since departing mars hill church in grand rapids and relocating to los angeles, we’ve heard very little from rob bell. that changed yesterday afternoon when bell, with no fanfare or forewarning, tweeted a link to a new video.

whether or not you’ve read rob bell’s love wins, you’ve heard about the book. and you’ve likely heard that in said book, rob bell has done away with hell. and unfortunately, if you’ve heard that, you’ve received false information.

bell’s book is actually an affirmation of the theology of hell. but it’s a very different hell than the fire and brimstone you grew up hearing about.

you likely don’t know the name mickey maudlin. i certainly didn’t until recently when he spoke out about the reaction to rob bell’s controversial bestseller love wins. so why is he speaking out? because he’s the executive editor at HarperOne—the publisher of the book—who worked alongside bell throughout the writing process.

so, um, yeah. the whole rob bell thing.

you know the whole rob bell thing, right? i’m way too over it to type out a lengthy explanation, so if you don’t know about it, you can read a relatively brief overview here. over the last couple weeks, i’ve literally written two separate blog posts about it that i ultimately decided not to publish because i was sorta sick and tired of the whole thing (the first one was a doozy, titled when calvinists attack: the social media crucifixion of rob bell…yeah, that would’ve been fun…).