Bell\u2019s view of salvation, Moore said, is wrong biblically but also flawed practically and will lead to empty church pews. If the pastor says there is no judgment and everyone will end up in heaven, then people have little motivation to follow Christ, Moore and the other panelists said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never have a universalist Great Awakening,\u201d Moore said. \u201c\u2026 The very thing [Rob Bell] is attempting to do, it never succeeds. You always wind up losing the church and unable to reach the people outside the church.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Moore says the church will collapse without the threat of judgment. And, to be clear, \u201cjudgment\u201d must mean nothing less than the vast majority of humankind suffering consciously for eternity in the Hell that Moore, et. al.,<\/em> imagine (magical fire, merciless God, \u201choly\u201d as synonym for \u201csadistic,\u201d etc.). Without that threat, Moore says, there can be no revival, no evangelism, no missionary outreach, no church growth. Without Hell, the church will shrink and shrivel and fade away.<\/p>\nThis is hogwash.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean \u201cI think, in my opinion, that this is hogwash,\u201d I mean that Russell Moore <\/em>thinks, in his<\/em> opinion, that this is hogwash. Or he would have if he had thought this through, because the silliness he\u2019s advocating here slanders the church and all of its members, including himself. Russell Moore is unjustly impugning the motives of Russell Moore and maliciously accusing Russell Moore of believing things that Russell Moore does not believe.<\/p>\nThe embrace of the Missiological Case for Hell represents a shift in the argument of Team Hell that Moore acknowledges here. The doctrine of Hell, Moore argues, is \u201cpractical.\u201d It is useful.<\/em> It works.<\/em> That is a much lesser claim than the assertion that the doctrine of Hell is true.<\/em> And it\u2019s a much lesser claim than the assertion \u2014 which Moore presumes, without support \u2014 that the doctrine of Hell is something the Bible teaches.<\/p>\nWhat neither Moore nor his colleagues on the Team Hell panel discussion seems to notice is that this panel discussion was explicitly organized because they all believe that Moore\u2019s \u201cpractical\u201d argument is not true. The panel was called together, Al Mohler says, because of Rob Bell\u2019s tremendous popularity. \u201cHe has a tremendous influence, especially with younger evangelicals, and I think that\u2019s why we have to talk about this,\u201d Mohler said at the outset of the discussion.<\/p>\n
This is why this panel of Team Hell luminaries was there in the first place, because people are packing the pews at Rob Bell\u2019s church and because his \u201cLove Wins\u201d message is reaching more and more people inside and outside the church.<\/p>\n
So Moore shows up for a talk in response to the growing popularity of a movement producing explosive church growth and dramatic outreach, and then proceeds to say that this movement is wrong because it is unpopular, it will shrink churches and end outreach. Bell\u2019s ideas are wrong because they will lead to empty pews, which is why Bell must be stopped from filling the pews by preaching those ideas. Or something like that. If Moore can\u2019t be bothered to make sense of what he\u2019s saying then it\u2019s unfair to expect the rest of us to make sense of it for him.<\/p>\n
In any case, I haven\u2019t time here for a full refutation of the Missiological Case for Hell, but let\u2019s just quickly look at three counter-examples \u2014 three \u201cpractical\u201d case studies \u2014 that cast doubt on this whole notion of the missiological and ecclesiological usefulness of a doctrine of Hell.<\/p>\n
Case Study No. 1: Paul<\/strong><\/p>\nThe enthusiasts of Team Hell would likely agree with me that St. Paul was a very successful missionary. We could attribute his success to the work of the Holy Spirit, or we could credit it to Paul\u2019s sharp wits and dogged determination, but one thing that no one can possibly argue is that Paul\u2019s success as a missionary was due to his preaching about Hell and his stern warning of the certainty of future, eternal, conscious torment for unbelievers.<\/p>\n
Paul never gave such a warning. Never. Like all of the other apostles and missionaries and early church leaders portrayed in the book of Acts, Paul never spoke of Hell. Paul\u2019s gospel made no mention of Hell.<\/p>\n
And yet his listeners seem to have found far more of a \u201cmotivation to follow Christ\u201d than any of the fearful followers of the missionaries of Team Hell. Paul\u2019s listeners seemed to understand the gospel that he preached as good news that was actually good news.<\/p>\n
As Rob Bell points out, the unbiblical substitute for that good news promoted by Team Hell is not really good news at all. If the good news is primarily that some few have a chance to escape the otherwise inevitable fate of conscious, eternal torment, then this message isn\u2019t really news that most people will hear as good<\/em>. And in any case, this is not the gospel that the Bible teaches. That gospel \u2014 the good news of God crucified, risen and triumphant over sin and death \u2014 is proclaimed repeatedly in scripture, but never is it presented as How To Escape Eternal Torture in Hell. The accusation that Team Hell loves to level at people like Bell \u2014 that it is callous and irresponsible not to confront the damned unbelievers with an explicit warning of the Hell that awaits them \u2014 can and must be applied even more strongly against Paul, Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Q and all the apostles of the early church as portrayed in Acts.<\/p>\nCase Study No. 2: Russell Moore.<\/strong><\/p>\nI don\u2019t know Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Seminary. I have never met him. But I know this much about him: Russell Moore is not a Christian because of the fear of eternal, conscious torment in Hell.<\/p>\n
Moore believes that if he were not a Christian, then he would be destined for such eternal, conscious torment. And yet that\u2019s still not the main reason he is a Christian. It\u2019s not one of the top five reasons. Or the top 10.<\/p>\n
Again, I don\u2019t know Moore and I have never heard him tell the story of his own faith, but I know this is true for him because it is true for everyone<\/em> who is a Christian. Get Moore away from the microphone and away from his official duties as a Defender of the Doctrine of Hell and then ask him why he is a Christian and I don\u2019t know specifically what he would say, but I know generally. He would speak of God\u2019s love for him and of his love for God. He would tell you about faith and hope, grace and gratitude, meaning and purpose. He would tell you about the love that was shown to him by some devout disciple or group of disciples and about the inspiring examples of good people he has known. He may say something about Heaven, but mainly in the context of God\u2019s great love and the longing to experience that love as directly as possible. He may tell you some story of some numinous personal experience that he will apologize for being unable to articulate. He may tell you about his parents and grandparents.<\/p>\nBut he won\u2019t talk about Hell. If he mentions it at all, it will be as an afterthought \u2014 as though being rescued from the certainty of eternal torture was just a fringe benefit of all the rest, an added bonus.<\/p>\n
I do not know anyone who is a Christian because of the fear of eternal torment in Hell. I know several people who used to be<\/em> Christians, briefly, because someone had taught them this idea of Hell and that becoming a Christian was the only way to escape certain torture. But none of those folks were happy or proud about having made that decision for that reason, and it didn\u2019t last. The preacher or teacher who had so vividly described the invisible and eternal gun to their head didn\u2019t turn out to have much lasting influence.<\/p>\nI suppose there are congregations where the preacher invokes that invisible threat week after week, twice on Sundays and again on Wednesday nights. And I suppose something might arise in such congregations that might seem like a passable imitation of love for God, or that might feel like a functional substitute for belief that God loves us. But that\u2019s not love, or faith, or discipleship. That\u2019s Stockholm syndrome and it, too, will fade once the hostages are safely distant from the constant stress of the coercive threat.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to our final case study.<\/p>\n
Case Study No. 3: Saddam Hussein<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Missiological Case for Hell reminds me of one of the stranger stories about Saddam Hussein, the late and unlamented dictator of Iraq. Saddam ruled through fear but, at some level, he wanted his terrified subjects to love him.<\/p>\n
We know that Saddam wanted their love \u2014 uncoerced, untainted by fear \u2014 because he wrote a novel and released it secretly under a pseudonym. The love and acclaim the people would pour out for this anonymous author, the dictator hoped, would be genuine and voluntary and he would at last know what it meant to be loved in truth and not just to have others falsely proclaim their love for him out of fear of torture and death.<\/p>\n
But alas, the novel was apparently awful. It was panned and mocked and it did not sell.<\/p>\n
That was intolerable for the tyrant, so he leaked the true identity of the author. Suddenly all the critics who had found it wanting recanted, lavishing it with forced praise. It became a best-seller in Iraq, but only in Iraq \u2014 only in the one country where people were forced, out of fear and the threat of torture, to pretend that they loved a man they actually despised, a man who deserved<\/em> to be despised because of those very threats of torture.<\/p>\nSaddam published several more novels \u2014 all in his own name. They received massive critical acclaim and commercial success, but only within his realm. The Iraqis\u2019 love for Saddam\u2019s novels \u2014 like their love for Saddam himself \u2014 was a charade. And Saddam knew<\/em> it was a charade. But he embraced that charade because it was the best he could hope for, because it was more than he deserved. For the despicable tyrant, feigned affection at gunpoint was preferable to the genuine contempt it masked.<\/p>\nGod desires something better than that. And God deserves<\/em> something better than that.<\/p>\nEven Saddam Hussein knew that love is not real if it is coerced under threat of torture. If fear and loathing masquerading as love could not fool Saddam Hussein, then you can be sure it does not fool God either. That is not what God wants from us. God wants our genuine love, freely given.<\/p>\n
Why, then, would anyone think that God had arranged the universe in such a way as to guarantee<\/em> that God would never be able to receive genuine love, freely given, but only a fearful, coerced imitation? I believe that God is good and I believe that God is smart \u2014 too good and too smart to confuse coercion with love.<\/p>\nUnlike the advocates of the Missiological Case for Hell, I believe that God is better and smarter than Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell\u2019s infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case for Hell. This case was articulated recently by Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Seminary, during a Team Hell Strategy Session at Al Mohler\u2019s Southern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hell"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Missiological Case for Hell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case\" \/>\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\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Missiological Case for Hell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/\",\"name\":\"The Missiological Case for Hell\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Missiological Case for Hell\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Missiological Case for Hell","description":"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Missiological Case for Hell","og_description":"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/","name":"The Missiological Case for Hell","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-31T19:41:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"One of the common, but strange, responses to Rob Bell's infamous lack of enthusiasm for eternal torture has been what we might call the Missiological Case","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2011\/03\/31\/the-missiological-case-for-hell\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Missiological Case for Hell"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}