This post is actually part of an e-mail I sent to a local pastor after sitting in on a Sunday School class meeting at his church. The topic of study was a book by Rob Bell entitled "Love Wins". Now - I have learned that I am way out of the loop on this book and there have been countless reviews of the book in the past and I really don't have much to add to the conversation - but I'm adding it anyway. I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is my blog. Don't like it? Get your own and rant about me on it.
Anyway - here's the letter mostly how I sent it originally. It read like a book review in the end so I'm plagiarizing myself and making it one here. Enjoy.
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My wife and I sat in on a Sunday School class yesterday. The people were really nice to us and made us feel welcome. The Sunday School class did, however, raise an important question regarding church doctrine. The class is studying a book called "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. I knew nothing about this book when I entered the class, but I have spent a fair number of hours since the class studying this book and its author. What I have learned has troubled me a bit.
Don't get me wrong. I welcome an intellectual challenge and I believe that as sentient creations we are given powers of reason and curiosity by our Creator so that we will seek to learn more about Him and understand His will for us in our lives as individuals and our society as a whole. However (and you had to hear that "however" coming) everything must be held in the light of Holy Scripture in order to discern what is truth and was is either mere mistakes made by mortal men or deceptive schemes hatched by our nefarious adversary. Both are plentiful in this world and both must be exposed and turned from.
Pastor Bell's book is full of hope and love. These are central themes of the Christian faith and are certainly to be embraced, espoused and preached. Our God is a god of love, but His love is a holy love - beyond the understanding of mankind. A. W. Tozer wrote a fascinating book entitled "The Attributes of God" in which he paints a fully scriptural picture of who God is. Chief among God's attributes is His infinite holiness. He is not just "a little holy" - he's infinitely holy. This puts a gulf between God and man that no human can cross on their own. Only the blood of our precious Jesus can bridge the gap. Only the sacrifice of the Lamb gains us admission beyond the veil and into the presence of the Holy God. Only the infinite love of God can provide this sacrifice. Only a love as deep as that of our Heavenly Father can go so far as to not only provide us with salvation, but also provide us with the freedom to choose or reject that gift. Love is not love if it is dictated. God could have made us creatures who would simply love Him due to instinct. It could have been easily pre-programmed into us - but He, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge knows that coerced love is not love at all. The only real love is love that is freely chosen and freely given. It's often quoted, but Joshua 24:15 cuts right to the bottom line. "...choose you this day whom you will serve..."
We have a choice. Good or evil. Flesh or spirit. Salvation or damnation. It is my opinion that Pastor Bell misses the gist of God's love for His creation and waters down His holiness by dealing with the subject of Heaven with a universalist approach. I can't judge Bell's heart. That is the job of the Almighty and Him alone. I do have many issues with the doctrine he is putting forth. Scripture doesn't seem to back him up - even those scriptures he refers to. (That, of course, is my humble opinion based on my own feeble grasp of the Bible.) In the end, I fall back on a kind of variant to Pascal's famous wager. Blaise Pascal argued (and I'm paraphrasing here) that the wise person will believe in God because if you do and you turn out to be mistaken, then you have essentially lost nothing. On the other hand, if you fail to believe and are wrong, then you have lost everything for all eternity. Belief is a pretty easy choice to make in that light. Now, suppose we take that thought to universalism. (Bell is on record denying that he is a universalist, but this book is clearly in that vein.) If we as the Body of Christ preach universalism to the lost then we are in essence telling them that they do not need Christ in order to be saved. They can live their lives either in opposition to Christian principles or simply in ambiguous apathy and they will all be rewarded in the end with Heaven - just like those who have accepted the gift openly and freely. To me, this is incredibly dangerous for the souls of the lost and a heretical insult to the Cross of Calvary.
We do need Jesus. We are lost without Him. We are separated from the Father without the blood of Christ. The Cross opened the door - tore the veil - granted us entry into the Holy of Holies. I will never accept any doctrine that denies the power of the blood or the price that was paid for me at Calvary. It pains me to even think of such a thing.
