Ladies and gentlemen, today, I want to address an issue that
makes some Christians very uptight, and some downright angry. No I am not
writing about abortion. Nor am I writing about homosexuality or the much
conversed about Bill 18. Rather, I come today to address the issue of but one
person. A person who has been labelled a heretic by many Christians today,
condemned and damned to hell by others, but yet one who is not afraid to talk
about the touchy subjects and ask some of the hard question. That person is Rob
Bell.
I always knew there was opposition to Rob Bell, especially
as a result of his book Love Wins.
Although I knew this, I did not know the complete hatred many Christians have
against Bell. It was only in watching the trailer for Bell’s newest book What We Talk About When We Talk About God did I realize how back this hatred was. People were openly accusing Bell of
being a liar and a heretic, and even going so far as to say that he is one of
the false prophets that Jesus warns about in Matthew 7:15.
I want to say this right off the bat that I do not believe
Rob Bell is a heretic. There, you have it. Feel free to agree or disagree, but
I do not believe that he deserves the amount of criticism that he has received
in the recent years, most of which has come over his ever-controversial book Love Wins. I just finished reading Love Wins, but before I address that, I
want people to think back to a time before Bell came out with Love Wins.
Arguably one of Rob Bell’s most popular works was his “Nooma”
videos (Nooma comes from the Greek word “pneuma”
which means spirit/Spirit, wind, breath, etc.). These videos were widely
popular during my teenage years, and I remember watching many during my years
growing up in youth group. I remember Rob Bell was a big deal, and people loved
him. He was the next big thing. But then he did it; he wrote a book that would
cause him to be condemned as a heretic, likely by many people who had never
even read the book.
I feel confident in stating that last fact because I too was
one of those people. I remember sitting in my room as a freshman at Briercrest
when I heard about this book. I watched the trailer, and then watched a bunch
of responses and did not give Bell a chance; I instantly labelled him as a
heretic. But I was wrong.
I was wrong because I never gave Bell a chance. My pastor
just gave a wonderful sermon this last week, in which he addressed a hot topic
in our community, which reminds me a lot of the Rob Bell issue. This issue has
turned Christians on each other, and pastors who support this issue have
actually been told by other Christians that they are going to burn in hell. Now
maybe this is just me, but that does not
sound like the loving kind of Christianity that Christ called us to (anybody
remember the verse “love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you”?). One
of the issues he addressed is that Christians were condemning each other, but
had never actually read the primary source as to which this conflict came from.
It is a sheer slap in the face to any sort of academia to begin criticizing one
another without actually reading the primary document which is the cause of the
controversy. So yes, I do not actually care if you do not agree with Bell, just
do not be one of those people who condemns a person/group without actually
reading their primary sources (and no, reading someone’s response to a primary
document without reading the original document yourself does not count).
The reason that people think Rob Bell is a heretic is they
think that he is a Universalist (which means, someone who believes all people
will go to heaven no matter what they believe). In Love Wins, Bell challenges Christians to rethink how they view
heaven and hell, and goes against the traditional fundamentalist thinking that
many North American Christians have grown up believing.
After reading Love
Wins, I do not believe that Rob Bell is a Universalist. Nor do I agree with
everything he has to say. But what I love about Rob Bell is that he is not
afraid to ask the tough questions. He is not afraid to go against the popular
viewpoint in pursuit of the truth. Now I am not saying that he should have the
final say in all things theological, but his efforts to go beyond the
stereotypical norm should definitely be applauded. Because truthfully, we need
more Christians who ask the tough questions. We should not be ok with just
accepting facts because God says so; that’s not a good enough reason for me to
believe. Because at times, there will be tough questions to be answered, where
one party thinks God says one thing while another party thinks he is saying
another. This is why we need to dig into these issues, so we can find out the
true meaning of Scripture. I truly believe this is what will push us into a
greater relationship with God.
I have been working at Red Rock Bible Camp for the last 3
summers, and have attended countless chapels. One of the things that I remember
from those chapels that sticks out above all other things I have heard came 4
years ago when I was a counsellor in training. The speaker, who is a great
friend and mentor to me, made a point of saying that we do not need to be
afraid of doubting, because it is doubts that lead to questions. Questions lead
to answers and answers, when we are honestly pursuing the truth, lead to God.
This is why we do not need to be afraid of asking questions, because when the
Holy Spirit is helping us discern our options, it will lead us into greater
relationship with God!
That is why I am thankful for authors like Rob Bell, who are
not afraid to challenge the norm. These authors are the ones who will push us
into deeper relationship with God. Because sometimes we don’t need affirmation
of our beliefs, but rather, we need someone to turn us upside down, shake us
around and make all our old ideas fall out of our pockets in order that we are
able to experience God anew.
What I want to leave you with is the challenge that Bell
leaves his readers with in Love Wins.
In Love Wins, one of the quotes that
really stood out to me was this: "Often the people most concerned about
others going to hell when they die seem less concerned with the hells on earth
right now." Are we as Christians going to be so concerned about the
eternal destination of a person that we forget about their present needs, or
will we be Christians so focused on the present needs of others and how, in a
spirit of love, we can help better that persons situation so that they would
see the Kingdom of God here on earth? For it is as Jesus taught us how to pray “Thy
Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth on it is in heaven.” For some reason,
I have a hard time believing that God’s will in bringing his Kingdom down to
earth involved us being the ones who are in charge of eternal condemnation.
Rather, I believe the apostle Paul had it correct when he said “the greatest of
these is love.”
