Does Love Really Win?
Rob Bell is a very well known pastor who has written many books and articles, and speaks to large crowds all around the US. He is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church, a mega church in Michigan, where he speaks to 10,000 people on a weekly basis.
He has a knack for seeing things a little bit differently and being able to communicate these things in an interesting and relevant manner. Two of his books are “Velvet Elvis,” and “Sex God.” Like I said, he sees the other side of things on a regular basis. His recent book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived,” has caused a tsunami along the shores of conservative Christianity recently. I have not read the book, but have read many articles about the book. I also saw an interview Bell did on MSNBC with Martin Bashier, in which Bashier asked very difficult and probing questions, accusing Bell of “amending the gospel,” and Bell weaved, ducked, and dodged so skillfully that he looked like Mohammad Ali in his prime. Apparently, Bell questions everything about hell that conservative Christianity has ever believed. His primary teaching appears to be that in the end, love will win out in everyone’s life and we will all end up in heaven, and hell will be left empty. This is known as universalism, the belief that all of us will eventually be saved from any destruction.
This sounds like a wonderful idea, that no one ever goes to hell; that no one ever has to pay for his own sin; that no one ever truly experiences a real separation from God. Bell believes that people who reject Christ on this side of the grave will eventually accept Him on the other side. In effect, all people will eventually accept God’s free gift of grace because after all, love wins (according to Bell)!
It’s the kind of Christianity people are searching for! It fills churches across the country today! It makes great reading! It inspires and it motivates! It frees people from guilt and judgment! It is positive and never negative! It always builds up and never tears down! It attracts the downtrodden while never discouraging the sinner! It says, “If you blow it in this life, don’t worry, you will have another chance in the next life!” It embraces all beliefs because what one believes doesn’t really matter if we all go to the same place anyway! In other words, “Relax, and have fun!”
All of this sounds great! I just see one minor problem with Rob Bell’s theology: It’s not biblical! Therefore, it’s not from God. Bell’s mistake is that he wants to be so inclusive of the people he tries to minister to, that he has torn down the barriers that God Himself erected. You find Jesus putting up barriers to people’s faith more often than you find Him tearing them down. Think about that! Bell, in effect, has tried to make God “palatable” to the masses. He has created a kinder, gentler God; one not so rough around the edges who isn’t mad all the time.
And so why does it matter what some preacher you never heard of at a church you never heard of says about God? Because it’s the same thing your neighbors, co-workers, and friends believe about God! Most of them are probably universalists as well, believing that all people “basically” go to heaven when they die. It only takes a quick glance through the words of Jesus to understand that He took hell extremely seriously, speaking far more on hell than He did on heaven. Again, think about that!
The tragedy of Rob Bell’s theology is that he misrepresents who God is and what God is like. But I have to ask myself, how do I represent God? Sure, I believe in a literal hell, but do I represent the God of the Bible to the people who are around me? Do I show them His astounding love? Do I tell them His amazing story? Do I extend His limitless grace? Do I offer His compassionate forgiveness? Do I show His abundant life? Do I reveal His compelling nature? Do I practice His gracious kindness and His kind graciousness? Do I implement His sacrificial service? Do I sow His life changing seed? Do I exude His overflowing joy? Do I offer His boundless hope? In effect, do I represent God any better than Bell does?
So, does love really win? No, not the way Rob Bell thinks it does, but that’s not the issue. The real issue is, “Does love win in me?” and “Am I helping it win in those around me?” You see, love already won about two thousand years ago when God saw all of us miserable, wretched sinners with absolutely no hope at all, and no basis of our own righteousness to stand on. God sent His own Son to die for us to pay our price that we should have paid. The cross is not only a symbol of the most heinous kind of tortuous death known to man. It is also a symbol that ultimately, yes, love wins. It is not a symbol of a weak God’s defeat. It is a symbol of an awesome God’s victory in which love conquers (present tense) all!
So again, the question for me is, “Does love win in my life?” And if this love is all that the Bible says it is; all that I claim it is; all that Christianity has taught that it is for 200 years, then am I helping that love to win in the lives of those around me? And if I say it has won in me, but that I am not helping it win in the lives of others, then there is just one minor problem with that: It’s not biblical! If it wins in my life, then it is my life’s purpose to help it win in the lives of those around me. That’s biblical. Don’t believe me? Just read your New Testament.
6-28-11