Dear Pastor Rob Bell,
Good Evening! I am writing in regards to your recent book entitled, "Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person who ever lived." I believe that in the book you attempt to explain to your readers a theological system known as Universalism. Correct me if I am wrong but you believe that there is no Hell and that every person regardless of what they believe will end up in Heaven. I can only imagine all of the letters, e-mails and phone calls you have received in the past few days since the subject matter of your book was released. How has the reception been? Are individuals being challenged by your teachings or are they rebuking you and pleading with you to return back to a more traditional view of Christianity?
I am writing you to neither rebuke you or to say I agree with what you have written, rather, I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your book. Thank you for having the guts to say what the majority of the people in our churches actually believe. Someone once said that the majority of individuals in church today are functioning universalists. In one sense we affirm a literal Hell but with our actions we deny the existence of a literal Hell or the simple fact that hundreds of people go everyday. We show we are functioning universalists when we do not share the Gospel with our unsaved friends, family members, co-workers, or neighbors. We show we are functioning universalists in the fact that we only give 2% of our income to the work of foreign missions. We show we are functioning universalists in the fact that there are still billions of people who have never heard the name of Christ yet we struggle over God's Will for our lives. We show we are functioning universalists in our education. I attend a Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina and when you walk through the Student Center you will hear more individuals arguing over Calvinism vs. Arminiasm or End Times, rather than talking about how to best share our faith with those we come in contact with. We may claim to believe in a literal Hell but by our actions we show we are functional universalists.
In conclusion, thank you for having the guts to say what the majority of individuals in the church actually believe. Thank you!
Sincerely,
A Repentant Functioning Universalists
Good Evening! I am writing in regards to your recent book entitled, "Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person who ever lived." I believe that in the book you attempt to explain to your readers a theological system known as Universalism. Correct me if I am wrong but you believe that there is no Hell and that every person regardless of what they believe will end up in Heaven. I can only imagine all of the letters, e-mails and phone calls you have received in the past few days since the subject matter of your book was released. How has the reception been? Are individuals being challenged by your teachings or are they rebuking you and pleading with you to return back to a more traditional view of Christianity?
I am writing you to neither rebuke you or to say I agree with what you have written, rather, I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your book. Thank you for having the guts to say what the majority of the people in our churches actually believe. Someone once said that the majority of individuals in church today are functioning universalists. In one sense we affirm a literal Hell but with our actions we deny the existence of a literal Hell or the simple fact that hundreds of people go everyday. We show we are functioning universalists when we do not share the Gospel with our unsaved friends, family members, co-workers, or neighbors. We show we are functioning universalists in the fact that we only give 2% of our income to the work of foreign missions. We show we are functioning universalists in the fact that there are still billions of people who have never heard the name of Christ yet we struggle over God's Will for our lives. We show we are functioning universalists in our education. I attend a Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina and when you walk through the Student Center you will hear more individuals arguing over Calvinism vs. Arminiasm or End Times, rather than talking about how to best share our faith with those we come in contact with. We may claim to believe in a literal Hell but by our actions we show we are functional universalists.
In conclusion, thank you for having the guts to say what the majority of individuals in the church actually believe. Thank you!
Sincerely,
A Repentant Functioning Universalists
Great insights! Just came across this from a reference at the mlive.com article and you've hit the nail on the head for something I've found personally convicting for a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the old metaphor of, "If you _knew_ you had the cure for cancer, wouldn't you tell everyone you knew and do everything in your power to make them listen?" The reality is, we don't live that way when it comes to Jesus. Why? What variation of "lack of faith" does that come from?
Hmmm... well, you've got me thinking... :)
---Eric M. Larson
(http://www.emlarson.com)
(http://god.conforming.me)