Rob Bell has been widely touted to be a universalist since he began to promote his new book, Love Wins.  His publisher, Harper Collins, described the book in their press releases this way, “Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news"?

Troubling questions—so troubling that many have lost their faith because of them. Others only whisper the questions to themselves, fearing or being taught that they might lose their faith and their church if they ask them out loud. But what if these questions trouble us for good reason? What if the story of heaven and hell we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if what Jesus meant by heaven, hell, and salvation are very different from how we have come to understand them? What if it is God who wants us to face these questions? Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined.”

In a YouTube video announcing the book’s release, Bell himself suggested that his book would be presenting a version of the “good news” of Jesus Chris that is better than the one we have heard over the centuries since the Lord’s ascension. He posed questions about the reality of hell, the absurdity of the idea that God would punish rebellious humans for eternity, and he hinted at a hope for eternal life that might be extended to all men everywhere after all.  Immediately he was charged with having become a universalist.  Was this a merely reactionary response to Bell’s apparent denial of the exclusivist claims of Christ and the Christians who have followed him throughout the centuries?  It would appear to be more serious than that.  John Piper is a well respected pastor and theologian who is neither prone to reactionary responses nor inclined to short reflections regarding biblical truth.  He responded to Bell’s book by tweeting simply, “Farewell Rob Bell.”  One blogger suggested that this terse phrasing was intended by Piper to sound a death knoll for Bell who is himself one of our nation’s best loved and brightest young preachers.  Perhaps Piper’s words were a predictable reply from an exclusivist theologian in response to a brother who seems to be distorting the centrality of Christ in matters of eternity consequence.  Has Bell done that?  Few who were writing when the book was announced initially doubted that he had - but fewer still had had the benefit of actually reading it!  Now, after reading the book myself, I would conclude that Bell is in fact an inclusivist with universalist leanings - a follower of Christ who seems to have strayed from the gospel’s teaching about a straight and narrow path by which others can be led to saving faith in Jesus wandering into a wider road offering false security for those who find accountability to God in this life a hard discipline to embrace.

The distinction between these various positions in question as folks respond to Bell bears a little explanation for the average Christian reader.  So, here is a brief synopsis of three main views theologians hold as options regarding God’s saving grace and its availability to men during their lives on earth.  Grasping the differences here will help you understand my interpretation of Bell’s theology which will begin in my next posting on this subject.  For now, the three main views about saving faith are:

1.  Universalism  -- "All roads lead to God and all major world religions offer hope of  salvation."

Universalism is a form of religious or philosophical pluralism that asserts the view that all major religions are equally valid and that all of them lead to God and to salvation. Thus, no one religion is inherently better or superior to any other major world religion and no one faith has a corner on truth. For a Universalist, all the major religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam are equal. For Universalists, there may be differences in rituals and beliefs among these groups, but on the most important issues, there is great similarity. Most religions, for example, stress love for God and love for fellow human beings. Most religions also have a form of the Golden Rule and dictate moral conduct and convictions. Universalists also point out that there are pious people in all the major religions. Universalism has become increasingly popular in the the latter half of the twentieth century. The leading proponent of radical Universalism in the last few decades has been English theologian and philosopher, John Hick.

2.  Inclusivism  -- "One religion is best but salvation is possible in other religions."

"Inclusivism" is the position that one religion is uniquely true but salvation is accessible to those outside of that faith. For example, a Christian inclusivist might say, "I am a Christian and I think Christianity is the most correct religion, but I also think there is saving truth in other religions like Islam and Hinduism. People of other faiths can be saved by Jesus even if they do not explicitly believe in Him." Inclusivists do not go as far as universalists in that inclusivists do not claim that all religions are equal. They do believe, though, that truth and salvation can be found in other religions. Some Christian inclusivists claim that the salvation of Jesus is unknowingly applied to adherents of other religions who exercise good faith in their religious practices and who live moral lives. Catholic and Inclusivist theologian, Karl Rahner, has referred to such people as “anonymous Christians,” a term that has been popularized in the world of interfaith dialogue, but one which proves patronizing to the non-Christians so labeled.

The sixteenth century reformer Ulrich Zwingli held to a form of Inclusivism. The Roman Catholic Church and several mainline Protestant denominations have also shifted toward Inclusivism in recent decades. The Roman Catholic “Vatican II Council” of the 1960s explicitly declared that people of other religions could be saved. Evangelical theologian, Clark Pinnock, too, has espoused an Evangelical Inclusivism though this may seem like a contradiction in terms. Traditionally, religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism have been proponents of Inclusivism as well.

3.  Exclusivism -- "Salvation is found in only one religion."

"Exclusivism" is the view that there is only one way to God and salvation. Thus one religion is uniquely and supremely true and all other religions are implicitly false. Evangelical Christianity is often viewed as an exclusive religion because of Jesus’ statement in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” In addition to Christianity, the religions of Islam and Judaism have traditionally been considered to be exclusive religions. Those who hold to Exclusivism usually affirm that other religions possess elements of truth, but these religions do not teach ‘the truth’ that is able to save its adherents. For evangelicals, the uniqueness of Christ and the biblical claim that his sacrifice alone can secure the promise of reconciliation with God and eternal life in heaven, demands that we maintain an exclusivist perspective.

In an increasingly pluralistic society, holding an exclusivist position is nether acceptable nor popular.  To believe that the Bible is God’s true revelation to man and that it alone is a reliable guide in matters spiritual is to openly offend those who reject the authority of Scripture.  In an attempt to assuage the intense rejection of absolute truth drawn from the word of God, many Christian leaders (and even whole denominations) have softened their conviction on this point, weakened their commitment to biblical principles, and welcomed compromising positions that prove more compatible with current cultural perspectives.  As a result, our nation is drifting away from the truths that support such values as the sanctity of life, the institution of marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman,  the importance of sexual morality, the impropriety of homosexual lifestyles, and the belief that salvation by grace through faith is available through Christ alone.  Thus the furor in response to Bell.  Evangelical leaders are rightly concerned when one of their own notable teachers claims to have fresh truth to share about saving faith and the eternal implications of sin.  To the extent that Bell intentionally contradicts established boundaries of biblical orthodoxy, a negative response is predictable.  Perhaps Piper was not pronouncing a judgment against Bell, as if excommunicating him.  If Bell’s teaching in Love Wins represents a departure from his evangelical roots, Piper may have been simply saying goodbye to Bell as he leaves those of us in the evangelical camp.  In my next blog we’ll begin to examine the issues Bell’s book raises for evangelicals and you can judge for yourself if he has strayed from biblical truth.