The Christian webosphere is active with a video that was put out by Rob Bell this week promoting his new book, “Love Wins.” If you haven’t seen it I’ll quickly summarize. Pastor Bell tells the story of an art show that was held at his church where someone made the bold statement that Ghandi was in hell. He then goes to ask a series of questions that leave the listener with the impression that a God of love would send no one to hell. What’s worse is that his questions mock the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Watch it for yourself…I’m not kidding.
Mocking the cross…”them’s fightin words!”
In my opinion, we have allowed the “universal truth” culture to weaken us. It seems the worst thing to have in our world today is a belief in absolute truth! The underlying idea is that if there is no belief, there’s no reason to fight and that would bring about world peace. John Lennon seemed to believe this…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
(from his song “Imagine”…if you didn’t know already)
This seems to be a pervading idea in the culture of America and it’s impacting the church! Believe strongly in nothing and we’ll all end up getting along. Well..there are some things worth fighting for…and the true gospel of Jesus Christ is one of them!
Dr. Robert Kelleman
tweeted a quote from John Calvin this week that rang true with me…
“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” –John Calvin
This past Sunday, I decided to fight.
Most of my Sunday School class had no prior knowledge of Rob or his theology…so when I played the video I was careful to leave my impressions out of the mix. I wanted to see what they believed and I wanted to get their thoughts. Could they pick out the fallacies? Could they defend what they believe? What kind of approach should we take to Pastor Bell, his church, and his teaching? To sum it up, I was very proud of them! They had several passages of defense and yet were able to lovingly pray for him and his church.
As far as a rebuttal is concerned, I could do no better than what’s already been done. Kevin DeYoung has a FANTASTIC response found here.
But I want those who read this blog to think about is this…there are some fights that are not only WORTH fighting…there are fights we are COMMANDED to fight!
Gal. 1:6-10
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Titus 1:9
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
1 Pet. 1:15
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Pastor Hart 
It will be interesting to see what this book is all about when it finally comes out. Great thoughts Jamie. I look forward to your critique after you’ve read the book, too, I’m sure there will be much more to dissect March 29th.
Thanks, Joe.
Though I plan on reading his book to comment on what he WILL say, I believe we can already comment on what he DID say in the video. His questions teach and they leave the listener with the impression that a loving God doesn’t send people to hell. If the book says something different and this is all a marketing scheme, then it’s irresponsible to say the least. We’ll see what the book reveals.
Thanks again for reading and commenting!
Thanks for the review and wise words! I look forward to reading the book for myself and deciding once and for all what exactly Rob was saying in his video. Is it just a slick marketing campaign to sell more books? Is it intended to be a thought provoking guide to challenge traditionally accepted views of God and salvation? Is he trying to appeal to those who have been turned off by misconceptions of what true Christianity is, only to reveal to them what a loving, righteous, and just God we serve through the content of his book?
Words do mean things, and we do teach through our questions and not just through our statements. We need to view this video and his yet-to-be-released book within the context of what he has already said and has already taught. In doing that, we can make some fair assessments of what he plans on laying out in this latest work.