Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Few people have made more noise in Christianity in 2011 then Harold Camping and Rob Bell. Harold Camping is an 89 year old radio Bible preacher. It's sometimes hard to believe that Camping has any audience at all. He speaks with a ridiculous monotone. He wears suits that look like he purchased them from the Salvation Army in 1975. His radio stations and websites are completely outdated. Over the years he has taught that the church is under the control of Satan so Christians should abandon their local church. He has taught that torment in hell is not eternal and the occupants of hell will eventually be annihilated. He taught the end of the world was to come in 1994. He later predicted the beginning of judgment on May 21, 2011. He has since said that the judgment has begun but it is a "spiritual" judgment. The end of the world is still coming on October 21, 2011.
You might think that Harold Camping couldn't be more different than Rob Bell. Unlike Camping, Rob Bell is 40 years old and probably thinks that Harold Camping is a kook. Rob Bell created a stir in 2011 by writing a book that questioned what Christians have traditionally believed about hell. Camping says that the judgment of God is a terrible thing while Rob Bell insists that the judgment that God brings will not be painful but rather a wooing process similar to how a romantic boy gets a girl to like him. Rob Bell is seemingly hip and accessible to young people. He dresses cool and wears those cool square glasses and tells great stories. He's an entertaining communicator. He's got an entrepreneurial flare to his ministry. Rob Bell is no annihilationist. He believes that hell is virtually empty and if it does exist it is not a physical place. Rob Bell openly questions Christian beliefs like the atonement, election, and sovereign work of God that Harold Camping clings to. But despite these glaring differences, Harold Camping and Rob Bell are two sides of the same coin. In other words, they look different but they have similar value. Here are three values that Rob Bell and Harold Camping share. The conclusion comes next week....