Love Wins

"Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.' But He will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me all you evildoers!' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out..." -Luke 13: 22-28

This past spring, a megachurch pastor from Grand Rapids, MI drew lots of attention and criticism for his views on salvation, heaven, and "the fate of every person who ever lived" when he put out a book that lays the foundations for a more mainstream version of a fringe doctrine called Christian universalism. Rob Bell understands that the term "universalist" has a less than favorable connotation in the majority of evangelical circles (he hates labels anyway; they ruin the surprise) and, of course, says that he is not one. Love Wins is more an emotionally-driven opinion piece than a theological treatise but many people have found its argumentation compelling and convincing. Rather than laying out a solid Biblical argument for his defense of the doctrine, Rob Bell asks a slew of rhetorical questions such as "Are only a few people really going to be saved and billions will perish?" and "Could a good God really send people to hell?" or "If God really desires that all be saved, doesn't God get what God wants?" A potential alternative definition to the Greek word for "eternal" and some unanswered (but really they are answered indirectly) rhetorical questions later, we have a book that espouses the idea that eventually everyone who ever lived will be saved and go to heaven because God's love always wins regardless of whether we accept it in this life or not.

It's interesting that Rob Bell asks a question rhetorically that is repeated genuinely almost verbatim by a man in the Gospel of Luke (see above). However, instead of discussing how Jesus answers the question, Bell provides his own answer using some sketchy theology and selective discussion of Scriptures on the topic of salvation. The flaws in this approach should be obvious. God in human form answers a real question from a real person and it's not worth mentioning in a book that asks the same question? It's hard to understand why.

Without a thorough understanding of human depravity and the far reaching effects of sin and the fall, it would seem pretty unfair for God to "send" people to hell. But Rob Bell never once mentions the effects of sin on our relationship with God in his book. He talks only of how sin is what we humans do to each other. There's nothing in the book about our rebellious nature which leads to a broken relationship with our Creator, nothing about the justice and holiness of a perfect God Who cannot look on sin. There's nothing about the wages of sin being death or the desperate need for a perfect Savior Who emptied Himself and was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. We deserve death and the wrath of God for our blatant wickedness but He provided a way to reconciliation through the blood of Christ on the cross. We may choose this path of reconciliation and receive salvation or we may choose to continue to have it our way which leads right to hell. Nobody is being "sent" anywhere. With this understanding, the concept of heaven and hell don't seem so unfair, judgmental, and narrow after all.

Love does not win when what we do and believe do not matter. Love does not win when God's unfathomable sacrifice is a convenient catch-all to get into heaven whether you choose it or not. Love does not win when repentance doesn't really matter in the long run and when the sheep and the goats really aren't that much different after all. Love wins because a perfect, just, and loving God Who cannot look on our sin decided to take our punishment so that we may be reconciled back to Him. His sacrifice matters and so does our acceptance of it.