A friend sent me Time magizine article from earlier this year. It seems that Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church is making waves in Evangelical Christianity with his new book, Love Wins. He is raising the question of whether people who don't believe in Jesus are doomed to suffer for eternity in Hell, or whether the truth is different than what so many Christians expect.

Bell has been criticized for this book. Even though he doesn't come to any firm conclusions about who goes to heaven and who to Hell, he opens the door to the question. This has been called "theologically disastrous" by Conservative Evangelical radio host Albert Mohler. The objection (if I understand it correctly) is that we need the threat of Hell because people aren't going to follow Jesus just because of his goodness, mercy, wisdom, and the way he draws people into a new relationship with God.

Some Evangelical critics have called Bell a Universalist because of the book. For the record, he is not, but he does believe that the question of who is saved and who is doomed is an open one, and the most honest way to discuss this is to affirm that this is a mystery here.

I have a lot of respect for the wisdom, insights, scholarship and compassion of Rob Bell. I haven't read his book yet, but I agree with everything I've heard him say about it in articles I've read. When he says that eternal damnation for all non-Christians seems incompatable with the loving ministry of Jesus, I have to agree 100%.

I'm going to say more about Hell in future blogs. It's always surprised me how little the Bible has to say on the subject. Most of what we believe in Hell comes from much later Christian preaching and traditions. But more on that later. Till then, I'll just leave you with this video of Rob Bell debating this topic with < href="http://adrianwarnock.com/">Adrian Warnock a conservative Evangelical pastor from the UK.

See who you agree with.