Monday, February 28, 2011

Time Magazine calls Rob Bell a "rock star in the church world." The Church Report Magazine ranked Bell #10 on their list of "The 50 Most Influential Christians in America." Bell's books and NOOMA videos sell by the thousands. The Chicago Sun Times wrote an article entitled The Next Billy Graham, comparing Bell's influence to that of Billy Graham.

Rob Bell is a big, big, BIG leader in a new [yet there is nothing new under the sun] movement sweeping through our young people today called "Christian Universalism." - an oxymoron, nonetheless, with leaders like Rob Bell leading the way, many of today's church-going youth have slowly been seduced into believing this false teaching.

Speaking in a video promo for his new book - Bell states:

"Several years ago we had an art show at our church and people brought in all kinds of sculptures and paintings and we put them on display. And there was this one piece that had a quote from Gandhi in it and lots of people found this piece compelling. They would stop and sort of stare at it and take it in and reflect on it. But not everybody found it that compelling. Somewhere in the course of the art show, somebody attached a handwritten note to the piece. And on the note they had written "Reality check, he's in Hell."

Gandhi's in Hell? He is? And someone knows this for sure? And felt the need to let the rest of us know? Will only a few select people make it to Heaven? And will billions and billions of people burn forever in Hell? And if that's the case how do you become one of the few? Is it what you believe or what you say or what you do or who you know? Or something that happens in your heart or do you need to be initiated or baptized or take a class or converted or being born again? How does one become one of these few? And then there is the question behind the questions. The real question; what is God like? Because millions and millions were taught that the primary message, the center of the Gospel of Jesus is that God is going to send you to Hell unless you believe in Jesus. And so what gets subtly sort of caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God. But what kind of God is that that we would need to be rescued from this God? How could that God ever be good? How could that God ever be trusted? And how could that ever be "Good News?"

This is why many lost and dying want nothing to do with the Christian faith. They see it has an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies and they say why would I ever want to be a part of that? 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. What you discover in the Bible is so surprising and unexpected and beautiful that whatever we've been told or taught, the Good News is actually better than that, better than we could ever imagine.

The Good News is Love Wins - and God is love.

2 comments:

  1. "Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die...'"

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  2. Terrifying isn't it? I watched the promo and felt physically sick. Yes, the church has gotten stuck in a modern rut. Yes, the church needs to wake up and realize what is happening in culture. No, we cannot abandon the biblical teaching of truth for something we like better/sounds better/is more accepted/is culturally acceptable. If Rob Bell is our superstar, we're in serious trouble.

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