Firstly let me be clear. I am not interested in discussing this myself. I agree with Peterson’s assessment and comments. If others wish to engage with what Peterson is saying so be it but for my own sanity I will not be commenting. I simply found what Peterson had to say as wise Christ-like advice for all of us as we consider the way in which we dialogue. It always helps when someone much smarter than you makes your point for you! The whole article can be read HERE
Question to Peterson: What are your thoughts regarding Rob Bell’s book and the controversy it ignited? What inspired you to endorse the book?
Rob Bell and anyone else who is baptized is my brother or my sister. We have different ways of looking at things, but we are all a part of the kingdom of God. And I don’t think that brothers and sisters in the kingdom of God should fight. I think that’s bad family manners.
I don’t agree with everything Rob Bell says. But I think they’re worth saying. I think he puts a voice into the whole evangelical world which, if people will listen to it, will put you on your guard against judging people too quickly, making rapid dogmatic judgments on people. I don’t like it when people use hell and the wrath of God as weaponry against one another.
I knew that people would jump on me for writing the endorsement. I wrote the endorsement because I would like people to listen to him. He may not be right. But he’s doing something worth doing. There’s so much polarization in the evangelical church that it’s a true scandal. We’ve got to learn how to talk to each other and listen to each other in a civil way.
Question to Peterson:Do evangelicals need to reexamine our doctrines of hell and damnation?
Yes, I guess I do think they ought to reexamine. They ought to be a good bit more biblical, not taking things out of context. But the people who are against Rob Bell are not going to reexamine anything. They have a litmus test for who is a Christian and who is not. But that’s not what it means to live in community.
AMEN!
[HT BW3]
the archives near Emmaus 
I think what people don’t realize is that if they cast out Bell they will have to find someone else to copy their glasses from. But on a more serioues note, I agree with what Peterson is saying, I have been very disapointed in the way believers here have responded thus far. I hope that at least this will cause believers to evaluate the why’s and what’s of their beliefs.
LOL. He does look very cool. Way cooler than me!
Rev. 21:25 and Rev. 22:17 need to be examined very closely. Asking Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of the key terms in these two verses. For example, Who is the Spirit and who is the Bride? When are they doing the inviting? How does one become a part of the Bride? Can a person become a part of the Bride after death? Who is being invited, and when? What happens when they accept the invitation? And so on, and so on.
My position is not against Bell personally at all. He just is not prepared either biblically or theologically. Bashir helped to show us that, quite simple really! 🙂 And I personally will not read the/his book after all of this “excitement”.
This from the guy who is in charge of “The Message.”
Drops bomb. Whistles. Walks away…….
Here is an excellent article about the Rob Bell controversy from an Australian blogger.
http://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/love-wins-setting-the-scene-book-review-1/
It’s an excellent post that looks at the current debate as a cultural issue more than a religious issue –
Eugene makes some really interesting comments that reveal a few key points on his own theology and as well his true thoughts on this topic (I think). Keep in mind I have a huge amount of respect for Eugene. Huge.
His first statement “Rob Bell and anyone else who is baptized is my brother or my sister.” I would be interested to know what is definition of baptized is there.
He also clearly says that He does not agree with Bell on a lot of things, I would suspect that this topic is one of those things.
Also if I may take a bit of liberty (as I think he does with the Bible) I think we can more accurately read Eugene’s last comment like this: “They ought to be a good bit more biblical [than Rob Bell], not taking things out of context [like him].”
I do not agree with his assessment that everyone who disagrees with Bell will not take a look at their own theology. I disagree completely with bell but I am inherently assessing my theology. I am sure that there are some people who will read the book simply to figure out where he is wrong and how to prove it but if there is even a shred of the Holy Spirit working in a believer they would be prompted to assess their theology from an exegetical perspective. That’s one of the primary purposes of the Holy Spirit within us. Hopefully. Not always but hopefully.
I think there have been some good Christians that do not believe in hell, but it seems like as they grow and mature and read their Bible, most will come to believe in it. I believe it exists, but I don’t want to condemn those who have a hard time accepting it. For many people, it is a doctrine that takes time to come to terms with. When we say you have to believe in hell or you are not a true Christian, that just drives some people away. We should instead point to the scriptures and let them wrestle with it in their own way and time. Patience is a GOOD thing.
Rob Bell preaches “another gospel”. Paul warns the Galatians about this. Also 2 Timothy 3, and 4 speak out against men/ or women like this. Rob quotes John 3:17 in his new book as if to say Jesus came not to judge but save the world. But he steals this out of context as the next verse says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” He preaches a gospel that dodges the fact the God is Just, and will judge sin. It is a non offensive gospel. Which isn’t the gospel of the Bible. It is dangerous and to just talk about the love of God, when you don’t talk about the consequences of rejecting His love. I agree, christians need to not judge as if it is our idea but they need to preach that God will judge.
What strikes me as curious in this whole “controversy” is that Bell’s critics ignore the serious Biblical scholarship Bell has put into the writing of the book. We can quote biblical passages from 17th century and/or 21st century English translations all day long, but the Bible was not written in the 17th or 21st centuries, nor was it written in English. To understand the Bible accurately, one needs to delve in Hebrew and Greek, understand the historical contexts of the passages, the traditional Hebrew interpretations of the narratives, and the contexts of the ancient audience that received those paasges. Rob Bell does this in his book, and provides people with important information and learned guidance on the heaven/hell verses.
I have not read Rob Bell’s book,I’m just not curious enough to buy it, but I don’t think any person with an ounce of biblical knowledge would say that there is no hell.I think it’s much more likely that he is saying that hell is not what many of us are taught to believe it is. That is an important distinction and I think a clue that the person critiquing Rob Bell does not even
understand his argument. I challenge any of you to do a little research on the actual Hebrew and Greek and what the bible actually does say. I think it very likely that you will move toward Rob Bell’s opinion.
Bear in mind that according to orthodox theology in many denominations a 12 year old person (age of accountability) could die and burn in a fiery hell, not for 1 day .. not for ten years, but forever and ever. in hell .. ever burning but never being consumed. I argue with other Christians who do not even see this as being worthy of contention, and we wonder why the world thinks we are just a bunch of superstitious zealots.
Well if you read the book you’d know that Bell does believe in Hell.
and there are many with plenty of biblical knowledge who don’t believe in Hell. Some very conservative and well know ones at that!
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
I’m just making my way through Love Wins for the sixth time. Although I don’t swallow the book whole I would say it is definitely worth a read. It’s a sad state of affairs when people voice their opinions without so much as opening the cover of the book. It’s amazing to realize that some folks refuse to read it for fear of being deceived. My advice is to go ahead and read it because you’ll never be more deceived than you already are and there’s a good chance you’ll get over your fear of being deceived if you simply read Bell’s book. If reading Love Wins could ruin a person’s faith, they needn’t worry because they never had any real faith to lose. On the other hand there’s a good chance reading Bell’s book might just awaken a person into a state of real faith. I reckon if God can speak through a donkey, He might have a better chance of speaking to a person’s heart through a book like Love Wins. Whatever a person reads the one requrement necessary is to have ears that not only hear but listen. “To him who has hearing more shall be given but to him who does not listen even what he has shall be taken away.”
Peterson completely contradicts himself on his bad manners comment. After saying it is wrong to not listen to Bell and in fact bad manners to do so. He completely ditches, I’m assuming his other Christian brothers, by saying he doesn’t like those who speak about hell? Sad for one who use to be a clear thinker.