Francis Chan on: The Danger In Minimizing The Doctrine Of Hell
December 29th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
NPR had a piece that looked back at the interest in hell that took place in 2011. A large part of the article looked at the controversy Rob Bell made in his book Love Wins. The piece went on to look at Francis Chan’s book Erasing Hell which was written as an answer to Bell’s book.
I thought this quote from Chan was interesting:
But when Chan studied the Bible and particularly Jesus’ teachings, he concluded there is a place of torment called hell. He wrote his book, Erasing Hell, to counter Bell’s kinder, gentler message. What happens if Bell is wrong, Chan worries, and people become complacent about their eternal destiny?
“If you’re going to jump out of a plane and someone threw a backpack on you and said, ‘Trust me, it’s a parachute,’ and I’ve opened it up, and I go, ‘No, it’s just a backpack! It’s not going to work,’ ” Chan says. “And so in the same way, if there’s a belief that, well, God’s going to let us all go [to heaven]. No! I’ve looked, I’ve looked into the Scriptures and that’s not what I see.”
You May Not Like The Questioner But The Question Still Holds Merit
March 1st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.
Rob Bell recently caused quite the kerfuffle with a promo video for his new book “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.” Many evangelical Christian authors and pastors were quick to denounce him with a vigor just short of one that would include tarring and feathering or burning in effigy.
While I am not surprised by the fury Bell ignited with his video, I am saddened that the stridence with which it has been criticized in spite of the fact that very, very few people have actually read the book. (The book has not yet been released.) In fact most of the most vociferous critics in this controversy have not even read it.
The most troubling fact for me is that even as distasteful as the question may be it is still a legitimate and very troubling question: Would a loving God send a person who has never heard of Jesus to hell to suffer for all eternity?
One of my biggest problems with contemporary American evangelical Christianity is the tendency to gloss over the tough questions and to brand those who dare to ask “Why?” as heretics. I am not a universalist and usually hold pretty orthodox Christian views. Yet, I struggle with this question mightily. Author Rachel Held Evans puts it this way:
Ready or not, we are having this conversation. And it’s important that a variety of views are represented fairly and accurately—from exclusivism to inclusivism to conditional immortality to universalism. The Christian tradition is rich with a diversity of perspectives regarding heaven and hell, and we should hear them all out. Most of us are not so impressionable as to simply believe whatever one or two popular theologians tell us, but to do the research and reflection necessary to make up our own minds.
This past Sunday my pastor who is a very conventional guy, questioned the trend among Christians to avoid engaging the culture around us because the culture may not agree with our theology. His point was that how can we expect to have the theological conversations with our non-Christian neighbors if we aren’t there to hear their questions?
I don’t know what Rob Bell says in his book as I haven’t read it yet. However, I do believe that his question struck a nerve because many of us also wonder about the answer to this question. I also believe God is big enough to handle my questions.
