A charitable and thoughtful discussion about the classic Christian teaching on hell in the context of looking at Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins. I believe in the classic Christian doctrine of hell but have personally wondered if living in the direct presence of God would not be hell to a soul that is inherently and irrevocably hostile toward God. Think of having to spend eternity with your worst enemy. Not exactly my idea of heaven.
From Christianity Today online.
Make no mistake: there is a lot at stake in the discussion of unbelievers’ eternal destiny. But surely we can do better than to prejudge (before reading the book!) or condemn by labeling (“Universalist!” “Liberal!”). The issues raised will not go away by dismissing them as irrational or unfounded or malicious. Love means to believe and hope all things, and that means our first instinct should be to assume good motives by those announcing “new” theological solutions to longstanding conundrums. Maybe they love God as much, if not more, than we do! Maybe they have as much, if not more, passion to win the lost to Jesus!
This is not to suggest that frank, honest, theological exchange should not take place. It should! But traditionalists need to marshal arguments and not ad hominems. The same goes for the innovators. Some gadfly theologians are notorious for tweaking, even mocking, traditional evangelical doctrines; they delight in scoring cheap shots against received orthodoxy. All well and good, for tradition needs to be tweaked for its own good. But when challenged, these critics often refuse to engage their challengers, and instead suggest that they are rationalists trapped in a modernist mindset and not worthy of engaging!