If Rob Bell is a Universalist, then maybe I am – along with many prominent evangelicals? (A response to Justin Taylor)

February 26, 2011 By Kurt Willems 187 Comments

UPDATE: After you read this original post, please also read the follow up post where I answer some important questions!

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Have you ever been fed up?  Today, I am fed up.

For the past couple of months I have been excited about the forthcoming release of Rob Bell’s latest book: Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

This will be a book where Bell takes on some important topics that need to be addressed in the larger evangelical community.  Unfortunately, a pious wing of conservative Christian faith, the neo-Reformers (often represented by folks like – John Piper (who I like theologically on a rare occasion), Kevin DeYoung, Mark Driscoll, and others – are hell-bent on caricaturing evangelicals that do not fit their mold.  Case in point, Rob Bell.

This crowd, for no justified reason, has given Rob a bad rap.  Certainly, he is not immaculate and may have said a thing or two here and there that is not perfect, but who hasn’t?  But, to accuse him of being a universalist without even having read his book (because, well, it isn’t out yet!), is not only over-the-top, but is irresponsible and should be cause for the larger evangelical community to be up in arms.

This is another indication about how narrow neo-reformed views have become and how much they often are not even willing to give the “benefit of the doubt.”  Basically, I am going to accuse Justin Taylor (of the reformed site: Gospel Coalition) of being guilty of the sin of lying.  I am sure Justin is a great guy and obviously passionate about Jesus, but the following quote is a bit frustrating.

Justin states:

“I’m glad that Rob Bell has the integrity to be lay his cards on the table about  universalism. It seems that this is not  just optimism about the fate of those who haven’t heard the Good News, but (as it seems from below) full-blown hell-is-empty-everyone-gets-saved universalism.” (Rob Bell: Universalist?)

He hasn’t read the book, but in one paragraph and based on an ambiguous trailer for the book, he can assume that Rob is a universalist?  That seems like terrible discernment and again demonstrates that these folks have a chip on their shoulder.  I doubt that others at the Gospel Coalition will reprimand Justin and correct his false assumptions, but lets look at the evidence a bit.

Ok, so I am going to assume the best about Rob and give you my best GUESS at what he will say on these topics.  I MIGHT END UP WRONG ON THIS AND REALIZE THAT I RUN THE RISK OF DOING WHAT JUSTIN DID IN HIS POST, BUT WANT TO HAVE A “POSITIVE” VOICE IN THE WEB CONVERSATION.

That was me admitting that I may end up being wrong, but based on what I know about Rob and our similar theological mentors, let me give you my hopeful guesses about some of the major themes of Heaven, Hell, and Every other Person.  Let me add, that these are not my ‘strong theological views’ (less, the Heaven stuff) but a solid direction that Rob might go:

Heaven – Rob is going to argue for an inaugurated eschatology (“already/not yet”).  He will state a clear belief in heaven, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Gospel, Greg Boyd, Hell, Kingdom of God, N. T. Wright, New Creation, Rob Bell, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 187 Comments

Pharaoh's Way or the Way of YHWH? (God as the Just Judge)

February 24, 2011 By Kurt Willems 1 Comment


Elmer Martens begins his discussion of the cult practices of Israel with Passover. Such an annual festival was explained with great detail, but the theology of such is left unattended (48). He expands his exploration of a theology of sacrifice by noting that ‘substitution’ as commonly understood is not the focal point as many assume (61-63). Rather, sacrifices point to ongoing deliverances as blessing from YHWH (64).

Walter Brueggemann notes a God who is “sovereign in relationship” rather than being distant (85ff). This sovereignty is such that YHWH’s grace and mercy have been identified with a particular people, Israel – who were rescued from slavery in Egypt (Passover). YHWH’s fidelity with their suffering is given as a function of sovereignty and enfleshed through open-ended engagement with this people (86-88).

The image of Judge aids in the above issues insofar as the cult is a reminder of continued covenant blessing and the “sovereignty in relationship” is an indication of YHWH’s chosen fidelity with Israel. A judge invites a system of justice: either the pharaonic or covenantal (104ff). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Jewish Roots, Politics, Social Justice, Theology, Walter Brueggemann Tagged With: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Growing Up Christian – Without Losing Faith or Brains (Guest Post: George Murphy)

February 23, 2011 By Kurt Willems 16 Comments

It’s a pretty common story.  Someone grows up in a conservative Christian setting and is taught that Genesis gives the true account of creation and that evolution is false.  Then in high school or college the young Christian learns about evolution.  You’ve probably heard or met people who had that experience and reacted in one of two ways.  He may be convinced by the scientific evidence that evolution is true, and decide that Christianity must therefore be false.   Some have taken this path to militant atheism.  But if the Genesis stories have been a sufficiently fundamental part of the student’s world view, she may reject evolution and insist that Genesis is literally true.  Some anti-evolution crusaders have had such a history.

The first part of that story is mine.  I grew up in a conservative Lutheran church and took its teaching seriously.  In ninth grade I did a science project with the ambitious title “A Refutation of the Theory of Evolution.”  But one Sunday morning of my sophomore year in college, on my way home from church, I thought, “There’s no good reason for a Christian not to accept evolution.”  No drama, no trauma, just a realization that the basic claims of evolution don’t conflict with Christian faith.  Since then I’ve gotten a doctorate in physics, become a Lutheran pastor, and spent a lot of time and energy writing and speaking about how to understand scientific knowledge in a Christian context.

By no means am I the only person coming from a conservative background who has decided that religious belief and evolution can be compatible.  But reflection on my history has made me think that perhaps I have at least one insight into the process of coming to terms with science.

The fact that I was attracted to the physical sciences [Read more...]

Filed Under: Evolution, Faith Journey, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , 16 Comments

Conversion is a Journey, NOT a Moment (well, at least for some) [The Example of Lauren Winner]

February 21, 2011 By Kurt Willems 19 Comments

Lauren Winner, in her wonderful memoir, Girl Meets God, offers a wonderful perspective on what it means to convert to Christianity.  She is a former Orthodox Jew who embraced Jesus as Messiah in her young adult years.  In our conversionist evangelical culture, we often desire to have a single moment in time when we turned from darkness to light.  For Winner, this is a difficult category to uphold.  She states: “My story doesn’t fit very well with this conversion archetype… there are too many ‘ruptures’ in the ‘narrative…’  [The] ruptures are the most interesting part of any text, that in the ruptures we learn something new” (8).

This process of conversion is clear in how her Jewish friend Dov was concerned about her collegiate interest in Christianity and her choosing to not take courses on Judaism.  She reflects: “Now I think he could see something I could not see.  He could see Jesus slowly goading me toward Him” (55).  A few pages later she adds that God “was laying traps, leaving clues, clues I could have seen had I been perceptive enough” (57).  Her friend Dov saw them well before she did.

One of the events that turned clues into cues was when Lauren attended a Q & A night at a liberal church.  The pastor talked about Jesus being a cultural expression of the one God that all major religions are seeking.  It seems that this is a watershed moment in her conversion journey, from Judaism into Jesus.  She profoundly recognized that Christians are “running from Christ” and thought that she “should stop running” (61).  Eventually, she chooses to be baptized which clearly was another watershed moment, perhaps more literally.

A question that her conversion experience raises is why do we evangelicals minimize the depths of someone’s story to a mere moment in time? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, Faith Journey, Jewish Roots, Salvation, Theology Tagged With: , , , , 19 Comments
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