What the heaven ? There's NO HELL ?! TIME MAG, APRIL 25 2011 article by Jon Meacham about Mars Hill Church in Michigan and the pastor's new book "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Evver Lived .. Rob Bell is challenging key Christian beliefs, assumptions, & doctrines. "Bell insists he is only raising the possibility that theological rigidity--and thus a faith of exclusion--is a dangerous thing" (p40)...Meacham notes that "...yet there is a contrary scriptural trend that suggests, as Jesus puts it, that the gates of hell shall not finallly prevail, that God will wipe away every teat, not just the tears of Evangelical Christians, but the tears of all." I personally have a DIFFICULT TIME with this notion that everybody will be saved no matter what. of course the usual questions are raised such as what about babies? or those who never heard the word ? but I don't think this is the big question..the exceptions such as babies and the aborigine in the outback, etc may, in fact, be redeemed without expressing Christ, verbally, as Savior. That's not a big issue with me. What IS an issue is that there are MANY who have plenty of opportunities to hear the Word (& have heard it) and to become involved for GOOD yet they still reject it and do their own thing, and often evil things. This is the PROBLEM. without a clear doctine of hell, there is NO FEAR for some...nothing that will make them think twice. For some of these who already DO know about hell & heaven yet still reject the gospel, HOW MUCH MORE evil will they become with a notion that there is no hell ? ! I think the death penalty has helped as a deterrent , albeit obviously not enough to stop all horrendous murders, ...same thing goes for hell. Hell is a deterrent for some, even though not all. THE REALITY of hell is crucial to Christianity and to the world outside Christianity. I think Bell's notion is dangerous even though it may balance some of the extremists who dwell too much on hell rather than simply focusing on the good news, salvation, fruits of the spirit, and heaven. I do believe the positive is more of an inspiration than the negative, but that doesn't mean we can simply deny the reality of damnation & punishment altogether. Interesting, Bell attended Fuller Seminary (as did I) and Mars Church is in Grand Rapids (where I grew up). Grand Rapids is the heart of Calvinism & the Reformed tradition...perhaps Mars Church offers some levity in that regard, but still, we can't just deny that which is difficult , or unappealing, to think about.
