Bill Hawkins June 23rd, 2011

I should not admit this because it brands me as some sort of less-than-super-Christian, but, honestly, I never heard of Rob Bell!!
Ouch!! I'm just sayin! What's he all about anyway? Bless all of y'all! Bill

Kevin June 27th, 2011

A great deal of what you are talking about in this article, the idea of getting along and not compromising your beliefs, was on display at as I attended the Wild Goose Festival this past week. I could not stay for the whole thing, but I did listen to and talk to a number of Christians that I disagree with, but we did not have to fight about it, but we did settle on Jesus being the important thing.

Too many times Christians feel that they are letting down God if they don't loudly and vehemently correct a person that does not believe like them Too many times we hurt the Gospel more than we help it.

I don't know what will be written in the media about it, but I found that the Wild Goose experience helped me have hope for the future and for my children. Your article does too!

By the way, there were a lot of old white guys there, but I did not see you Steve. Why not? Maybe I just missed you at the beer tent.

Justin June 30th, 2011

I want to point out that you're basically wrong to defend Bell but I'm not your mother.

Brian MacArevey June 30th, 2011

Steve,

Brother…this article helps to restore some of the faith that I have lost in my Calvinistic brethren over the last couple of years. Thanks for this, and for your ministry as whole…you are a blessing. In Christ.

Brian

Ken Smith July 18th, 2011

Finally some one said what I thought… I really believed that I could express a feeling and not be like you and still not be kicked out of the kingdom. I have an audience of one and the last time I checked… he makes the call about who is in and out…

Mike July 29th, 2011

It seems to me that the bigger problem with the Bell controversy is not with the hell issue but some of the questions he's asked. I think that its been a case of killing the messenger. Rob Bell and Steve Brown are the two people that I listen to and read the most. Love you both! When love for doctrine and our churches takes the place of loving others we need not consider ourselves followers of Christ. Can't wait to read further.

Don Kaspersen August 12th, 2011

In my old age(pushing 67), I have become a Seven Day Eventist. No, not a Seventh Day Adventist. I have come to the conclusion that seven days a week, one hundred out of one hundred times the event trumps my opinion or yours.
Did Jesus rise from the dead? Where did anyone get the notion that his or her opinion twenty centuries later could effect an event that happened then? The future is much the same. Hell will be what it is, just as it is what it is right now. Heaven is and will be, in like manner. This is not "Dancing with the Stars" or "America's got Talent,"
where your opinion or Rob Bell's makes a real difference. It is not such a petty matter.
As a substitute teacher, I sometimes hear a rebellious student, contemplating some illegal activity say, "I could do two" or "I could do five," meaning years in prison, if I got caught, and it makes me wonder if there are people out there who imagine that if hell is not forever they could do the time until they were released. Perhaps, God has no choice. The amount of evil that would be around here might be many times worse, as unimaginable as that might seem. The question I ask myself is this: Can God make Hell less than eternal for the lost without some moral complicity in their evil?
I have no solid opinion at this time, but the question begs an answer.

Diana August 19th, 2011

I think we tread dangerous waters when we make excuses for unbiblical thinking. No, everyone won't go to heaven, and although that is sad it is true. I don't know who Rob Bell is and I don't know if he is going to heaven. I can, though, judge his beliefs and say whether they are biblical or not. People make excuses for all sorts of crazy thinking and they get into a lot of trouble and hurt other people. Jesus loves sinners, but He doesn't bid them to stay the same. What happened to dying to self and standing on the Word? I was saved at 18 out of living life as unbiblically as I knew how and Jesus gave me the opportunity to walk with Him and have a different life… to exchange my thoughts for His. My growth has been much slower than I would've expected, but that is how I am reminded of how much I need Him… just as much as the first day! I think it's best that if we as Christians just stop talking about behind people's backs. Ya know you can say, well you'll have to ask this guy who wrote the book about himself, but for the whole everyone's going to heaven thing, we can talk about that… Then you can go to your brother and express your concern for his whatever might be going on.

Eddie August 30th, 2011

I have a feeling Bell is wrong based on what I've seen in the bible. How ever, what I find more disturbing is the aggression and disdain with which many Christians who have "Good solid theology" speak of him and others who they disagree with. These people scare me because I don't sense any love in their comments. I know that I am making broad judgement based on comments but I cant help but realize that they don't "smell like Jesus". If Jesus himself said that he is a "Humble and gentle" God, why do these people sound scary and mean. Remember that "Love" is above everything else, even bad theology. I think Steve has the right idea. Peace!

Eddie August 30th, 2011

By the way. I do want to know if anybody thinks I'm way off base. Just please, I beg you, be gentle.

Andy August 31st, 2011

Hello, Eddie. No, you're not "way off base". It is indeed common for us believers to slip into fleshly, unloving ways of expressing our differences with each other, including "aggression and disdain". We need to carefully avoid that.

On the other hand, it may be helpful to review Matthew 23 and consider how Jesus addressed the problems He had with the scribes and the Pharisees. His words there are very severe.

Now I'm not suggesting that Rob Bell is in the same lamentable class as the scribes and Pharisees. The point is that though Jesus was "gentle and humble in heart", He still addressed serious, dangerous error with severity. Apparently the two are not incompatible.

Scripture is not kind to those who teach falsehood(I'll spare you all the references; you can easily look them up.). We tend not to recognize the terrible consequences such teaching so often carries with it, generally because the consequences show up only after some time has passed. As I write this a number of examples have passed through my mind, each of which makes me cringe and almost weep. I'll mention one: I live just a couple hours from where there was once a very large church founded and taught by a Bible scholar by the name of Hobart Freeman. Dr. Freeman was a former seminary professor, an expert in Hebrew and the Old Testament, who wrote a fine textbook used in one of my seminary classes entitled "An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets". But Dr. Freeman eventually adopted some extreme views, including the view that Christians should be healed of all diseases and physical problems by faith alone, and not utilize doctors, medicine, etc. under any circumstances, His congregation by and large adopted this view, and guess what happened? Researchers have documented approximately 100 unnecessary and untimely deaths in that congregation over a period of a decade or so, many of them infants, children, and mothers giving birth. Some of the stories are absolutely heart-wrenching. Dr. Freeman himself, holding fast to his teaching, died at age 64 of easily treatable conditions. He refused all medical intervention.

How would Jesus have dealt with a man whose beliefs were killing people, including many precious children? I suspect not very gently.

I haven't even addressed the destructive effects of the above teaching and others on people's souls. These are even worse. I've read sizable excerpts from Mr. Bell's book, and he teaches(unless I've terribly misread him) that though there is a hell, it is temporary. All who are sent there will eventually see their error, turn to God, and be reconciled to Him for eternity. Can you imagine the consequences here for those who embrace such a view? Strictures of time and space compel me to let the reader answer that question.

We all desperately need discernment and the leading of the Spirit of God in knowing how to address these difficult, painful matters.

Grace and peace to you, Eddie, and to Steve and all his readers here.

Jackie Bair August 31st, 2011

Dr. Brown, I am reading your June blog on August 31, and I am wondering if you continued your thoughts on Rob Bell in July or August – I can not find them. I am really glad you wrote on this topic – after having read Mr. Bell's book, I was concerned and confused, and so really appreciated your comments thus far.
In fact, I have to say I appreciate everything I have read or listened to by you – I am so glad I found your website! Thanks for everything! (Can't really support you – my hubby has been laid off since January of 2009. If your people would pray, he has a job interview on Sept.7 with a local university! thanks!)

Mike Brown February 26th, 2012

When I read scripture it seems to me that the people Jesus threatened with Hell (Gehenna, Steve I hope you tell us how this word became Hell) were the people who hoped some would not go to heaven.

Chris March 4th, 2012

I believe one can line Rob Bell's theology up with the early church leader Origen. Despite negative things about Origen, he was actually a great Christian who died a martyrs death.

Also, people keep trying to peg Bell down into some theological camp. Actually, some of the things Bell says in his book contradicts itself because he is a postmodernist and postmoderns love to say things like "this is my view but I may be wrong." If Bell's book does something, it shows maybe God's love wins in the end. I am not so sure that is true for his critics. There orthodoxy may be intact but they have lost their first love like the Ephesian Church in the book of Revelation.

jeff b crouse March 7th, 2012

Rob Bell is very controversial and it's good because it makes us all go to the word. Gehenna was a dump outside of Jerusalem, hell was translated from a word that simply means the grave.
To say Jesus overcame hell is to say He over came the grave.
As far as heaven is concerned……when do we go to heaven. When someone died, Jesus said they were merely "sleeping." There is a judgement day, if people go to heaven or a place called hell soon as they die, does this mean they are being sentenced before being judged? This would not be grace, nor would it be just.
So then would it be up to God, on judgement day, to allow people to throw themselves at the mercy of the court, and a sentence be rendered based on their heart?
Man wasnt created for the Bible, but the Bible for man. We cant possibly know everything because the Bible cant hold everything. We do know this, Jesus said take no thought of tomorrow, for today has enough trouble of its own. So it stands to reason if we do what we are supposed to do today (now) then we dont/shouldnt take thought about what happens tomorrow . (when we die)

Bill March 19th, 2012

Great discussion!! I respect both Steve and Rob. Both have written great books that make me think and pray for understanding. I am 60 years old and have come to realize I do not know all the answers. Is not the grace of God wonderful?

renée altson March 26th, 2012

Rob Bell asks the questions that others are afraid to ask. If it came down to my 2 favorite christian leaders, I would pick Bell and Brown.

no kidding.