Rob Bell’s latest book Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived continues to be the source of great controversy amongst the evangelical world and even in the national media. Many evangelicals have labeled Bell a heretic due to his inescapably universalist understanding of God’s redeeming love.
I would expect such charges from the evangelical community, but I was strangely shocked and delighted to see the same sort of accusations coming from the mainstream media. Martin Bashir, in a live interview with Rob Bell on MSNBC, devastatingly exposes the overall inconsistency in Bell’s thinking. Bashir does not allow Bell to dance around his questions, though Bell certainly tries his best. Bashir does not let Bell off the hook, but he repeatedly brings Bell back from his “dancing” to address the matter at hand: Bell’s teachings on universalism.
In a fine piece of journalism, Bashir charges Bell’s work with being historically inaccurate and scripturally indefensible. Bell excuses himself by admitting that he is just a pastor. Apparently, pastors have no responsibility to know, teach, and defend truth? I beg to differ. Bashir continues his bringing-to-light of Bell’s errors by accusing him of creating a new, popular, and inoffensive gospel: “You’re amending the gospel so that it’s palatable to contemporary people who find, for example the idea of hell and heaven very difficult to stomach. So here comes Rob Bell; he’s made a Christian gospel for you and it’s perfectly palatable; it’s easy to swallow.”
Take a look at the Bashir-Bell interview below. Also, check out Bashir’s post-interview analysis of his discussion with Bell HERE.
Not surprisingly, you’ll discover that Bashir is a devoted follower of Jesus who worships as a member of Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
