{"id":1193,"date":"2011-03-01T11:16:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.wordpress.com\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2011-03-01T11:16:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:16:43","slug":"who-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/who-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Wins?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, Rob Bell, young evangelical&#8217;s favorite controversial expounder of questionable truth, has a new book coming out. \u00a0For the record, no, I&#8217;m not a fan and, yes, I&#8217;m fine with you knowing that. \u00a0In the stream of what has emerged as the emergent church movement in which the Gospel is regularly compromised and a kinder, gentler god (that is, kinder and gentler than Scripture tells us), a new step towards outright rejection of historical Christianity has, well, emerged.<\/p>\n<p>With Bell&#8217;s new book, it appears that he has not only taken on Hell, but defeated it. \u00a0The book has not yet been released and, therefore, I have not read it, but in this case, there appears no surprises in store. \u00a0Bell makes his goals very clear in the promotional trailer. Here, see it for yourself:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><div class=\"embed-vimeo\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/20272585\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p>I <em>hope<\/em> just watching that video is enough to trouble you about the message being preached by the pastor of a church of thousands of loyal disciples (at least of Rob Bell). I&#8217;m troubled on so many levels by this entire line of thinking. \u00a0Here are just a couple of questions that surface for me in light of Rob Bell&#8217;s &#8220;questions&#8221;: \u00a0If there is no hell, why is there a cross? \u00a0Why would Jesus suffer so cruelly when it would clearly be unnecessary? \u00a0What does it say of the holiness and justice of God (and God&#8217;s perceived seriousness of that in Scripture), if there is no penalty for willfully offending that holiness? \u00a0Why does Jesus claim to be the only way if God is cool with <em>any<\/em> way?<\/p>\n<p>Some have criticized those who have sounded the alarm to this upcoming book as extremists who have jumped the gun before even reading the book. \u00a0Normally, I might agree with them. \u00a0In certain cases, though, it is justified. \u00a0In this particular case, an entirely different book than the one promoted would have to be written in order for the message to be different.<\/p>\n<p>Since some excellent critiques of Bell&#8217;s message in the above video have been offered (which I strongly encourage you to take the time to read), I&#8217;ll simply point you to some of them for consideration so you can make your own determination:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Kevin DeYoung of the Gospel Coalition &#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/justintaylor\/2011\/02\/26\/rob-bell-universalist\/\" target=\"_blank\">To Hell with Hell<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/kevindeyoung\/2011\/02\/28\/bell-brouhaha\/\" target=\"_blank\">Two Thoughts on the Rob Bell Brouhaha<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Taylor&#8217;s Between Two Worlds &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/justintaylor\/2011\/02\/26\/rob-bell-universalist\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rob Bell: Universalist?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Denny Burk &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dennyburk.com\/rob-bell-outs-himself\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rob Bell Outs Himself<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The only way in which love wins is if Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, freely offers Himself for the sake of the fallen that are destined for an eternal hell, in order to satisfy the justified wrath of a holy God who must avenge offenses against that holiness in order to maintain it. \u00a0When the sinner is declared righteous by the imputation of Christ&#8217;s own righteousness through faith and repentance, love wins.<\/p>\n<p>The highest form of cruelty is to give a doomed man a false sense of hope. \u00a0If the message of Rob Bell&#8217;s new book remains consistent with what has been promoted about it thus far, <em>Love Win<\/em>s may be a financial success, but Mr. Bell will have committed an act that demonstrates the absolute farthest thing from love.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=Who+Wins%3F\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/who-wins\/\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, Rob Bell, young evangelical&#8217;s favorite controversial expounder of questionable truth, has a new book coming out. \u00a0For the record, no, I&#8217;m not a fan and, yes, I&#8217;m fine with you knowing that. \u00a0In the stream of what has emerged as the emergent church movement in which the Gospel is regularly compromised and a kinder,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[52,64,123,267],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-jf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1210,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/love-wins-part-deux-the-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":0},"title":"Love Wins, Part Deux: The Review","date":"March 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Borrowing the words of that great pop-philosopher, Charlie Sheen, Love Wins is a, \"Duh, winner!\" Not so fast. Would anybody else second that? \u00a0Depends on your theological persuasion. \u00a0Love wins has been reviewed now and the verdict is about the same as before: If you're interested in Universalism, this book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christianity&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1227,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/rob-bell-attempts-to-explain-apparent-inconsistencies-in-love-wins\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":1},"title":"Rob Bell Attempts to Explain Apparent Inconsistencies in Love Wins","date":"March 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"MSNBC interview with Martin Bashir: What do you think? Did he adequately answer the questions or did he continue in the postmodern practice of embracing and promoting contradictory propositions? UPDATE: Listen to an excellent follow-up interview with Martin Bashir.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christianity&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4259,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/jesus-wins-the-good-news-of-the-end-times-book-recommendation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":2},"title":"Jesus Wins: The Good News of the End Times (Book Recommendation)","date":"February 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It is sad but true: in the evangelical church, Eschatology (the study of the culmination of history or \u201cend times\u201d) has become a point of division.\u00a0 With differing (and competing) views used as lines in the sand of whether an individual or leader is \u201cin\u201d or \u201cout,\u201d it seems as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/B2CEFE08-73BD-4783-944A-60ECA4D1A80A-e1551402544780.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4417,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/article-recommendation-christianity-is-not-just-about-a-personal-relationship-with-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":3},"title":"Article Recommendation: Christianity is Not Just About A Personal Relationship With Jesus","date":"May 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned a thought-provoking article on Sunday that I promised I would share on my website this week. The author of the article, Chad Bird, argues that when we are called into a relationship with God, it is not so much about a personal relationship with Jesus but is much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christian Living&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0C0415BD-BB97-45A9-8A32-966FBF990A91.jpeg?fit=707%2C471&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1492,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/chattanooga-wins\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":4},"title":"Gotta brag on my adopted\u2026","date":"June 28, 2011","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Gotta brag on my adopted hometown a little:\u00a0 Chattanooga wins Facebook vote in Outside magazine\u2019s \u2018Best Town Ever\u2019 contest It really is a great place to live. Click the link above to read the article.","rel":"","context":"In \"Chattanooga\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/tumblr_lnhzea9len1qjje4ko1_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1995,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/chattanooga-wins-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1193,"position":5},"title":"Gotta brag on my adopted\u2026","date":"June 28, 2011","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Gotta brag on my adopted hometown a little:\u00a0 Chattanooga wins Facebook vote in Outside magazine\u2019s \u2018Best Town Ever\u2019 contest It really is a great place to live. Click the link above to read the article.","rel":"","context":"In \"Chattanooga\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}