WWUTT Wednesday - Who Condemns People To Hell?

I hear a lot of people claim that "God is Love so there's no way He will condemn me to hell." To me it appears that this sort of feeling seems to be found quite often in the emergent churches. To many it appears to make sense that if God is Love then He scoop me out of the fires of hell. Of course a thinking like that ignores OUR part in this whole Heaven/Hell dichotomy and ignores the huge array of God's other attributes, not the least of which is being JUST. 

Martin Bashir once asked Rob Bell "Is it irrelevant about how one responds to Christ in this life in terms of determining one's eternal destiny?" Bell responded "It is terribly relevant and terribly important. Now, how exactly that works out and how exactly that works in the future, we are now firmly in the realm of speculation," What kind of speculation is Mr. Bell talking about? God made it abundantly clear what to expect from a faithless life

Giving it a Proper Label

Thanks to Calvinistic Cartoons

Emergent Monday: Repent in Hell

Rob Bell, who as I've mentioned wants you to roast in hell, thinks you have plenty of time to repent after you get settled in to hell. I'm guessing that he figures that once you get your in-processing done you'll be able to change your mind and beg forgiveness for what you've done. Go on - live your life. Kill, maim, cheat, steal, enjoy! Because God is love and he couldn't possibly be mean to you no matter how evil you are! So, according to Rob Bell (but not God) hell is a place where you can ponder your inequities, say the sinners prayer and you're forgiven. Unfortunately for his followers, Rob Bell is not God and he doesn't make up the rules, and hell is not a low security prison. Once you're there, you've shut the door on God:

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 1:28-29)

As I pointed out in my last blog that semi-educated nutcases like Steven J. Steward who's hobby is berating Godly men like Ray Comfort and John MacArthur due to Stewards own heretical misunderstanding of simple doctrine, don't like repentance. He loves the "Sin your way to salvation" doctrine because repentance to him means to try to live a sinless life which in his mind is a work which is a sin that he doesn't like, but he's ok with sin because we're sinners, just not that sin. (I'm guessing he doesn't like it because it's not as fulfilling a sin as compared to oh... say... child molestation)

Steward's view on repentance is both different from the Emergent Church's and the same. Steward wants to avoid repentance because of his skewed view of doctrine, the Emergent Church completely ignores the concept of repentance because reminding people of their failures is unpopular and people may not show up to their megachurch. Dropping attendance means empty collection baskets. So if you got Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and Eugene Peterson and Steven J. Steward convinced there is no need to repent then what does the bible REALLY say about it? 

Emergent Monday: Rob Bell Wants You to Roast in Hell

When a supposed Christian purposely preaches to you a false Gospel and you as a Christian ignore the word of God to embrace the word of the false teacher, where do you expect to end up?

I'll give you two hints: you're going to end up with that false teacher, and you're not going to end up in the presence of God. 

Don't blame the false teacher if you find yourself embracing heresy or blasphemy, the bible gives plenty of warning that these antichrists will abound to fool and deceive us. In fact the bible shows what to do when you hear someone claiming to preach God's word. Acts 17:11 gives us a perfect example of how to listen to a man of God: get into the scripture, double check his message, take nothing for granted. Be a Berean - isn't your eternal soul worth the effort of double checking the preachers word? in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 we're ordered to test everything and to hold on to what is good. 2 Corinthians 13:5 also tells you to test yourself, and if you're testing yourself you have none to blame but yourself if you allow the heresy of an antichrist to become your Gospel.

I tell you that to tell you this: Rob Bell is back and he's not empty handed, he's brought his new book.

Emergent Monday: Sola Scriptura Fail

Sola Scriptura is Latin and it means "by Scripture Alone", it is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. This is not a denial of other authorities governing Christian life, but it demands that those authorities are found directly within the Bible or derived accurately from writings found in the bible. It demands that all other authorities are subordinate to the written word of God.

Sola Scriptura means that no other requirements for salvation are needed than those found in the Bible, which, in case you're playing along at home, is repentance of your sins, and faith in Christ. If a person believes that if he sings Ave Maria 520 times while holding Mother Teresa's rice bowl he will get into heaven, that's a very interesting belief, but it's not scriptural. Can you see this fellow standing before God on judgement day and God says "I only counted 519 iterations of Ave Maria, now let's talk about that weekend in Kansas city with the Elks lodge and the dancing girls from that nightclub..."

Emergent Monday: Universalism - Sharing Heaven with Hitler

Universalism is the teaching that God will ultimately bring all people, in all times, and all places to a state of reconciliation with Him. In other words, everyone who ever lived will be saved. Consequently, Universalism cannot allow the possibility of an eternal hell as a realistic biblical teaching. - Matt Slick

Universalist teaching states that eventually God will bring all people to repentance. This repentance can happen here on earth or after a sinner has died and lived again in the millennium. Christian Universalism claims that it does not deny the lordship and divinity of Christ. Instead, the Christian Universalist asserts that the love and mercy of Jesus will eventually transform and redeem all people, even if this process takes longer than our earthly lifespans. Christian Universalism is the conviction that the love of Christ will eventually overcome all rebellion, hatred and selfishness.

Universalists like Rob Bell believe that hell is here on earth, that God is so loving that he'll never condemn an evil person to hell, no matter how evil that person is. I've heard this kind of ministry before, but almost always from people who have never actually read the bible. They say "If God is love, why would he let good people go to hell?" Well, God is love, which is why it breaks his heart to see us living in sin, which is why HE paid the ultimate price for OUR sins, and didn't require us to pay for our sins, and in return all he asks is that we confess our sins and and proclaim that Jesus Christ is our savior. But God is so much more than love: