PHOENIX (ABP) – The Southern Baptist Convention affirmed the reality of a literal hell June 15 in a resolution responding to Rob Bell’s Love Wins book that challenges traditional thinking about eternal damnation.
Citing Bell’s book, the SBC resolution affirmed “belief in the biblical teaching on eternal, conscious punishment of the unregenerate in Hell.” It implored Southern Baptists to “proclaim faithfully the depth and gravity of sin against a holy God, the reality of Hell, and the salvation of sinners by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.”
Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church near Grand Rapids, Mich., says in the book that the message often conveyed that Jesus was sent to save sinners from eternal wrath prevents millions of people from wanting to have anything to do with Christianity.
A video promoting the book drew quick criticism from evangelical leaders who said Bell’s views border on heresy. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the book could have been titled "Velvet Hell," a play on Bell’s 2005 book on Jesus titled Velvet Jesus, because it cushions the whole idea.
Other resolutions adopted in the first of two reports of the SBC resolutions committee targeted religious liberty in a global society and protecting the Defense of Marriage Act.
The religious liberty resolution cited places in the Islamic world where Sharia law makes it illegal to convert from Islam. Noting “the rapidly changing religious diversity in the United States,” the resolution opposed “the imposition of any system of jurisprudence by which people of different faiths do not enjoy the same legal rights.”
The resolution on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law signed by President Clinton in 1996, commended Speaker of the House John Boehner for leadership in “ensuring the rule of law by accepting the duty rejected by the United States Department of Justice to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.”
The resolution further called on Congress to pass, and for states to ratify, “a constitutional amendment defining marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.”
-30-
Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.
Previous articles:
Opinion: Listening to Rob Bell (and/or Jesus?)
McLaren, Mohler trade barbs on Rob Bell's book
Mohler critiques new book as 'Velvet Hell'
Rob Bell discusses themes in new book
Opinion: Heaven, hell and Rob Bell