Life of a Belgian in Texas

The publication of Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” several months ago, has thrown a spark in the debate about hell, heaven and the afterlife like something we haven’t seen in quite a while. Granted, I am quite late in posting this, since Rob’s controversial video announcing the book was posted last February. So call me late to the party 😉
On the other hand, I wanted to take the time to let the dust settle. Mere minutes after the video hit the internet, before the book was even published, many evangelical scholars criticized Bell for becoming a universalist. Piper’s now infamous tweet “Farewell Bell” was probably the cherry on the cake in a whirlwind of reactions.
In Dutch there’s a proverb that quite accurately describes this flurry of activity and it goes something like this: “He threw the stick in the duck pond“. Now, if you’ve ever seen a pond full of ducks, and imagine someone throwing a stick in the midst of them, you can get the idea of what happens. And that’s exactly what happened when Rob Bell published his video. Twitter blew up, blog postings abounded and many pastors have published, or re-published, sermons and podcasts about hell. So are we obsessed by hell ? And if so, should we be ? And furthermore, what should we understand about heaven, hell and the afterlife ? Continue reading →