No...Yes...Maybe...WELL?

Friday, August 4, 2023

The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  The Lord is good to everyone.  He showers compassion on all his creation….The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.  The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it.  When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.  The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.  The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth.  He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.  The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked.  I will praise the Lord, and may everyone on earth bless his holy name forever and ever.  Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

In 2011 Rob Bell, added to an ongoing enigma as old as the Garden of Eden when he published his book, Love Wins.  The debate centers-on the question:

Is God all-love, or does He judge some and save others?

Bell is the trendy preacher who began Mars Hill church in 1999.  It grew at a meteoric rate in just a few years to over 10,000 Sunday attenders.  Love Wins is, by any traditionally-accepted evangelical standards, heresy at worst, fluff masquerading as theology at least.  Mainline and Evangelical leaders alike consider Bell’s views as “universalist”, essentially meaning all humans are acceptable to God, no matter their actions, and, in the end, will be redeemed to spend eternity with God.  In short, universalist theology teaches there is no such thing as Hell; Rob Bell says it is merely a reference to suffering here on earth.  Bell also denies Scripture, saying the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a wrong interpretation of Scripture.  This places Bell in the category of heretic, according to John 20. Jesus wasn’t a ghost, as Thomas found out when he put his hands into the holes in Jesus’ hands and side!

By 2012 Rob Bell’s “church” crumbled.  He left Michigan and moved to California.  

He joined Oprah Winfry’s Supersoul Sunday podcasts, while continuing to travel the world giving seminars on spirituality and surfing.  By most accounts, he considers “church” as irrelevant. 

So, the question looms…is there punishment for sin…or not….or maybe?  Or do we just go with avoiding the question?  These questions are superfluous if you’ve taken the time and effort to read the Scriptures.  God is certainly love, and does not want anyone to suffer in Hell eternally.[1]  And if Scripture declares that punishment to be a reality, certainly it validates the existence of the place.  Hell is real, as is Heaven. 

There are (as Rob Bell holds) many things we do not know about God, or what He has in store for us.  However denying what God has plainly and categorically stated in Scripture is no way to humbly search for truth.  Faith is a matter of depending on His Word, and proclaiming it…not twisting it until it is unrecognizable.  That is what got humankind misled as far back as the Garden of Eden.  It’s Satan’s tool!

For You Today 

The Lord is compassionate, kind, and protective over those who stay close to Him and call on His name.  He is also the Creator, Sovereign God of the Universe, and destroys the wicked.  That is both sides of the entire scope of Scripture, humanity, evil, and good.  All of us, including Rob Bell, you, and I need to live with it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  

 

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Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

[1] 2 Peter 3:9