Hell

"In Keller’s description of man’s descent into sin and Hell, God stands like the prodigal's father offering a life filled with love, joy, peace, happiness, wholeness and human flourishing, but His children sin by rejecting His proffered gifts to go their own way. In other words, man wins."

(David) This is the third installment in a four-part series reviewing an article on Hell by Tim Keller titled, "The Importance of Hell." Here are parts one and  two of this review.

The most troubling section of Tim Keller’s essay on “The Importance of Hell” is the third section, which begins with the statement, “(Hell) is important because it unveils the seriousness and danger of living life for yourself.” 

Having previously sought to define the nature and character of suffering in Hell, here Keller demonstrates how Hell should be preached to be understood as reasonable by postmodern man.

There is, of course, a great deal of truth in his initial statement about the danger of living for self. Selfishness is a deep evil, a sin Christ reveals as characteristic of those who will spend eternity in Hell by warning His disciples that on the day of judgment the King will consign to eternal fire those who saw Him hungry and yet, “gave Me nothing to eat,” thirsty and yet, “gave Me nothing to drink… a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.” (Matthew 25:42, 43)

But in the hands of Pastor Keller, the sin of “living life for yourself” becomes even more of an offense than the characteristic sin of the damned that Christ portrays it as:

"Keller would seem to want to salvage some dignity for the man in hell, saying that he has chosen from his first breath to his last that this was where he wanted to be; and God, with a fatherly sigh, saying, 'OK, if that’s really the way you want it, I can live with that.'"

This guest post is contributed by David DeBoor Canfield. David is a graduate of Covenant College, longtime elder in the PCA, teacher at ClearNote Pastors College, and elder of Church of the Good Shepherd.

Tim Keller’s article, "The Importance of Hell," seems to have a good motivation. It is a theodicy (defense of God), and theodicies have their place: Moses appealed to God on such a basis when he mediated for his people in Exodus 32. But theodicy works only if it is based on sound biblical principles. Despite its frequent appeal to Scripture, Keller's article fails in this regard, being such a conflation of truth and error that it almost requires a theologian to sort out the one from the other. He seems utterly incapable of realizing that the very Scriptures he cites often propel one logically to a conclusion diametrically opposed to the one he reaches.

Right off the bat, Keller is wrong...

(Tim, w/thanks to Taylor) Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy is dead. It had come down to the final at the World Sauna Championships in Heinola, Finland, last Saturday, and he placed second. But they couldn't give him his prize.

Seconds before he died Ladyzhenskiy was still competing, giving a thumbs up to the medics watching through a window (along with a thousand spectators). The sauna was above boiling--230 degrees fahrenheit, to be exact--but neither Ladyzhenskiy nor five-time champion Timo Kaukonen were willing to lose. The other finalists exited around three minutes and Kaukonen had just three minutes more to wait until Ladyzhenskiy's death crowned him the six-time champion.

When medics entered the sauna...

Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:43,44).

(Jesus said) "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:42-44).

(Jesus said) "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

(Tim) We've warned against Rob Bell before here and here. That second link is a post titled, "Just one more savage wolf..." alluding to this warning to the Ephesian elders by the Apostle Paul:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. (Acts 20:28-31)

If possible, that savage wolf, Rob Bell, becomes bolder in his wickedness. Watch this video:

(Tim, w/thanks to Mick) The Gray Lady reports on the controversy surrounding Rob Bell's forthcoming book attacking the Bible's teaching on Hell:

Judging from an advance copy, (Bell's) 200-page book is unlikely to assuage Mr. Bell’s critics. In an elliptical style, he throws out probing questions about traditional biblical interpretations, mixing real-life stories with scripture. Much of the book is a sometimes obscure discussion of the meaning of heaven and hell that tears away at the standard ideas.

Then we have this expert witness aiding and abetting the enemy:

(Tim: For days now, I've received more recommendations of this video clip than I can count. Thanks to all of you. In a little while I'll post more on it, but first this. NOTE: This post has been changed to correct my error in saying Pastor Bill Hybels went to Wheaton College. His mentor has been now-retired Wheaton Bible Prof. Gilbert Bilezikian, but that relationship began when Bilezikian was teaching at Trinity College--not Wheaton.)

On MSNBC, Martin Bashir does the nasty job the elders of Mars Hill Church apparently can't summon the courage or insight for. He takes Pastor Rob Bell by the scruff of the neck and peels his adverbs off his verbs and nouns long enough to expose the deceptions that make him so much money. Bell's nothing more than a peddler of emotive words and idolatrous images, but many are fooled. His toxins go down smoothly and Baylyblog's warned readers against this hireling time after time.

Pastor Bell's the product of Wheaton College. Take a look at the job Wheaton didn't. Or maybe did?

When I first entered the ministry, there was another gifted prophet prophesying against the parts of historic Christian faith he judged old and in the way. His name was Bill Hybels and he studied under Gilbert Bilezikian at Trinity College (now Trinity International University) just prior to Bilezikian moving to Wheaton's Bible Department. Christianity Today fawned over Pastor Hybels, too, and my church mailbox was filled with offers to "Rev. Timothy Bayly" promising if I sent my money to one of Pastor Hybels' corporate enterprises, some of his churchly success might rub off on my ministry. Then maybe I could afford a similar campus, staff, hairdo, glasses, and jet. Think of it--my own private jet! Then I could pick up and minister internationally. Maybe even galactically!

(Tim) Our brothers out in Moscow, Idaho, just released a short spoof of Rob Bell's Department of Silly Talks. Check it out.

Robbed Hell - C.A.S.T. Pearls Presents from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

(June 2--Please note that TypePad only displays the first hundred comments on a post by default. Comments past 100 can be displayed by clicking the "More Comments" link at the bottom of the 100th comment.)

Is Federal Vision theology (FV) worthy of the intense opposition Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) conservatives dignify it with? I suspect not. For a number of reasons, I suspect such opposition to FV theology in the PCA is a sign of conservative weakness rather than strength; opportunism rather than courage. But first a bit of history.

Four years ago when FV was first dealt with by the PCA at her 2007 General Assembly (GA), conservatives rallied in support of a report condemning aspects of FV theology. The report was adopted and trials of Federal Vision supporters followed, the latest of which is the upcoming trial of Peter Leithart in Pacific Northwest Presbytery. It would appear, then, that the PCA is dutifully reforming herself and the cleanup is mostly finished.

But perhaps as noteworthy as what happened within the PCA at the 2007 GA and following is what did not happen. To understand this, we must consider a pair of strange couplings that took place that year.

The 2007 General Assembly was notable, not only for its debate and subsequent vote on the FV report, but also for several mésalliances forged in the lead-up to that vote. On one side, the middle-aged lions of the Keller/Redeemer/hipster/missional party provided some support for the FV camp. On the other side, the old lions of the southern/tall-steeple/rich/broadly Reformed party provided some support for the Truly Reformed (TR) conservatives of the PCA.

When the heat of battle passed, though, both the hipster middle-aged lions and the rich old lions woke up to strange bedfellows. Neither alliance could last. Redeemer hipsters...

A few days ago, Tim Keller used his own Gospel Coalition blog to issue an apology for this very bad interview he did back in 2008 in conjunction with the release of his The Reason for God. The matter came to light only now because the video of the interview was only just released by Veritas Forum. Keller's apology is good in that apologies generally are; but it's bad in that some aspects of the interview that are most unfaithful to Scripture aren't addressed by the apology.

Noting this, I submitted a comment under the Gospel Coalition's announcement of the apology. The comment appeared for a few minutes, then was removed. Five days ago I submitted a request to the Coalition's e-mail asking them to...