The fire-storm raging over
hell and Rob Bell is not dying out, with new books still being published to
counter what he said. It seems we’re not going to leave this subject any day
soon. Maybe we need saving from it (geddit!?).
One interesting thing that
has been overlooked in the whole debate here in the UK is what ordinary
evangelicals - as opposed to just book-writing leaders - think about hell. In a survey published long before the Bell
controversy erupted the question was asked of some 17,000 British evangelicals,
‘Hell is a place where the condemned will suffer eternal conscious torment – do
you agree?’ 37% agreed strongly and 13 agreed ‘a little’. (No, I’m not sure how
you can agree ‘a little’ with that statement either, but there you go.) That’s
half the respondents. Of the other half 11% said they disagreed a lot and 8%
disagreed a little – leaving a full 31% who weren’t sure. That’s 31% of
evangelical Christians who aren’t sure what they believe about hell.
It makes me think that
rather than give Rob Bell a hard time over his belief, those who attacked him
would be better off explaining their doctrine to their own followers.
