Rob Bell - Love Wins - Pt. 2

"God loves us. God offers us everlasting life by grace, freely, through no merit on our part. Unless you do not respond the right way. Then God will torture you forever in hell." Huh?

This is a quote from Bells new book "Love Wins" and not only that, it's the quote that is used on the back of the jacket cover of the book. What bothers me the most is how he says that if you do not respond in the right way, God will torture you forever in hell. My question is: Where in the Bible does it say that God will torture you?? Talk about twisting the scriptures! This is the exact thing that could give new believers as well as those who have been saved for years, the wrong impression of God.

Let's look at (2 Peter 3:9) to see that it is Gods' desire that no one perish. God created us for a relationship with him - He loves us! It is WE that turn away from Him. It is WE that exercise our freewill to choose to repent and confess our sins and ask God to forgive us, or to turn our back on God and do things our way. Bell is correct, however that God does offer us everlasting life BY GRACE, through no merit on our part. He does repeat this fact many times throughout his book and doesn't allow any gray areas to creep in when it comes to this foundational Christian belief.

Still, on page 2, he states "If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few? Chance? Luck? Random selection.....?" ANSWER: (Romans 10:9-13) The answer couldn't be more simple or black and white. That's the great thing about God. He's made it very simple for us to understand. As He has made it abundantly clear about the eternality of heaven, He has also made it just as clear about the eternality of hell.

As John MacArthur has stated: "So, how could someone who claims to be faithful to Scripture ridicule the idea of eternal punishment? What is at the heart of their rejection of a never-ending hell? It’s simple, really—they minimize the seriousness of human sin and guilt, and they distort the perfection of divine justice. That’s the crime of Protestant Liberalism and every false religion."

Stay tuned....