Perry Noble Is Still An Idiot

I wrote a post some time ago titled Perry Noble is An Idiot in response to something he posted on his blog where he opined that the reason people don’t accept the gospel is because Christians are so doggone mean, bigoted, and narrow-minded. In other words, the gospel has no power to save, it must be packaged correctly. Poppycock!!

Well, Perry Noble has proven once again that he is a dimwit in his latest post on the Rob Bell brouhaha. He writes that, again, all those who are criticizing Rob Bell are just so mean. Why, Bell’s wife and kids might have to read the stuff written about him. Further, he says that Bell’s only error in the book is that he denies the existence of hell as revealed in scripture.

Let’s take the second observation first. I’m actually very surprised to read Perry Noble say that Rob Bell is wrong about his view of hell. I didn’t think Noble was that orthodox. However, he claims that Bell is a sincere follower of Christ and a nice guy. He gushes like a school girl numerous times how Bell has preached sermons that helped him grow in his faith so he obviously believes that Bell is an orthodox Christian pastor who is wrong on this one issue. The fact is, though, that he’s not just wrong on this one issue but in fact denies the gospel as revealed in scripture. Bell says on page 154 of his book, Love Wins, that “[Jesus] doesn‟t say is how, or when, or in what manner the mechanism functions that gets people to God through him. He doesn‟t even state that those coming to the Father through him will even know that they are coming exclusively through him”. Boys and girls, this is a theological heresy called “Inclusivism” which means that people from other religions will get to heaven through Christ without knowing that it was Christ who saved them. For instance, a muslim will get to heaven and say “Huh? This whole time I was praying to Allah but it was God who saved me…through Jesus Christ?? Seriously?? Wow, never saw that one coming.” Bell makes perfectly clear that he believes in inclusivism one page over (155) when he says “There is inclusivity. The kind that is open to all religions, the kind that trusts that good people will get in, that there is only one mountain, but it has many paths. This inclusivity assumes that as long as your heart is fine or your actions measure up, you‟ll be okay”. This is heresy and the fact that Perry Noble doesn’t call this out should be a HUGE red flag.

Rob Bell is a false teacher??  No way!!

Now, as to his second assertion that Christians have been so mean in attacking Bell proving, in Noble’s words, we are an army that shoots our own wounded (thereby including Bell in the army which means he affirms Bell as a Christian rather than a false teacher). I have read reviews of the book by Denny Burk, Kevin DeYoung, and others. I have read blog posts about the book and the press before and after. After reading that material, I can say, pretty confidently, that the writers were direct, firm, and pointed in what they wrote critiquing Bell. However, to call them mean-spirited and un-Christlike is patently absurd. Sorry, Perry, but if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, well don’t sit there like Macaley Caulken with your hands on either side of you cheeks acting all shocked when people call it a duck. And if people close to Bell don’t want to see him called out for being a false teacher, maybe he should think about repenting, trusting Christ to save him, and renouncing his false teaching.

So, in short, Perry Noble once again demonstrates that he is an idiot.