Heaven, Hell and Rob Bell - A series on Love Wins: Introduction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As part of the preparation for my face to face debate with Rob Bell, I created an extensive set of notes to make sure I was clear what I wanted to say. I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/04\/heaven-hell-and-rob-bell-a-series-on-love-wins-introduction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heaven, Hell and Rob Bell - A series on Love Wins: Introduction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As part of the preparation for my face to face debate with Rob Bell, I created an extensive set of notes to make sure I was clear what I wanted to say. 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{"id":14205,"date":"2011-04-25T08:30:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T07:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/?p=14205"},"modified":"2011-04-25T08:30:50","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T07:30:50","slug":"heaven-hell-and-rob-bell-a-series-on-love-wins-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/04\/heaven-hell-and-rob-bell-a-series-on-love-wins-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven, Hell and Rob Bell – A series on Love Wins: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As part of the preparation for my face to face debate with Rob Bell<\/a>, I created an extensive set of notes to make sure I was clear what I wanted to say. I originally felt that I wanted to at least delay commenting on this issue<\/a>, \u00a0but I have now decided that this is a sufficiently important controversy, with sufficient interest from others, \u00a0and so much at stake, that I should convert that set of notes into a fairly substantial series of posts<\/span>. This won\u2019t take the form of a review as such, although it is definitely <\/span>a response to the book, and theological reflection<\/strong><\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>To start out with, I should stress that there is no doubt this is a book Rob has written out of deep conviction, shaped by his own experiences\u00a0 and that he has always aimed to communicate well with those who feel damaged by Christian expressions and are in danger of rejecting the church altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the debate<\/a>, I stated something that I would like to repeat here: I<\/strong> am sorry that some have been quite hurtful and hateful towards Rob<\/strong>, (especially some bloggers who some call the pyjama hadin!) I have no intention to be hateful to anyone but every Christian has to \u201ccontend for the faith once for all delivered to us\u201d \u00a0(Jude 1:2).<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is not enough for Rob to\u00a0claim that other Christians have slandered him. I hope that through listening to the debate <\/a>you will be able to hear clearly what it is he is trying to say.\u00a0 There is a tendency for many in the camp I call \u201c neo-liberals<\/a>\u201d to say \u201cyou just don\u2019t understand me\u201d but the job of a communicator is to communicate! \u00a0When discussing some of the key themes of Rob\u2019s book in interviews he seems to be reluctant to come out and state exactly what he believes. \u00a0In fact I felt that debating Rob Bell was a lot like debating Jello. \u00a0But the very act of questioning in a mocking manner\u00a0makes it very clear that on many issues he does not hold to the more traditional view<\/strong>. There is no doubt now in my mind that he is clearly rejecting perspectives many evangelicals hold dear.<\/p>\n

I have to say when it comes to this book it does sadden me.\u00a0 It saddens me because it is not true to the Scripture.\u00a0 It is not enough to accumulate verses that are torn out of context to explain a notion that doesn\u2019t spring from the Scriptures. \u00a0Rob seems to me to often bring something to the Bible and wraps verses around \u00a0so he can claim the Bible supports his human reasoning. \u00a0He approaches the Bible in a very different way from typical evangelicals.<\/p>\n

But we must remember that everything we know about hell comes from the mouth of Jesus himself<\/strong>. \u00a0 \u00a0Jesus doesn\u2019t play games. Therefore this is error.\u00a0 The problem with error, is that this becomes deception and it leads people astray.<\/p>\n

In Rob\u2019s book he says \u201c\u201cNo one can resist God\u2019s pursuit forever because God\u2019s love will eventually melt even the hardest hearts\u201d (page 108)\u201d <\/strong>This sounds very much like he believes that because \u201clove wins\u201d everyone will be saved. \u00a0But w<\/strong>hen he says love wins he means TOLERANCE wins and God will tolerate anything at the end of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

My concern is that Rob and others do not agree with a simple interpretation of what Jesus told us about the most fearsome risk we all face.\u00a0 This is the risk of an eternity without God in hell.<\/p>\n

If someone announced that they had found the cure for death<\/strong>, we wouldn\u2019t tolerate them, and hopefully they wouldn\u2019t become a millionaire overnight by hitting the bestseller list.\u00a0 They\u2019d be put in prison for fraud.\u00a0 There is a fearsome responsibility of saying (or even just implying) to the world that there is no hell, or at least not in the sense of eternal conscious punishment for those who reject Christ in this life. What if there is a hell after all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rob is\u00a0saying \u201cpeace peace\u201d when there is no peace! <\/strong> He is like a snake oil salesman getting rich from telling people what they want to hear, but that is placing their souls in jeopardy.\u00a0 What is to stop someone reading Rob\u2019s book and saying \u201cgreat then in that case I will commit as much sin as possible in this life and then repent in the next?<\/strong>\u201d \u00a0People already say sometimes that they will delay repentance to their death bed (which is a dangerous idea as not everyone has a death bed as such). \u00a0What a tragedy if someone relies on a post-mortum opportunity to turn to Jesus millions of people have understood the Bible never offers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"