Last week the Twitter/blogosphere world exploded with the news that Rob Bell may be a "Universalist". This may come as a surprise to you because: a) you do not have any idea who Rob Bell is and b) you thought a universalist was somebody that went to a big college. Being a "universalist" simply means everyone gets into heaven.
Rob Bell is the pastor of a large church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, of all places, called The Mars Hill Bible Church. He is a part of the “Emergent Church” which could be described as Post Semi-Catholic Reformed Methodist Republican Neo-Anabaptist Democratic Charismatic Almost Liberal But Pre-Conservative movement that believes that you bring people into a relationship with God by not tucking in your shirt.
In his new book, Love Wins, Bell reveals that he’s not big on the concept of Hell and there may be ways to heaven other than Christianity. This caused the firestorm because, most of the Evangelical world believes there is a Hell and there is only one way to heaven-becoming a Christian.
It is unclear, at the moment, if Bell thinks there is a literal Hell. The promotional video by the book publisher suggests he does not. He could believe in a concept called “Annihilation" in which the soul ceases to be after death. Again, we are not sure. My wife suggests that he could believe everyone gets to heaven no matter what but you are given heavenly assignments based on what you did in your life. For example, Mother Theresa would have a cushy job where she could cut out of work at about 10:00 while Charles Mason would be a janitor.
Speaking as a layman, I have a couple of problems with Bell in general and with this type of theology.
Bell’s church is not part of a denomination and he is the big dude at his church. I’m one of those people that distrust pastors who have an ambiguous accountability system in place. Bell maybe the greatest guy in the world, but does he have a guy that will tell him “Gee, Rob, I don’t know...."? I imagine he does not.
Bell once said this regarding his critics: “When people say that the authority of Scripture or the centrality of Jesus is in question, actually it's their social, economic and political system that has been built in the name of Jesus that's being threatened".
No offense, but this is circular logic at its arrogant best. If you question Bell, your social, economic and political system that has been built in the name of Jesus is being threatened. I suppose Bell doesn’t have a social, economic, or political system built into the name of Jesus, so I guess all of Rob’s opinions are gospel, if you pardon the pun.
Critics of the critics point out that none of us have actually read Bell’s new book and the critics shouldn’t be so critical because it is so mean. True, there is a Evangelical Mean Machine that bashes people for real/or imagined sins. But Bell’s proponents appear to think that words do not mean anything and that you can say anything to people as long as they come to church.
Bell and others in the Emergent Church were correct in rejecting the heavy handed brimstone past of the Evangelical Church. Like most young people, they have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
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