That was the flavor I came away with after reading Rob Bell’s controversial new book, entitled, Love Wins. 

There are plenty of reviews out there, some of them scathing and thorough, and some of them merciful and open by people I admire. So I do not need to post a long, point-by-point explanation here when others have done so. Instead, I will post four short reasons why I will not be recommending the book, with short quotes of context behind them, for all you tweet-length attention spans out there ;-)

At the end of the day, I am not afraid of anyone else’s book, or theological thoughts, and welcome you to read the book for yourself.

• The book is unabashedly universalistic (everyone gets saved). 

“All will be reconciled to God” - R. Bell (p.62)

• The book is able to be universalistic, because it seems to ignore God’s holiness, wrath, justice, and judgment. The incentive for being saved is not “We are sinners who have offended a holy God, and need to be reconciled to Him, but that we must be…

“Learning how to be human all over again” -R. Bell (p.33)

• The book seems to portray God as “a smitten schoolboy,” rather than a holy God who hates sin.

“God’s love will eventually melt even the hardest of hearts” -R. Bell (p.62)

• It feels like Rob Bell simply has baggage with Hell (totally understandable, I do too), however, he has gone so far as to reshape this doctrine to be more palatable.

“This kind of God is simply devastating” - R. Bell (p.96)

I know the question you are all waiting to be answered: what does he believe about Hell?

[SPOILER ALERT!]

In a nutshell, here is his description of Hell,

“Hell is our refusal to trust God’s retelling of our story” R. Bell (p.94)

Really? What if Rob is wrong? What if I refrain from preaching (in love and compassion) about the awfulness of sin, and the consequences of rejecting Christ, in place of a more universalistic presentation inviting all religions to simply worship their own form of “God”, and I turn out to be wrong?? 

That’s all I’m asking. Along with the past two thousand years of Christian history.