Bell, Hell and What's Really Non-Negotiable

If you follow the Christian blogosphere, you probably noticed a sharp spike in temperature a couple of months ago. That's when word began to spread that Mars Hill Bible Church pastor Rob Bell -- amazing teacher to some, spawn of Satan to others -- was releasing a book titled "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived."

In a promotional trailer, Bell shared a story from the book about someone leaving a note at an art show stating unequivocally that Gandhi is "in hell." Bell questioned how someone could know that to a certainty.

Before the book was released, many labeled Bell a heretic or a universalist (labels, by the way, that are synonymous in many circles). John Piper famously tweeted, "Farewell, Rob Bell," presumably stating his belief that Bell had abandoned the Christian faith. All this uproar occurred, mind you, without people having bothered to read the book.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that I am a fan of Rob Bell. I listen to the Mars Hill sermon podcast every week. I've  read several of Bell's books. I have tremendous respect for people like Bell and Brian McLaren, who respond with incredible grace when they are so brutally attacked online by would-be defenders of the faith.

So, the first time I had the chance, I used a Christmas gift card to pick up the book at Barnes & Noble. And I promptly forgot to bring it home with me, leaving it in the hands of my friend Caleb, who seized the opportunity and read it before I did.

I finally got it back from Caleb, and finished if off in just over a week. I have to agree with Caleb's analysis, which was something to the effect of: "I don't see what the uproar was all about."

With a incredible mastery of the material, Bell addresses what the Bible has to say (and doesn't have to say) about hell. He notes that the Old Testament doesn't mention -- not even once -- what we now know as the traditional view of hell. He also points out that almost all of the biblical references to hell use either the world "sheol," which refers to the grave, or "Gehenna," which refers to a massive garbage dump just outside Jerusalem, rather than the more Platonic Greek concept of Hades. He asks some magnificent questions about how one can reconcile a loving God with the existence of a place of eternal conscious torment. (The questions, by the way, probably go a long way toward explaining why some of his critics are so afraid of him. Nothing scares some Christians like questions.) He also cites the teachings of various Christian teachers throughout the centuries, noting that not believing in a literal, fiery hell is not at all a new thing in the body of Christ.

That's what Bell does in the book. What he does not do is espouse a universalist point of view -- in fact, he goes out of his way to point out that a loving God would have to allow us to choose.

The purpose of this entry is not to debate the existence of hell. I tend not to believe in a literal, fiery hell, because I cannot reconcile such a horrible place with a God who loves us. It's fine with me if you disagree, and we won't argue about it. I trust that God knows my heart, and if I don't dot every theological 'i' and cross every doctrinal 't,' he'll still take care of me.

What I would like to ask is this: Why is this one topic -- one about which the biblical writers had relatively little to say -- non-negotiable? There's a long list of items on which Christians simply agree to disagree: women in ministry, worship music, speaking in tongues, and tattoos, just to name a few. Why do some insist that believing in hell is a prerequisite for following Jesus?

Some people spend their lives cruelly inflicting pain on others for their own selfish gain. Many more waste their lives -- their one and only opportunity -- on things that are unimportant and never really make a positive impact on the world around them. I've been to funerals of people like this, and let me tell you, the sense of a wasted life is almost palpable. Isn't this tragic enough? Is it necessary that we envision such people being endlessly tormented for billions of years? How is that helpful?

God loves the world. God intends to change the world through people like us serving as the hands and feet of Jesus. Love will eventually win, despite any and all current evidence to the contrary. Shouldn't this be the issue we view as central to the Christian faith? Shouldn't this be the main thing? Shouldn't it make our petty differences of opinion seem so insignificant that they're hardly worth arguing about?

Rob and I think so, anyway.

(For additional reading on this topic, I highly recommend Brian McLaren's "The Last Word and the Word After That.")