I have read the end of The Book; Love wins! Any thoughts?

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   JosephumCarissimiposted 12 years ago

   I have read the end of The Book; Love wins!  Any thoughts?

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   MilesArmbrusterposted 12 years ago

   I have written a handful of hubs in response to Rob Bell's book, "Love Wins," if you want to check them out.
   In short, Bell's book presents a form of Universalism - God saves everyone. Not much new there, but he argues that this is what the message of Christianity is from the Bible. Honestly, that is not new either. If you read enough Hubpages, you will quickly discover that people use the Bible to explain anything they want.
   If you want a detailed response to Bell, you can find it by Googling "Kevin DeYoung Rob Bell Review." It is long, but it does the job. I won't put any of those details here, just two reasons why you should be careful in evaluating what Bell says.
   1) Bell uses endless references to the Bible. But... Christian scholars have known for a long time that there are correct ways and incorrect ways of interpreting the Bible. (Again, you can find endless examples on Hubpages.) I have been a Bible teacher for forty years, and Bell's use of the Bible would earn him a failing grade in every class I have ever taught. I am not saying that he is wrong because he disagrees, I am saying his method is wrong. An absurd illustration. What would you think of a person who proclaimed one day that it was safer to drive a car with your feet and a broom from the backseat. He then proceeded to show you that he could drive the car that way. The fact that he can do this crazy stunt doesn't make it safer, or even the right thing to do. Bell uses the Bible the same way - he drags incorrect conclusions from the texts because he can, but not because it is right.
   2) His argumentation is mostly emotionalism. If his position is true, he would not need to devolve to emotional arguments. He is like a car salesman; "Do you like the color?" "Wasn't that a comfortable ride?" "Did you notice that your whole family could fit in there comfortably?" The salesman has you saying "yes, yes, yes." and then he asks you if you want to buy. If you sum up Bell's argument, it comes down to this: Premise 1: Nobody wants to see a baby suffer, right? ** we all agree ** Premise 2: God loves babies, right? ** Who won't agree with that. ** Conclusion: See, I'm right. He makes endless emotional statements that we all tend to agree with and then links them to totally unconnected conclusions about God and the way He does things. The problem is that his emotionally charged statements make it hard to disagree.

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   robhevposted 12 years ago

   Yeah I was shocked when I learned that he believes everyone is saved and no one goes to Hell. If God saves everyone then why even bother following him? Why turn from my sins if he's going to save me? Why not kill my enemies if he's going to save all of us? That way of thinking is just crazy talk. If God saved everyone then he would not be a God of mercy, justice and love. Revelation 20:15
   Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. You can't get around that verse! Your either in the book or in the fire.
   
   Good post!
   God Bless,
   Rob

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