Done with Religion

Rob Bell, the pastor who enraged Bible-believing Christians with his book ‘Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived’, has resigned from Mars Hill Bible Church. Bell, who argues that hell does not exist, says God is calling him to pursue a “growing number of strategic opportunities.”

Love is the main theme of God. God is love. I’m not sure I am ready to say that God saves everyone and that hell doesn’t exist, but I do know that no matter what, God loves us all.

True, love is how Christians should be known. God loves everyone and has made a way for everyone to receive the gift of salvation. But God doesn’t force this gift on anyone and those who choose not to take it may one day have to take the consequences for it.

Now, is hell a real place of eternal torment or was it a dumping ground near Jerusalem that has nothing to do with punishment? There is a very real debate over this issue and I certainly don’t have the answer. The thing is, trying to get people ‘saved’ with the threat of spending eternity in hell is not the way to do it. People are truly changed by God’s love, and by God’s people living out that love to everyone they meet.

God does not want anyone to spend eternity in a place of torment. He has provided the way of escape if there is a hell. But we want to focus on the fact the God loves us all, and we want to accept and enjoy his love, not just escape the thought of eternal punishment.

When we love someone, we want to do things that please that person and make them happy. Same with God, we want to be pleasing to Him and do things for Him. We don’t do these things out of obligation, or because of rules and regulations. That’s law. We do them out of love and that is the way we should help lead others to Christ, through love.