An Examination of Rob Bell's "Love Wins." Chapter 6: There are Rocks Everywhere

Rob Bell. Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.

Chapter 6: There are Rocks Everywhere (pages 139-61)

1. The Rock

Concerning the rock in the wilderness from which the sons of Israel drank: “Paul finds Jesus there, in that rock, because Paul finds Jesus everywhere.” (p. 144)

Observation: Paul finds Jesus “in that rock” because it is an image of Christ. Jesus referred to Himself as the stone: Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? (Matthew 21:42).

        To suggest that Jesus is “in everything” is panentheism.

2. Jesus and Christianity

“As obvious as it is, then, Jesus is bigger than any one religion. He didn’t come to start a new religion, and he continually disrupted whatever conventions or systems or establishments that existed in his day. He will always transcend whatever cages and labels are created to contain and name him, especially the one call ‘Christianity.’” (p. 150)

Observation: Yes and no. Yes, Jesus is all-powerful and transcendent, but this does not mean that He is in all religions. To say that Christ is opposed to authentic Christianity is absurd.

3. The Door

“What Jesus does is declare that he, and he alone, is saving everybody. And then he leaves the door way, way open. Creating all sorts of possibilities. He is as narrow as himself and as wide as the universe.” (p. 155)

Observation: The only possibility is faith through Jesus Christ - - there is no other option: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)

4. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

“These rituals are true for us, because they’re true for everybody. They unite us, because they unite everybody.” (p. 157)

Observation: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not for everyone. These ordinances were given to the church and are only for believers.

having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)

So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat [the Lord’s Supper], wait for one another.  (1 Corinthians 11:33)

5. Salvation

“People come to Jesus in all sorts of ways. Sometimes people bump into Jesus, they trip on the mystery, they stumble past the word, hey drink from the rock, without knowing what or who it was . . . Sometimes people use his name; other times they don’t.  Some people have so much baggage with regard to the name ‘Jesus’ that when they encounter they mystery present in all of creation—grace, peace, love, acceptance, healing, forgiveness—the last thing they are inclined to name it is ‘Jesus.’” (p. 159)

Observation: As often as Bell suggests that people come to Jesus in different ways, I will quote John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.