Christians are a lot like oil companies—we all think our
brand is the best, even though any one of them will get us where we want to go,
whether we’re talking about fuel to get our cars to the grocery store, or faith
to get our souls to heaven. But once in a while we get all in a dither about
the specifics of our beliefs and when that happens, the greatest arguments
usually come, not from those who are farthest apart, but from those who are
closest. A recent example is the book Love Wins, by Rob Bell, former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church near Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
The media, who love Rob Bell, jumped on his latest book
and the fact that he is a bit wishy-washy about whether or not anyone will go
to hell. His rationale for questioning this is that the Bible makes it clear
God does not want anyone to go to hell, so Rob’s thinking is that since
God is God, he can always get whatever he wants and since he wants all people
to be saved, maybe they will be. His conclusion is that since the Bible talks a
lot more about grace than eternal damnation, maybe we should preach more about
grace and eternal damnation, not so much. The
media then acted as if Pastor Bell didn’t believe in hell and as if he were a Universalist,
who believes that everyone can be saved in any religion. (Sort of like how it
would be if our cars would run on any liquid instead of just any gasoline.)
The biggest criticisms seemed to come
from Rob’s Reformed “friends”, such as Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. who has been
quoted as saying Bell’s “Love Wins” book was “theologically disastrous”. While
his Reformed and Calvinist friends seem to think Bell is a heretic, we
Arminians have always thought God was more about salvation than condemnation
(even though our preaching has not always made that clear) but when Rob says
God wants all people to be saved, we say, “Welcome to the Wesleyan-Arminian
world of Christian theology.”
The problem, of course, is that if you accept the concept
that God wants all people to be saved (as is clearly
stated in 2 Peter 3:9 which tells us God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but
instead, wants everyone to come to repentance. Or, I Timothy 2:1-4 where we are
urged to pray for everyone because God wants everyone to be saved. Then you
begin to have serious reservations about “unconditional election”, the concept
that before the world was created God chose some people to be saved and others
to be eternally lost with no hope of salvation. I don’t know if Rob Bell
considers himself to be among those with this Calvinist-Reformed
theology, but I think they have always claimed him and now this revelation in
“Love Wins” stirs up a plethora of
squabbles among our Calvinist brethren. It will be interesting to see
where it leads, if it goes anywhere at all, or if it just flutters out and
disappears.
Rob’s writing also suggests we need to be open to the
possibility that an opportunity for salvation may exist after death. He sees
this as a possibility that can be found in scripture rather than an
anti-biblical heresy. On the Mars Hill website they have FAQs about the book
“Love Wins” and it is written “Love Wins helps us
have a biblical imagination that leaves room for the hope of the redemption of
all while recognizing humanities free will to continue to reject God.” That
definitely requires imagination, but I’m not convinced it is biblical.
What I do know is that our faith should be
big enough for us to love each other even when we don’t fully agree on the
details. I thank God for all those in the family and out because I believe we
are all created in the image of God and all valid subjects of His amazing grace
and love. I thank God for Rob Bell even when I’m not sure I fully agree with
him. I even thank God for those Christians with whom I greatly disagree. As
Bill Gaither wrote, “There’s plenty of room in the family” and I do greatly
love the family of God even in the midst of and in spite of our family
squabbles.
I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
