Bobby Conway

Rob Bell has started a small cottage industry in the number of books that have responded to him. Tim Challies and Kevin DeYoung were among the first full reviews, we then had the first book response by Mike Wittmer and now this by Bobby Conway. Others recently released include God Wins by Mark Galli and Erasing Hell by Francis Chan.

Many of the responses on blogs and twitter were knee-jerk responses. This brief book is more nuanced. Bobby Conway, the One Minute Apologist, realises that Bell is not a full-blown universalist. He describes him as holding a 'postmortem, nuanced purgatorial, inclusivist view of eternal destiny'. Such a view is also held by Clark Pinnock, John Polkinghorne, Gabriel Fackre - who prefers the term 'Divine perseverance' - and Donald Bloesch (at least according to Fackre) and by Marcion and Schliermacher; some have even suggested that Augustine held this view.

Conway provides a helpful critique of Bell's view of hell, but falls into the trap of polarising the many views of hell into two camps: what he calls the traditional view - that unbelievers will suffer eternal conscious torment - and Bell's more liberal view. He doesn't seem to realise that there are others biblical views, or if he does, does not consider them. Annihiliationism is never mentioned, for example.

The 'whatever happens when people die' - is only a discussion of the final fate, there is no discussion of what an intermediate state, if indeed one exists, might look like. His view of heaven is rather platonic. At least Bell avoids that. Conway writes: 'time does not exist in eternity. Eternity is a timeless reality that knows no end' (kindle loc 293).

Bell's approach is a soft target. His version of evangelical universalism is not well thought out. A more rigorous approach has been taken by Brad Jersak, Thomas Talbott, Jan Bonda and Gregory MacDonald (aka Robin Parry). Those who are unhappy with evangelical universalism would do better to look those views rather than Bell's popularisations; however, that might not sell as many books!

The book is accessible and well written and it is written with a passion. Conway sees hell as God's idea, it is no laughing matter, he sees it as an eternal lodging place, a place of conscious torment, he is certainly not embarrassed by the doctrine of hell and is not intimidated by 'a tolerance-based society' that has infiltrated the church. He understands Bell's position and provides a good defence of the so-called traditional view of hell. He writes with the heart and motivation of an evangelist. Watchman-like he warns the unwary of the unfortunate consequences of accepting Bell's argument if Bell is wrong.



Disclosure: this book was supplied by the Waterbrook Multnomah blogging for books program. The views are my own.… (plus d'informations)

Rob Bell has started a small cottage industry in the number of books that have responded to him. Tim Challies and Kevin DeYoung were among the first full reviews, we then had the first book response by Mike Wittmer and now this by Bobby Conway. Others recently released include God Wins by Mark Galli and Erasing Hell by Francis Chan.

Many of the responses on blogs and twitter were knee-jerk responses. This brief book is more nuanced. Bobby Conway, the One Minute Apologist, realises that Bell is not a full-blown universalist. He describes him as holding a 'postmortem, nuanced purgatorial, inclusivist view of eternal destiny'. Such a view is also held by Clark Pinnock, John Polkinghorne, Gabriel Fackre - who prefers the term 'Divine perseverance' - and Donald Bloesch (at least according to Fackre) and by Marcion and Schliermacher; some have even suggested that Augustine held this view.

Conway provides a helpful critique of Bell's view of hell, but falls into the trap of polarising the many views of hell into two camps: what he calls the traditional view - that unbelievers will suffer eternal conscious torment - and Bell's more liberal view. He doesn't seem to realise that there are others biblical views, or if he does, does not consider them. Annihiliationism is never mentioned, for example.

The 'whatever happens when people die' - is only a discussion of the final fate, there is no discussion of what an intermediate state, if indeed one exists, might look like. His view of heaven is rather platonic. At least Bell avoids that. Conway writes: 'time does not exist in eternity. Eternity is a timeless reality that knows no end' (kindle loc 293).

Bell's approach is a soft target. His version of evangelical universalism is not well thought out. A more rigorous approach has been taken by Brad Jersak, Thomas Talbott, Jan Bonda and Gregory MacDonald (aka Robin Parry). Those who are unhappy with evangelical universalism would do better to look those views rather than Bell's popularisations; however, that might not sell as many books!

The book is accessible and well written and it is written with a passion. Conway sees hell as God's idea, it is no laughing matter, he sees it as an eternal lodging place, a place of conscious torment, he is certainly not embarrassed by the doctrine of hell and is not intimidated by 'a tolerance-based society' that has infiltrated the church. He understands Bell's position and provides a good defence of the so-called traditional view of hell. He writes with the heart and motivation of an evangelist. Watchman-like he warns the unwary of the unfortunate consequences of accepting Bell's argument if Bell is wrong.



Disclosure: this book was supplied by the Waterbrook Multnomah blogging for books program. The views are my own.… (plus d'informations)

Love Wins, a controversial bestselling book by Rob Bell (Founding Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, a mega church in Grand Rapids, MI) caused many reactions. One of life’s most important questions is what happens when people die? Do you have to be a faithful child of God during your life, or is there still hope afterwards? Bell’s sure: love will win, God’s grace is extended in the afterlife. No matter what life people live on earth, you can be saved even after death. Bell presents a salvation so wide and so deep that eventually all residents of hell would potentially taste the hope of heaven. Rob Bell’s explanation of Bible texts only take the love part, not the ones on God’s righteousness, God’s final judgement and hell as a reality, just as heaven is. Bobby Conway (founder of Life Fellowship Church in Charlotte and visionary founder and host of the One-Minute Apologist, a creative You Tube ministry designed to give quick answers to curious questions) proves Bell’s wrong standpoints from in his latest apologetical work: Hell, Rob Bell, and What Happens When People Die.
Yes, Love really does win, according to Conway, but it’s only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everyone who believes and trusts in Christ has no need to fear the anguish of hell but can confidently anticipate the eternal joy of heaven. Rob Bell’s message is positive, his church’s theology sounds good, his thesis: ‘there is no hell’ is rejected firmly. While no Christian honestly likes the idea of hell, we don’t have the right to redefine God’s Word to make it more palatable. Many factors contributed to the church’s silence about hell:
Hell is seldom preached from the pulpit.
Many church leaders are closet Universalists – believing that everyone is going to heaven (just attend a random funeral service of a person, believer or not-believer to get that idea).
Christians are embarrassed by the doctrine of hell.
It’s considered politically incorrect to talk about hell.
Pluralism, relativism, and a tolerance-based society have intimidated the church.
The internet has seemingly shrunk our world, making it hard to believe that some in cultures dominated by other religions will spend an eternity in hell.
Bell writes “Has God created millions of people….who are going to spend eternity in anguish? Can God do this….and still claim to be a loving God?” It’s a known pattern: man thinks to be wiser than God and redefines Him to his own image. God’s to blame for all things bad: war, sickness, death, earthquakes, because “if God is love, then why….”. And so, a small step away is denial of God’s truth, His characteristics….and be on your own. But we can’t put God on trial, He is much bigger than our imagination. And when He teaches us about heaven and hell, sin and redemption, truth and lies, blessing and cursing, acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ’s offer for us, we have to surrender and accept 100% of God’s word. Bobby Conway takes his readers back to the full Biblical teaching about hell and what happens when people die. May lots of (non-)believers find the truth in time.… (plus d'informations)

A "response" to Rob Bell's "Love Wins" more in conversation with the general audience, especially those who are not Christians, than really with Bell or the issues he brought up in the book.

The author attempts to keep the discussion accessible to most readers and does fairly well at showing a lot of the challenges with the arguments Bell makes for his position. Most of the "meta" issues are not addressed, but a lot of the particular Scriptures used by Bell improperly are clarified, and the author does well at showing how Bell does not really address God's holiness, justice, and wrath.

The author does well at showing how serious hell is and attempts to treat the issue with respect and humility.

The author's portrayal of heaven is questionable; Bell's presentation of the resurrection seems to be a bit more accurate (although even there some things are iffy). The appeal to the "plan of salvation" is a bit ironic; he mentions how many things are often neglected in discussing what is necessary to be saved, and then goes ahead and neglects baptism as necessary for salvation (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-7, 1 Peter 3:21).

If you are looking for a short discussion of the relevant issues that mostly handles the issues with respect, this is a good resource. It is no substitute for actually reading Bell's book so as to understand the opposing view, and it does not dig too deeply into the issue; that is handled in other books that have arisen.

**-- book received as part of early review program… (plus d'informations)