I can sympathize with Rob Bell…kinda
I have spent the last two days driving from my home in Arlington, TX to Jacksonville, FL where my lovely wife grew up. One of the things I planned to accomplish on my trip was to listen to Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins on audiobook. I loved the fact that it was actually read by Bell because he is a very engaging speaker and to hear the author speak his own words will sometimes allow for more insight than just reading them yourself. If you haven’t heard, the basic thrust of the book is that when the church says that you must repent and turn to Christ alone for salvation, that salvation is only available in this life and judgment is final in the next, that both Hell and Heaven are eternal states and once you enter one you will never exit are fundamentally wrong and mean-spirited. God is, after all, a kind and loving God who is powerful enough to get what He wants and what He wants is all of us with Him in Heaven. Sounds good, right?
Here’s where I kind of sympathize with him. Bell tells tons of stories where people ask him difficult questions and if he gave the orthodox answer, it would sound…well…mean. Like the woman whose brother died an avowed atheist, how much nicer would it be to say to her that her brother gets a second chance after death to enter Heaven? Then you could affirm the love of God, give comfort to the grieving, and when you leave everyone likes you and talks about what a great pastor you are. Having been in those situations, I have felt the temptation to remove Hell from my theology (at least for a moment) and just focus on the parts of God everyone likes. It certainly makes things easier.
Unfortunately, it is also not what the Bible teaches about Hell or (more importantly) the character of God. We cannot emphasize one characteristic of God (like His love) to the exclusion of His other characteristics (like His wrath at sin and sinners). To do this is to remake God in our own image, transforming Him from the Righteous Judge of all the Earth to the Big Teddy Bear in the Sky that is ok with sin and makes no demands on us. It also downplays just how bad our sin is, we are not basically good people that just need a little grace to get us to heaven but rebels and haters of God by nature. We are fundamentally flawed and incapable of doing anything to please Him and if we die in that state, with our sins unforgiven and still in rebellion against our rightful King, our only destiny is the Hell we deserve. To compromise on this truth is to make the church weak and ineffective, so focused on this life that we fail to prepare anyone for the next life. Instead of the church being the only thing on the planet that can actually bring the good news of salvation to all people, the only organization that can tell people how to be right with their God, it becomes just another charity doing good works that will ultimately be meaningless. We cannot compromise the gospel to win friends and influence the world, it is far better to preach the truth and be hated than to proclaim “Love Wins!” and fall under the judgment of God.
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