I’m looking forward to teaching an adult Sunday School class at my church later this month, focused on my book, WHO GOES THERE? A CULTURAL HISTORY OF HEAVEN AND HELL. Seems like hell is actually a hot topic right now, pardon the pun! Pastor Rob Bell’s book, LOVE WINS: A BOOK ABOUT HEAVEN, HELL AND THE FATE OF EVERY PERSON WHO EVER LIVED is causing a sensation even before its official release. This superstar minister actually appears to be saying something very old, although it appears very new to many.
The apostle Paul referred to the gospel of Jesus Christ as a “scandal” because, apart from divine intervention, we can’t accept it. No one wants to hear that he/she is a sinner and will not be able to live eternally in God’s presence apart from the atoning blood of Christ. Nor do we like to acknowledge that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.” We dislike the idea that those who die apart from Christ go to hell. We have become comfortable with the idea of a grandfatherly (or grandmotherly for the ardent feminist) image of God in which He is nothing but loving. We dislike hearing that sinners cannot stand in His holy presence apart from a Savior.
Yet, these things are true. The message that all are saved, by whatever means, is universalism, and it is clearly “another gospel,” no matter who says it or how it’s packaged.
At the end of my book I write:
“Living with the hope of Jesus Christ to overcome sin and hell gives meaning and perspective to life, as well as hope, purpose in suffering , and a moral foundation for individuals and society. Believing that we get all this, and heaven too, apart from Christ, is the most dangerous kind of folly.”
2