As a young evangelist, I had the privilege of being mentored by two wonderful people.
Canon John Chapman was, at that time, evangelist with the Anglican Diocese of Sydney; he was a great communicator who worked very hard on his scholarship to ensure that whatever he said and wrote was accurate and biblical. David Cook was, at that time, director of the Whitfield Institute in Oxford. He was a great scholar who worked hard on his communication to ensure that his accurate knowledge was communicated clearly and effectively. Following in their footsteps as a mentor of young evangelists and a leader of a mission organisation, I do everything I can to encourage my team and associates to be ‘scholar-communicators’.
However, I also warn them that, if they can only manage one part of the dual scholar-communicator role, then they should be a scholar rather than a communicator. A good scholar who is a poor communicator is, at worst, boring. But a good communicator who is a poor scholar is downright dangerous — such people have the ability to communicate all sorts of error, and to communicate it very well.
Great communicator
There is no doubt that Rob Bell is a great communicator. He can grasp and hold an audience for long periods of time. Whether he is speaking live, on film or in print, he can take difficult ideas and make them accessible to ordinary people. He can lead his listeners and readers down a complex train of thought. And he can convince people to change their minds, even about long-held opinions.
But is he a good scholar? Does he follow Paul’s instruction to Timothy that he should ‘correctly handle the word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2.15)? In his latest book, Love Wins, he explores the Bible’s teaching about heaven, hell, judgment and salvation. He considers whether the beliefs that have been taught to many Christians are in fact what the Bible actually teaches. He asks: if God wants everyone to be saved, does God get what he wants?
Before this book was published, the web was humming with blogs and tweets speculating on whether Rob has moved into a form of universalism or even pluralism. Since it was released, the Christian press has published many reviews. My purpose here is not to add to that list of speculations or reviews, but to step back and see what all of us can learn from this saga.
False dilemma
First, we can learn the importance of clear and precise thinking. Unfortunately, Rob misleads his reader when he falls into one of the most basic logical fallacies — called the ‘false dilemma’. This is when two alternative truth claims are presented as if these are the only two options; whereas, in fact, there are others. One of the greatest dangers of presenting a false dilemma is that we lead people to assume that, if one answer is obviously wrong and there is only one alternative, then that alternative must be correct.
And that is what happens in this book. He effectively criticises a view of the gospel that reduces it to a cheap ticket to heaven. He clearly points out that the Bible does not provide a mechanistic description of salvation, no simple one-size-fits-all sinner’s prayer. And he robustly criticises a view that sees God changing his character from ‘kind and compassionate’ to ‘cruel and relentless’ according to our response to the gospel (p.182). But, as he completes this demolition job, he then presents his particular perspective as if it is the only alternative available.
Confusion of terms
Second, we learn the importance of clear definition of terms. Being clear about the words we use is as important for Christian communicators as sharpening knives is for a butcher — if we fail to do this we will create a mess. This is what happens when Rob does make some reference to other perspectives. For example, he says: ‘There is inclusivity, the kind that is open to all religions, the kind that trusts that good people will get in, that there is only one mountain, but it has many paths’ (p.162). This beautifully written sentence manages to confuse inclusivism, universalism and pluralism — three very different views which each have a number of variants (see Peter S. Williams’s Glossary of Terms below).
Story over truth
Third, we learn the danger of valuing a story more than truth. Certainly truth can be revealed in the context of story, but we must never let the tail wag the dog. When Rob says that ‘a God who inflicts unrelenting punishment… isn’t a very good story’ (p.118), he demonstrates how he has succumbed to the danger of prizing an appealing story over and above an uncomfortable truth.
Misquoting Scripture
Those are three important lessons for all of us. But, as valuable as they are, they all pale into insignificance compared with the fourth — the danger of misquoting Scripture. Here are two examples both on the same page (p.116).
He affirms those who ‘refuse to accept the scenario in which somebody is pounding on the door… only to hear God say… “Door’s locked. Sorry. If you had been here earlier…”’. Rob thinks that God would never say something like that. Well, didn’t Jesus tell a story that ends with ‘and the door was shut’ (Matthew 25.10)?
Then he quotes from chapter two of 2 Timothy — that God ‘cannot disown himself’ (v.13). Those three words are accurate, but he fails to point out that this is part of one of Paul's Christological hymns that, yes, does provide the comforting words that ‘if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot disown himself’ — but it also gives the stark warning that ‘if we disown him, he will also disown us’.
Rob Bell certainly is a great communicator and we must pray for him and his continued ministry. But perhaps my greatest prayer is that he will surround himself with sources of good biblical scholarship that will enable him to be a good workman, correctly handling the word of truth. As many mothers have said to their children: ‘if you can’t be a good example then unfortunately you will become a dreadful warning.’
Nick Pollard is the co-founder of the Damaris Trust (http://www.damaris.org), which exists to build a global community of people with a firm grasp of the Bible, a clear understanding of contemporary popular culture, and the ability to connect one to the other.
For a more technical review see http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND VARIANTS
By Peter S. Williams
Inclusivism: Salvation is only found in Christ, but a person can be saved in Christ without explicitly knowing that, or how, they are saved.
Pluralism: Different religions are inherently salvific (e.g. a Hindu is saved by his Hinduism) with different religious beliefs being analogous to different paths up the same mountain.
Universalism: Eventually no one goes to hell and hence all humans will be saved. Universalism is compatible with a number of different beliefs about how people are saved, and may be combined with forms of inclusivism or pluralism.
