Rob Bell, founding pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has created something of a furor in the religious community with his book Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived. I have not read the book, and those who have seem to be divided over whether or not Bell is a universalist (one who believes that ultimately everybody will go to heaven). Bell, I understand, has not clearly stated whether or not he is a universalist, but many seem to believe that he is.
Various ones have weighed in on the book. One religion columnist says that Jesus in Matthew's Gospel warns "briefly" of everlasting fire. The columnist reveals his lack of acquaintance with everything that Jesus said in Matthew or in the other gospel records about the doom of the wicked. Too, apparently, what the apostles of Christ had to say about the subject matters little (never mind that they spoke and wrote by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit [John16:13; I Corinthians 2:12-13]).
The above mentioned columnist quotes a writer to the effect that "the risen Jesus while instructing his disciples saw no cause to mention hell or make further warning, even though he had visited the underworld after Good Friday." I wonder, exactly, what that has to do with whether or not hell is real. Did the crucifixion of Christ, His burial, and resurrection change what He had previously taught about the subject of hell?
The columnist refers to Jesus' post-resurrection instructions for His apostles to "Go and make disciples of all nations." Why did Jesus give those instructions? What becomes of those who refuse to become His disciples? The columnist said: "Love of God and neighbor should be so consuming (so interesting, challenging) that there's no time to fantasize fearfully about hell's location, temperature or occupancy rate." He seems to have overlooked several statements Jesus made in Matthew's Gospel, including: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (10:28). In Matthew's Gospel, Christ said that "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it" (7:13-14). Later, He declared: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (7:21). In Mark's Gospel, Jesus described hell as "the fire that shall never be quenched" (9:43), and then three times in rapid succession referred to it as the place where "their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" (9:44, 46, 48). All of these say something about "hell's location, temperature or occupancy rate"—if one is willing to believe what Jesus very plainly states about the matter. Other inspired writers of the New Testament also weigh in on the matter in such passages as II Thessalonians 1:6-10; Revelation 21:8; et al. We are not left to guess or surmise about hell and the punishment of the wicked and disobedient.
The good news (gospel) is that no one has to go to hell. The Lord is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (II Timothy 2:4). Christ, by the grace of God, died for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). But only those who obey Him will actually be saved (Hebrews 5:9). In the language of the great theologian, Paul the apostle, God "will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek…." (Romans 2:6-9).
It's pretty hard to miss the Bible's message concerning the destiny of both the good and the bad…the obedient and the disobedient.
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