I haven't read Rob's book (yet) but enjoyed "Velvet Elvis" and many of his Nooma videos.
I "attended church" (Southern Baptist style) with my wife this morning and the pastor, though having not read Rob's book either, was quick to say that Rob, because Rob thinks that love wins in the end, "obviously ignores the teachings of Jesus on the judgment of God." Listening between the lines, my wife's pastor was warning his congregation that Rob was no longer orthodox. And this pastor wondered, aloud and publically of course, just what "God" Rob thought would win in the end. Surely, said the pastor, this wasn't the Father of Jesus Christ. Yes, said the pastor, God is love, but we must never lose sight that God is also holy and that no one can stand to be in God's presence without faith in Jesus' blood to remove/cover their sins. I.e. only conservative Christians will go to heaven.
I had to wonder if this pastor ever read the gospels.
The same Christians who insist that Jesus was literally God, if they read the gospels, would have to admit that no one spontaneously combusted into flames due to being in Jesus' holy presence.
What Rob Bell is good at, IMO, is (like most of the Emerging Church movement) allowing for us to bring questions to our faith that orthodoxy either will not allow or has insisted were answered hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. Why? Because people in the EC and in the PC movements know that faith, such as it is, is characterized by each generation seeking God and meaning within its own context and culture. Answers, or at least claimed answers, almost always anchor us to the past. Questions pull us into the future. And orthodoxy does not like questions. In fact, orthodoxy's goal is to discourage them and to insist that once-and-for-all answers have already been revealed.
I certainly don't agree with everything Rob Bell says. But then, I change my mind about things almost weekly. What I appreciate about folks like Bell, McLaren, Spong, and Borg is that they have the guts to ask the hard questions. Rob has the...umm...wherewithal...to ask if God really is love and, if so, what would love do? I may or may not agree with Rob's answers. But he dares, as a Christian, to ask questions and to challenge people to explore the character of God.