Love Wins and Justice Loses

^"1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,^[a] putting them in chains of darkness^[b] to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. ¹⁰ This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh^[c] and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;¹¹ yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from^[d] the Lord. ¹² But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.^{[e] 14}With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! ¹⁵ They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,^[f] who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

¹⁷ These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. ¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” ²⁰ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. ²² Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”^[g] and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”" 2 Peter Chapter 2

I know this is a lot to read but I believe in reading whole books, chapters, etc in comparison to picking a few verses to support my idea. A common theme in Love Wins, that has probably drawn the most controversy, is his idea of heaven. I want to make it clear that Pastor Bell is not completely wrong. I believe that He uses truth from the Scriptures but then expounds and draws the wrong conclusion. Pastor Bell writes that Jesus died for all creation. I agree. I agree that the blood of Jesus was shed for all people so that we (believers in Christ) can truly live in Grace. Pastor Bell would say, "What Jesus does is declare that he, and he alone, is saving everybody." It sounds great. Pastor Bell is not a universalist, He believes in one way to heaven. Here is where I disagree: He believes at the heart of every man is good, He believes that once you get to hell you have a chance to accept Christ. If what Pastor Bell preaches is true, then judgement wouldn't be so bad after all. Passages of Scripture like the one above would lose there sting. Verse 4, "⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,^[a] putting them in chains of darkness^[b] to be held for judgment..." Who cares if the whole passage is talking about God's judgement and alluding to the the Lake of Fire in Revelation and He wants to say that it is not true!

Let me ask you a question (I will use earthly examples like Bell):

If we all took the same important test, some got A's, some B's, Some F's and at the end of the test, the Teacher says, "All right, if you want an A, just hand me your test." Where is the justice in that? Where is the accountability in that? Now people will probably say, but Jon you should be happy for those people who should have gotten F's. I would respond that my feelings are not the issue here. God's perfection and justice are at issue here. If God is not fully and inflexibly just, then He seizes to be perfect, holy, loving, and just. God is the teacher who seizes to be righteous and just.

A problem I ran into in the book that is not spoken of directly but comes out in the reading is Can God be both LOVING AND JUST at the same time. You dont have to throw out Justice, so that God can be loving. As Humans we can not experience two emotions at the same time fully, but with God He can experience every emotion fully! He can be completely Loving, but also make people accountable for their decisions.

Did Christ's death mean nothing! Is there no accountability for those who have spit in his faith? In Matthew 26:35 it talks about how all of us will be held accountable for everything we have done. Where Pastor Bell does your scripture say that there is a second chance? I would say there is more evidence that people have this live to follow Christ, then there is that there are second chances. There is not place in scripture it says that God's love is manifested in passages that extend his desire that all will be saved and reconciled to him. That is his desire. Cant God desire something, and yet stay true to his Character of accountability? You ask, Does God get what He wants? You say no, if everyone doesnt go to heaven. I say that God does get what He wants. He gets glory. It is not about us, which Pastor Bell seems to make it a point that it is about US. It is about God receiving glory. And One day every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, whether it is in humble adoration of our Savior Christ, or whether our knee is forced to bow and suffer our justice in Hell. This may sound harsh compared Pastor Bells view. And it is. People say, thats not loving.

What would it take for me to show love. Would it be to twist the Scriptures and say everybody is in? God is unconditionally loving, but is also unconditionally just. The Scriptures say in Hebrews that man dies once, and then judgement. Not Judgements... There is one judgement, in which the choices your make to reject Christ or to pursue Him will matter. It is foolish to think that they wont. It is foolish to think that a "PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP" isnt in the Bible. The words dont appear, but the concept certainly does. In Corinthians it talks about a New Birth, God being the father, those who believe being Children, in Ephesians, it talks about the good works God has given his Children, we were adopted. Is that not personal enough? SO Pastor Bell, you are saying that I dont have to give one thought to God, I can live for myself, and when I die I can then accept Christ? Really....well shoot I'll do that!

I believe that this type of teaching, is a secret, destructive heresy. I dont believe that Pastor Bell is a false prophet, however, I believe what He is teaching about God will ultimately skew our thinking about God and we will lose the Truth of his Justice all because it sounds good. There is no way that you could read the Scriptures and come to the conclusions that Pastor Bell has made. I believe his thinking is a product of seeing circumstances in life, seeing hurt and pain, wanted all to come to know Christ. As preachers, we see it all the time and it is heart breaking. That same desire for all to come to God that Rob Bell has is the same desire God has. I just dont understand why Rob Bell is so urgent about it if it doesnt matter? If all are saved, then why does spreading the Gospel matter. Why write your book?

I believe that Pastor Bell has a heart for people, and hearing some of the stories in his book, will make your heart go out to those people. In this day in age, it is hard to use Scriptural Truths against emotion provoking stories. Because most will go along with the emotion provoking story. But we must remember that it is not about us. It is about God getting glory, even if we hate the way God has made things to be.