The Heretical Rob Bell and Why Love Wins

Rob Bell is a heretic.

And so are you.

But that's the good news.

It's also part of the message of Bell's new book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, in which Bell, 40, pastor of 10,000-strong Mars Hill church in Grandville, Mich., reexamines Christianity's traditional understanding of life, salvation and what happens after we die.

The book, which will be released by Harper One on Tuesday, drew the ire of critics (many of whom had not yet read it) last week, lighting up the Twitterverse and the blogosphere with condemnations of Bell and his theology.

They called him a Universalist. A wolf in sheep's clothing. A false prophet. A radical. Dangerous.

And more than a few have labeled Bell, one of the most influential voices in evangelical Christianity today, a heretic.

For more than half of my life, I have been blessed to know and call Bell friend. I met Rob and the woman who would one day become his wife when we were all freshmen at Wheaton College in 1988.

There are few people for whom I have more respect and admiration than Rob Bell. There are fewer still that I trust more spiritually, as a pastor, as a humble follower, listener to and lover of God.

So I wasn't remotely surprised that my friend has been able to weather the intense media (and ecclesial) firestorm with characteristic grace and great humor.

While Bell hardly revels in being called a "heretic," the label isn't altogether wrong, either.

"If you go to [the etymology site] Etymonline.com, it's roots are in a Greek word hairetikos that means, 'able to choose,'" Bell told me Monday by phone from New York City's Central Park, where he was strolling with his wife, Kristen, stealing a few quiet moments between media appearances.

"Everybody is forced to believe or think or subscribe to a particular thing, but there are those who are able to choose -- how awesome is that?" Bell said, laughing.

Having been created by God with free will, we are all able to choose and make decisions for ourselves, including whether to accept the love of Jesus Christ and walk in the light of that love, or not.

Essentially, we're all heretics because we all have the ability to choose.

(Speaking to his Mars Hill congregation this past Sunday, Bell also pointed out that the word "radical" comes from the same word as "radish," meaning "root." In the 17th century, "radical" came to mean, "returning to the origin" or "essential." A radical, therefore, is someone who is returning to the roots, the original, and the essence.)

"One of the most lethal aspects of that word -- 'heretic' -- is that it ends discussion, it rather than starts them," Bell said. "And that's why I think it's so dangerous. It ends discussion and it's holding hands with violence."

Bell didn't write Love Wins for his detractors.

"I wrote it for people who are thirsty," he said.

Rather than undermine the singular power of Jesus' story and claims in the Gospel, Love Wins is, to my eye, a love note to and about Jesus the Christ.

An image Bell returns often in Love Wins is that of Jesus being the rock that gives water, an image from Hebrew scripture where Moses, leading the Israelites through the desert, called on God to give them water. God told Moses to take his staff and smack a rock with it. The rock cracked open and water spilled out. A cranky bunch of people wandering in the desert slaked their thirst.

Jesus, Bell says in Love Wins, was (and is) that rock. Even when he wasn't called by that name, even when people don't recognize him, Jesus is always the one who brings grace and salvation.

"Not everybody sees it, not everybody recognizes it, but everybody is sustained by it," Bell writes. "He is the answer, but he is also the question, the hunt, the search, the exploration, the discovery."

Jesus is the rock and there is water there.

"I set out to try and tell the millions of people who are compelled with Jesus or who have never heard of Jesus ... or who can't swallow the package they've seen, about Jesus," Bell told me. "That's what I'm about. I'm interested in painting the most beautifully compelling pictures and images and metaphors and stories and explanations possible that will put Jesus in language for a world that desperately needs to hear it.

"I am happy to have a conversation with anybody, but defending what I'm doing or trying to convince other people of its validity, isn't my calling," he continued. "That is precious energy that could be spent doing the thing that I am here to do. ... I don't have any anger, I don't have any bitterness, I don't have some grudge of any sort. And I'm not at all closed to such things, but it isn't what gets me up in the morning and it isn't why God put me here."

God put Bell here to tell people -- by any and all means necessary -- how much God loves them. And that there is nothing they can do to make God love them more or less. That is the "Good News" of Jesus.

For too many people, though, what they've been told is the good news is actually an ugly truth. They hear that God is full of grace and unconditional love, a God of endless second chances, infinitely patient. But then they hear that God's grace, love and patience expires at death. "Too late," they're told. "You had your chance." That schizophrenic idea of God is simply untenable, Bell says.

"It's psychologically unbearable. No psyche can handle that," he said. "It's devastating."

It's also toxic and a lie. The Good News, Bell insists, is better than that.

"If we have the freedom to choose these things now, that Jesus came to offer us and show us, then I assume that when you die, you can continue to choose these realities because love cannot co-opt the human heart's ability to decide," Bell said. "But after you die, we are firmly in the realm of speculation."

A version of this column was published originally by Religion News Service.

 

 

 

Follow Cathleen Falsani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/godgrrl

Comments

[ninetailedfox]

09:05 AM on 03/20/2011

Even the liberal branches of christianity are about elitism and inclusivism. Rob bell still agrees that christians are the only ones that go to heaven, and everyone else is left out in the cold. Unitarian Universalism is vastly different from Christian Unversalism, which promotes elitism.

[ninetailedfox]

09:01 AM on 03/20/2011

From my experience, religion in general divides people, I may be a Pagan, but i dont believe in Jesus or organized religion. these things divide people into saved, unsaved categories. Also, many centuries of violence and bloodshed by devout christians, have made me question the integrity of those claiming to be christ like.

[Ryan Gear]

02:11 PM on 03/18/2011

I was amused at how Martin Bashir was trying to back Rob Bell into a corner that doesn't exist (http://ryangear.com/2011/03/16/rob-bell-and-martin-bashir/). Rob is acknowledging questions about salvation and the afterlife that have been asked for centuries, resulting in differing answers from Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox Church, The Anglican Church, Reformed churches, etc.

Even authors popular with Evangelicals like C.S. Lewis and John Stott have proposed ideas about hell that differ from the popular concept. There is nothing heretical about what Rob Bell has written. It is only "heresy" to a small hyper-Reformed fundamentalist group who views itself as the heresy police.

[Peter Ohaver]

08:40 PM on 03/17/2011

When someone uses a word, they are not using the archaic version. Radical means radical. Heretic means heretic. Twisting people's words doesn't make you right, it makes you wrong in one more way.

[pilgrimboy]

06:04 PM on 03/16/2011

A lot of people are claiming that Bell dodged the questions on the Bashir interview. I think he hit them all head on except for the one concerning Arius.

Check out my brief transcription.

http://regansravings.blogspot.com/2011/03/rob-bell-dodged-only-one-question-and.html

[ninetailedfox]

04:34 PM on 03/16/2011

I find it amusing how people make jesus into some kind of hippie, when he was

the son of a very evil god. In most cases, the apple doesnt fall far from the

tree, and people making jesus into some feel good hippie better think agian.

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not

come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[a]

[Alex Gartzia]

11:46 PM on 03/16/2011

This is only your opinion and interpretation. You're acting like a fundamentalist by posting these verses without context. I will explain. He meant, that the liberation from the Pharsees's theological oligarchy would be hard to overcome. Many will disagree with my message and your beliefs. Read the Greek texts and the few in Aramaic versions that are on the net. You sure sound disgruntled by a message that by today's standard would be egalitarian. He died because the Pharsees were charging money at the temples, he preached to Non-Jews, he wanted to destroy the establishment that had a firm grip of the Second Temple. It's futile to explain if you do not see past a literal meaning.

[ninetailedfox]

09:00 PM on 03/17/2011

Blah blah blah, youre just as bad as a fundie. both sides cherry pick. So, what if the fundies are True christians hmm? that makes liberals look like a laughingstock.

[lissy0625]

12:06 PM on 03/19/2011

Good job of explaining the background of those verses. I don't like people who just drop into the Bible, take out a few verses, and build a theory around them. Take the Bible as a whole message or not at all.

[ninetailedfox]

05:51 PM on 03/19/2011

Christians believe you are either with them, or youre the enemy. Ive even met liberals that thought this way, so I dont know who you think youre fooling. I am anti christian, and you can tell me Im wrong until youre blue in the face, Jesus is FICTIONAL, making you wrong.

[Alex Gartzia]

05:53 AM on 03/20/2011

He's fictional as portrayed in the Bible, anyone who is a Biblical Archeologist would tell you there was a person that was the isnpiration for the lore. They agree, that these books or novels are taken from a non existant book called "gospel Q" but a better inference of the changes between today's texts and the books becor de first Nicean Council just read the Nag Hammandi This is where the line is formed between fundamentalists Christians and Christians. Christians are an inclusive bunch, they let everyone in and accept everything for what it is. Humanism. You're taking about Christians that speak in tongues, baptise people during mass and do exorcisms. These are fringe Christians that no self respecting Christian calls them Christians. To raise the ante, the KKK considered it's self a Christian group also. These are not Christians that follow the message that Christ wanted for the world to follow.

[SJC82]

03:26 PM on 03/22/2011

"Jesus is FICTIONAL, making you wrong." There's plenty of historical evidence to support that He existed. I think the argument you're trying to make is that He isn't the son of an "evil" god. The problem is you can't prove nor disprove any of this, so just relax, have some ovaltine, and someday the Truth will present itself.

[William D Simpson]

02:04 PM on 03/16/2011

This is Rob Bell at his best...

http://wsimpson.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/love-wins-is-rob-bell-at-his-best/

[Puck342]

12:30 PM on 03/16/2011

Nice as this sounds, as a Jew I am forever troubled by other religions working over my holy text and "seeing" their prophets inside a work that never knew them, never referenced them, never intended for their existence and in its own words decries any attempt to supplant G-d (in fact, the Torah is littered with stories of false prophets, and there is the First Proclamation).

[Alex Gartzia]

06:18 AM on 03/20/2011

Yeshua was a Jew. There is no argument here right? He is believed to be the leader of the Restoration movement that toppeled the Pharsees and led to the opening for Rabbinical Judaisim to take control of the Second Temple which in that time was also considered a flowering sect. He is distorted today, but I mostly side with Rabbi Jacob Emden's views on Yeshua. Best Regards,

[Maverick Jester]

01:08 PM on 03/26/2011

Jesus did not destroy the Pharisees. Many of the sages in the Talmud consider the Pharisees the forefathers of Rabbinic Judaism. Mainstream Judaism is a heir of the Pharisees. Jesus' teachings were not that different from the Pharisees. For example, Jesus' words to love one's neighbor as one's self was not original to him but comes from the Rabbi Hillel. In fact some scholars think that the caricature of the Pharisees as legalistic were added to the New Testament text after the fall of Jerusalem when Christianity was trying to distance itself from Judaism.

[pray4words]

12:14 PM on 03/16/2011

ok Bell seems to be reading from the book of Mary there love was the message and the son of god means mankind are the children of god..these statements makes more sense then the controlling and harmful mental attack of hell and fire..got to get more information about this spiritual man before I make a final decision...the message of love got my attention

[lissy0625]

12:09 PM on 03/19/2011

I think that's his point. Most Christians have moved away from the message that God loves us, no matter what, to the message that we must do this or that to know God. If they chose to, they would find the Gospels send quite a different message.

[urgk]

09:06 AM on 03/16/2011

If Christianity continues to evolve into something like a rational, philanthropic humanism, I'll happily cheer it along.

[JDuck]

08:34 AM on 03/16/2011

Hm.

How does Mr Bell reconcile all the violence committed by the same god that supposedly loves you...?

[isukusa]

10:49 PM on 04/04/2011

I don't know how Rob Bell would answer this question but I'll take a crack at it : ) God is not doing it to you but for you. In the Bible - Job says to his wife "... What? shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. In other works what Job spoke was true. God is the cause of both good and evil; also Isaiah 45:6 says that God creates evil. Most fundamentalists would deny that God does evil or that He creates it, that is suposedly Satan's job. For some odd reason Christians think they have to come to God's rescue but they actually create more harm than good. Anyway, the short answer, i believe is that during this evil age God causes evil to provide contrast for our future state. I don't think you can appreaciate joy without knowing sorrow, love without fear, peace without anxiety. I don't think a person can really appreciate

[ninetailedfox]

07:28 AM on 03/16/2011

As far as christians go, they can SAY whatever they want, but ITS WHAT THEY DO that matters.

[ninetailedfox]

07:27 AM on 03/16/2011

What Rob bell and many other liberal christians are doing does NOT change the fact that America is dangerously close to a theocracy. I feel like im drowning in the christian religion, and im not even christian. I dont tolerate intolerant religions. If that makes me intolerant in turn, so be it. Christians at least 80% believe their path is the ONLY path, and they expect me to be respectful of them for having such beliefs? That my friends, is bull. I will not tolerate the christian religion, and Jesus approved of slavery at least three times.

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

[thunk]

08:39 AM on 03/16/2011

Christians have always felt that they are right and everyone else is wrong. It was apparent to the Romans from day one, and raised havoc with the Roman policy of religious tolerance. Early Christianity was a thinly disguised revolt against Roman rule led by a dead martyr in the sky. Despite the message of love, Christianity has been about secular power, from the divine rights of kings to the persecution of non-believers. Of course it's not the only religion for which that is true. The hidden theocratic agenda of the ID-ers and conservative power mongers follows a long tradition, and entails a fundamental disrespect for secular law and constitutional government.

There are some Christian voices, like Jimmy Carter, who speak out against the excesses of fundamentalism. But he can't really point to anything theological for his position. Only that he doesn't think Jesus would act like that. There is nothing in Christianity itself which condemns intolerance and group think. Quite the contrary.

[lissy0625]

12:12 PM on 03/19/2011

"There is nothing in Christiani­ty itself which condemns intoleranc­e and group think." Quite true. However, if you look at the life of Jesus, the only people he yelled at were the "religious leaders" who had become quite intolerant.

The problem with Christianity today is that it resembles very little of the life of Jesus.

[Alex Gartzia]

06:23 AM on 03/20/2011

You are wrong. Christians died as martyrs in Rome. The closest you get to a "revolt" was the Shimabara Revolt in Japan. Secular power was a result of zealots and what most modern Christians think of as perversions of the faith. There is no theocratic agenda and if you please, I would love to hear what that agenda is. I didn't get my monthly newsletter. Christianity as I said before has a lot of sects and movements that are not anything that is recognized or promoted by theological leaders.

[thunk]

05:21 AM on 03/16/2011

Make your own conclusion­s about his more controvers­ial teachings and decide what to do with them.

"For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me"

I would say the message is clear. It's not about having rules about what sin is and isn't and imposing them on others and threatening them with damnation and making everyone "good" by controlling there behavior so we have a perfect world. It's not about reading porn, drinking alcohol, unmarried sex, going to church on Sunday, saying grace, being heterosexual, or even aborting fetuses. It's certainly not about going to war or reducing taxes. I don't know Rob Bell but it sounds like he's pretty much on the mark.

[Brandon Parks]

09:03 PM on 03/15/2011

Thank you Cathleen for this wonderful article in which you relate God's love to our ability as human beings to choose. Too many times in Christianity do religious leaders do everything they can to prevent the questioning of the masses, forcing their mass congregations to believe things that just do not seem loving. We are told in Scripture that God wants all to know him and be saved, which seems to contradict what we have come to understand as hell (our understanding of being shaped not by the Bible but by Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Divine Comedy, each written 1300 - 1500 years after the NT). As Christians, it our responsibility to reflect God's love by allowing people the freedom to choose their own beliefs and not to force anyone into a belief system, or into an ethical system they do not want to be a part of. If you like Rob Bell's teachings, come by blog and tell me what you think: whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com
And if you do not like Rob Bell's teachings, come by anyway, I'd be happy to see you.
Blessings,
-Brandon