Tag: Universalism

A Caricature of God

A few years ago a very talented teacher of the Bible named Rob Bell went off the reservation with his book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Bell’s book tapped into a trendy, but by no means new, theological view called Universalism. I have not read the book, but I have read enough about it to know what I need to know. 

If Rob Bell is now a Universalist or some flavor thereof, I’m confident he didn’t arrive at that view from a rigorous study of the Bible. Universalists never do. They get there by elevating their own view of God over the God of the Bible. 

“How could a loving God send people to Hell?,” they ask. It’s a serious question, but an incomplete one. One could as easily ask, “How could a just God not send people to Hell?” 

Continue reading “A Caricature of God”

The Error Of The Trendy

Perhaps you heard the news. The word is Rob Bell has gone off the reservation and gone public as a Universalist.

Supposedly, the evidence of this self-outing is found in Bell’s new book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

The book will not be officially released until later this month, but HarperCollins’s description of the book and Bell’s promotional video seem to warrant the accusations. I’m still hoping both are merely an attempt at provocative marketing.

I have not read the book. I have seen some of Bell’s video teachings and liked what I saw. If the accusations are true, my guess is that in his desire to reach those outside the church, Bell stretched so far he let go of the truths which had set him out after the lost in the first place. Continue reading “The Error Of The Trendy”