Rob Bell - Beliefs

Beliefs

In his writings, Bell says "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." However, he acknowledges Scripture as the authoritative source of truth by which to compare all other truths in the Mars Hill Bible Church statement of narrative theology.

Bell says, "This is not just the same old message with new methods. We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don't deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don't speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God."

Bell's book Love Wins caused a major controversy within the evangelical community. The controversy was the subject of a Time Magazine cover story and a featured article in the New York Times. In the book, Bell states that "It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief (in hell as conscious, eternal torment) is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear." In this book, Bell outlines a number of views of hell, including universal reconciliation (also known as universalism). Though he does not choose any one view as his own, he states "Whatever objections a person may have of, and there are many, one has to admit that it is fitting, proper, and Christian to long for it."

The book was criticized by numerous conservative evangelical figures (in particular some reformed church leaders), such as Albert Mohler, John Piper, John MacArthur, and David Platt, with Mohler saying that the book was "theologically disastrous" for not rejecting universalism. Other evangelicals, such as Brian McLaren, Greg Boyd and Eugene Peterson defended Bell's views. Bell denies that he is a universalist and says that he does not embrace any particular view but argues that Christians should leave room for uncertainty on the matter. As Jon Meacham stated, Love Wins presents "case for living with mystery rather than demanding certitude." Some evangelicals argued that this "uncertainty" is incompatible with Scripture, while others say that the book is simply promoting overdue conversation about some traditional interpretations of Scripture. In the book, Bell also questions evacuation theology which has Christians focused on getting to heaven, instead of focusing on God's renewal and transformation of this world. Bell argues that Jesus (and the wider Jewish tradition of which he was a part) focused on God's ongoing restoration of this world, not getting individuals to heaven.

At his Viper Room appearance in July 2012, Bell took a question from an audience member concerned about the church's acceptance of gay members. Said Bell, "Some people are gay, and you're our brothers and you're our sisters, and we love you. We love you... are passionate disciples of Jesus just like I'm trying to be, so let's all get together and try to do something about the truly big problems in our world." On March 17, 2013, in an interview at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Bell said, "“I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it’s a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man.” “And I think the ship has sailed. This is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are.”

Bell appears to distance himself further from mainstream Evangelicalism in an interview on March 17, 2013, by talking about what he sees as the death of Evangelical Christianity in the sense of it being “a very narrow, politically intertwined, culturally ghettoized Evangelical subculture". He says that Evangelicals have “turned away lots of people” from the church by talking about God in ways that “don't actually shape people into more loving, compassionate people”, adding that Evangelicals “have supported policies and ways of viewing the world that are actually destructive, and we've done it in the name of God and we need to repent."