On Sunday mornings, our church has been working our way through Luke 13-14. In Luke 13, Jesus tells us: “Strive to enter through the narrow door” (v24). Jesus goes on to tell us that a time will come when the door will be shut (v25). People will want to enter but won’t be able to do so (v25-27). There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they see others inside the kingdom, but they themselves cast out (v28). In Luke 14, Jesus tells the story of a man who invites many people to a banquet, but the people make excuses not to come (v15-24). The point of course is that Jesus invites us to enter the kingdom, but many people make excuses for not doing so. The passage ends with these sobering words, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited [but made excuses] shall taste my banquet” (v24). If you refuse to enter the kingdom, you will be locked out.
From these two passages alone, comes a pretty clear picture of hell. Hell is to be cast out of the kingdom. It is place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. And the time to escape is very limited. Once shut out, it will be too late.
Enter Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins. The promotional video questions the picture of hell Jesus gives us in Luke 13-14. It suggests, without ever stating it definitively, that what Jesus teaches in Luke 13-14 (and numerous other passages) is simply wrong, that God is too loving to leave people in hell. And with that, the blogosphere exploded. Worth visiting is Mike Wittmer’s post which has Bell’s promo video, plus a creative and compelling response.
There are now several reviews of Bell’s new book worth considering by:
What these reviews suggest is that while Bell is hard to pin down, he at least wants to open the possibility that all will be saved. Even more disconcerting are his views of the atonement, Christ, and God Himself. As one reviewer suggests, Bell is essentially gives us liberal theology for the 21st century. I’ll leave you to read the reviews if you want to for all the details. What I want to do in the rest of this post is provide some helpful links to help us explore the doctrine of hell further.
First, Collin Hansen gives us some helpful background in a three-part interview with Christopher Morgan:
Toward A Better Understanding of Hell
What About Those Who Haven’t Heard?
Second, with that background, you might consider some helpful reflections on the issue:
Why Hell Is Forever – Russell Moore
Hell and Forgiveness – Chris Brauns
What Is Universalism? – J. I. Packer
Helpful Questions About Hell – J. I. Packer
How Do God’s Love and God’s Wrath Relate – D. A. Carson
Brian J. Mikul 