. While faith is a great thing to have it's not proof. Everyone has a right to their own opinion so pipe down, live your little God-fearing life and let the rest of us live ours.
When I got married almost seven years ago, I had no proof that my wife would stay faithful to me. It was only by her character that was revealed to me as I got to know her and fall in love with her heart that I had faith in her that she would be faithful to me. Same goes for me being faithful to her. Even now, there is no way I could prove that she will continue to be, but I don't doubt she will.
Would someone like me be dismissed as nonsensical because of my faith in my wife? Or is it that proof is something that we like to talk about, but isn't something we actually look for in everything. Faith plays more of a role in everyone's life then we might imagine.
How much more so would it matter when it comes to whether or not we have faith that God is who he says He is? Faith is having confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we don't see. And by hope, I don't mean a wishful thinking "hope", but hope that is based on knowledge that something will happen.
In either case...regarding the article. If Rob Bell is claiming to be a pastor that teaches from the Bible, then people will hold him accountable to it. That goes with any job you've ever held. If he says something different, then of course he'll be challeneged. This is basic stuff.
I love all of the comments that preaching like this is just "tickling the ear" to fill the churches by telling people what they want to hear. How is that any worse then filling your pews by scaring them with damnation, and making them reliant on you for their salvation?
Also which of the two is more likely to keep them coming back for more week after week? The scared people are dependent on you. The people that just want to feel good only need that affirmation once and then they can go on their merry way. If that's all they want, then why keep coming back? It's not like God's going to punish them for not doing so.
Seriously, why are church leaders so afraid to debate things like this, and just resort to name calling, or shunning? I guess it's a good thing that this isn't the middle ages or the middle east, where this guy would lose his head over something like this.
Faith is for God, not for the men who run the churches, no matter how far back those men lived (by that I mean the earliest Christians, who had a whole range of beliefs that most believers would call crazy today). Most of what Christians today believe doesn't come directly from the Bible, but from their churches and popular authors, and that is what the accept on faith, and anything that disagrees with that is dismissed without a glance. But dogma should always be challenged, re-studied, discussed and prayed over.
I don't know what to think about this guy's teachings one way or another. All I am saying is if you feel strongly about it, actually read what he has to say, not just a blurb about it. Then debate it, ask questions of him, respond to it if you believe he has something wrong. But never be afraid to challenge what you are tough. As long as you do so with prayer and an honest desire to discover the truth, you are not disrespecting God. He did give you your brain and your ability to reason and question, after all.