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Rob Bell in Love Wins: A stingy to a generous orthodoxy, says evangelist

By: Rachel Ford
Wednesday, 23 March 2011, 14:51 (EST)
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Rob Bell is not a Universalist, but he is simply calling readers away from "a stingy orthodoxy to a generous orthodoxy," claims the President of Fuller Theological Seminary, Richard J. Mouw.

The evangelist recently joined the heated debate over Bell's latest title Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, which has drawn widespread criticism from prominent evangelicals for its teaching on universal salvation, that is, all men will eventually be reconciled to God regardless if they have accepted Christ or not.

"Suppose, he likes to say, we go up to someone and tell them that God loves them and sent Jesus to die for their sins. Accept Jesus right now, we say, because if ten minutes from now you die without accepting this offer God will punish you forever in the fires of hell," Prof. Mouw proposes.

"What kind of God are we presenting to the person?...What would we think of such a father?"

Instead, he believes Bell, the founder and pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, USA, is simply "a creative communicator who likes to prod, and even tease us a bit theologically."

"So, here is Rob Bell: people who refuse a “vital connection with the living God” are given over to a “kind of life [that] is less and less connected with God” (Love Wins, 66). And this is no mere theoretical state of affairs, “because it is absolutely vital that we acknowledge that love, grace and humanity can be rejected” ...and if so, “God gives us what we want, and if that’s hell, we can have it” (72)," Prof. Mouw deduced via a recent blog post.

"Why don’t folks who criticize Rob Bell for wanting to let too many people in also go after people like that who want to keep too many people out?" he then asked. "Why are we rougher on salvific generosity than on salvific stinginess?"

"Maybe they think that folks like Rob Bell and me go too far in the direction of leniency, but what about folks who go in the other direction?"

Prof. Mouw goes on to ask: "Did Mother Teresa go to hell?"

"My guess is that she was a little confused about justification by faith alone. If you think that means she went to hell, I have only one response: shame on you."

Bell himself has rejected claims of preaching universal salvation to both believers and unbelievers.

When asked about his view on universalism at his book launch for Love Wins last week, he responded: "No, if by Universalist we mean there's a giant cosmic arm that swoops everybody in at some point whether you want to be there or not," reported The Christian Post.

"That violates the laws of love and love is about freedom, it's about choice, it's about do you want to be there? Because that's what would make it heaven," he explained.

"My interest is in what's true and where is the life and where is the heart and what inspires. And if that happens to stir up a few things, that's something I accept."

Prof. Mouw concludes by quoting from renowned evangelist Billy Graham, who was once asked about the destiny of “good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people.”

"Billy had this to say: “Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there and who won’t … I don’t want to speculate about all that. I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have."

Richard J. Mouw was appointed as the Professor of Christian Philosophy and Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1985, and elected as president in 1993.


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