Jay Passavant

It would be presumptuous of me to adequately seek to address the controversy that's been stirred up by Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins" in this short blog.



However, in the few days that I've had to contemplate the book since I read it upon it's early release, I've seen a couple of patterns of thought emerging that I feel are worth addressing.



These trains of thought are that there is...

A. "A lot of good points that Mr. Bell makes in his book that we need to consider such as living in the here and now as though it really made a difference."



There is a justifiable criticism of Christians who have taken such a view of their heavenly reward that they simply care very little about their earthly mission.



There is also some excellent dialogue around difficult and controversial issues that we tend to not want to wrestle with because we lack the intellectual integrity to do so.



There are other illustrations, of course, but the other issue which I think trumps all of these is as follows...

B. At the end of the book one is left with the clear impression that atonement - that is being made one with God through Jesus Christ (necessitated by the holiness of God), is not the only way that one enters into an eternal existence in the presence of God (heaven). This is the troubling conclusion of the book and in my view the most difficult hurdle for the proponents of the book to overcome.



This, of course, has opened Rob Bell to very outspoken charges of "crossing into universalism" and so on. I'm not sure that that's the case, but the danger that I see is that those who embrace the book because of it's well articulated challenges to the current state of the Church in America in terms of it's disengagement from culture, overshadow the more important conculsion of the book which is that heaven is nothing more than an extension of how we live our lives on the earth (including keeping the Ten Commandments).



For a much more detailed and complete critique of the book visit www.albertmohler.com and study his Wednesday, March 16th post.



There's much to be learned by healthy dialogue that can be stirred up through controversy. However, it's always the final outcome that's at stake and we must never surrender that. The only way that the Word of God remains the ultimate authority in matters of eternal redemption is to understand that Jesus neccessarily went to the cross as the only way by which we will experience eternal life in God's presence.



That's where I've chosen to take my stand and I challenge you to consider how we need to grow in communicating that message while caring in a loving way for the people around us who have not yet discovered such grace.



Blessings,

Dr. Jay