I’ve only read two of the blog posts about Rob Bell’s recent interview in the Boston Globe. Jared Wilson’s and Scot McKnight’s.
Much of the response has been extremely negative towards Bell and his failure to clearly articulate the gospel at every single waking moment.
I figured I would offer my thoughts as well. If anyone cares.
I think that, like any piece of literature, genre and context are of key importance. And most of the people who have criticized Rob Bell’s statements here are ignoring both.
1. This is a transcription of a journalistic interview. Many people have treated it as if it were an all-inclusive systematic treatise of Bell’s theology. It isn’t; interviews are conversational, and, as in any conversation, things get left out. You have to realize that.
2. We cannot take this quote from Bell and determine things about Bell’s nature without considering the context in which it was said. First, he was doing an interview with the media. Who wouldn’t see this as a chance to change some people’s views about Evangelical Christianity? The first thing that he says is that evangelicalism isn’t what most people assume it is: right-wing, anti-intellectual fundamentalism. Naturally, he would follow that up with something that is strikingly dissimilar with what most people assume when they hear “evangelical.” And those things that he mentioned should probably be some of the natural responses to those who believe in the “evangelical Jesus,” if you will: helping the poor, caring for the environment, and extending hope to the world.
If Bell had said, “evangelicalism is all about telling people about Jesus.” The interview, in most of the readers’ minds, would have been over because they would have turned the page. They would have assumed that this guy is another religious nut job and would have ignored him.
Finally, you cannot remove this quote from the totality of Bell’s body of work and say that it somehow gives us a more clear picture of where his heart is at than anything else does.
So, I was listening to someone preach about Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and I thought of a few things… then I went back and read it, and thought of a few more things… well, here are my thoughts…
- v.2 says, “Take your son, your only son Issac, whom you love” and give him as a burnt offering…
- John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…”
- When Jesus is baptized, the Father says (Matt 3:17), “This is my Son, whom I love…”
- You see where I am going with this? There is quite a parallel between this story and the story of Christ…
- v.8 says, “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb…’”
- I realize Abraham was talking about the immediate situation, and he may have actually expected God to intervene, or he may have just told Isaac that so that he wouldn’t have to tell him the truth… but you can’t help but think about how Abe’s statement here is true on a much deeper, much more glorious way…
“By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
- Thank you, Abraham, we really appreciate that one. Seriously.
- 1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
- Abraham was willing, even to the point of raising his knife, to give the life of his only son in obedience to God.
- God was willing, (and had planned to do so and has now done so), to give the life of His only Son out of his love for the world…
- Oh, and about that Lamb… that sacrifice that God was going to provide?
- 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- Back in 1 John 2, a little something extra is added on: He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
- “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…”
Filed under: Theology
So, I took the belief-o-matic test at Beliefnet and the results were interesting…
| 1. | Seventh Day Adventist (100%) |
| 2. | Orthodox Quaker (95%) |
| 3. | Eastern Orthodox (93%) |
| 4. | Roman Catholic (93%) |
| 5. | Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (89%) |
| 6. | Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (80%) |
| 7. | Liberal Quakers (62%) |
| 8. | Hinduism (58%) |
| 9. | Unitarian Universalism (51%) |
| 10. | Orthodox Judaism (48%) |
Apparently I would fit in better with the adventists, quakers and orthodox than I do with the baptists…
Leah and I have been rethinking our ideas about youth ministry here in the past few weeks. Its not so much that we are realizing new things, but that we are trying to implement things that we’ve known all along. I have about 47 books on youth ministry. I haven’t read all of most of them, but I’ve read at least a little of all of them… and they all talk about the same thing: building attractional programming and building positive relationships.
The relationship stuff can be helpful.
However, most of them are filled with statistics and psychological stuff. All of that can be helpful, but rarely do these guys actually talk about teaching kids the word of God.
When youth ministry becomes primarily about programming, the goal is no longer to see kids know and treasure Christ, but for them to be assimilated into the programs: teenagers start leading the worship band or take charge of the children’s sunday school classes, and the youth pastor is convinced that they are “saved.”
When youth ministry becomes primarily about relationships, the goal can move from knowing and treasuring Christ to making positive decisions and doing good. A teenager volunteers at the soup kitchen or collects canned food for needy families and we think they’re “saved.”
Pause for a second. Those are great things. I wish every teenager in my youth group would be a leader in church life or volunteer their own time to helping others. I’m not opposed to that at all. But it needs to be the result of their knowledge of and love for God.
The goal is to see them know and treasure Christ above all else. Period.
How are they going to do that if I water down his word?
How are they going to do that if I talk about funny stuff or “relevant” stuff more than I teach them about who Christ is and how worthy of treasuring He is?
Their math teachers don’t water down Trigonometry for them. Their English teachers don’t make them read the abridged version of Hamlet. Why should I water down God’s word? If they can understand Calculus and Chaucer, then they can understand justification.
We’re still building relationships with them. We’re still having fun with them. But we’re through watering Truth down. Period.
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On a lighter note, Leah and I were trying to write a real song and this is what came out:
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Over at Internetmonk.com, there is a really cool thing call the Liturgical Gangstas. He asks a question and has someone from a number of different denominations answer it. Check it out if you haven’t already. The second one is about the meanings of Sacramental, Attractional, and Missional. Interesting stuff. Be sure to read the first one about Spiritual Growth, as well.
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. -John 10:14-16
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. -Matthew 25:31-33
For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness… I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Ezekiel 34:11-12,15-17
Once again, Christ was not only aware but, though subtly, proclaimed his deity repeatedly. Back in Ezekiel God declared that He was the Shepherd and that He would judge between sheep and the goats. Along comes Jesus of Nazareth, a lowly carpenter, and he claims that He is the Shepherd and that He will judge between the sheep and the goats. See the point? Jesus was claiming not only to be the Messiah but to be the Word of God in the flesh.
Another thing that I just thought of… the Shepherd Himself became the Lamb that was slain so that the other sheep would hear the Shepherd’s voice.
I responded to another blogger’s post a moment ago, and thought I would say the same thing on my own blog. Jim Thompson had a great post about politics and world government. Unfortunately, though we were at North Greenville at approximately the same time, I never took the chance to even speak to him, much less make friends; however, his blog always has some good things to say and the best part is that he is brief and to the point. So you should take time to check his blog out, if you don’t already.
God works THROUGH and AGAINST world politics. That is the biblical paradigm. I don’t feel as if many believers live like it is. Yes, render to Caesar what is Caesar’s [Mk 12]. Yes, submit to authority [Rom 13]. But please, don’t rush to the polls as if you are doing God a favor. We must be upstanding citizens, but we are strangers and aliens here [1 Pe 1 and 2] and our true citizenship is in heaven [Phil 3]. We have to live like that is true.
There are people on both sides (republican and democrat) acting as if their candidate and their platform are God’s chosen. It simply isn’t true. The success or failure of America’s economy/war on terror/revenue system/budget is simply a tool which God will use to further his kingdom.
I hear a lot of people saying we should try to figure out who Jesus would vote for and then they give reasons why Jesus would vote for McCain or Obama or Baldwin or Barr or Nader. I’m not yet convinced that Jesus would actually vote.
I’ll say that again, I AM NOT CONVINCED THAT JESUS WOULD VOTE.
He reluctantly paid his taxes. He, along with his early followers, seemed to have little concern for whomever was in political power. If anything, he made it clear that his purpose was not political… his kingdom was not of this earth.
But if he were to vote, he wouldn’t be interested in which candidate would be the most moral or which one would change the moral direction of the US, like so many people suggest. I think he would vote for whomever would allow for the greatest expansion of the kingdom of God, wittingly or unwittingly.
In other words, if a government making Christianity illegal would best foster the growth of the kingdom, I believe that’s what Jesus would do with his votes. If a government that was on a slippery slope to being a communist dictatorship were best for the kingdom, that’s who Jesus would vote for. I cannot say that with certainty, but his purpose was not to further the kingdom through political or governmental means. I think he would have the same bones to pick with James Dobson and Tony Campolo.
I think that seeking to further God’s kingdom or Christian morals, etc. through the government is the antithesis of the biblical model.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” Samuel 8:4-9
The people wanted a government who would lead them to be a great nation, but God saw it as them rejecting him. This government set to rule over God’s chosen nation was a horrible failure. David was a good king. Then the kingdom split. Josiah was a decent king. The vast majority of them were horrible, evil kings. When we trust in government and politics to lead our country into being a “Christian” nation, we’re doing the same thing that these guys were doing. Do what you need to in your nation to keep it safe, to be sure that people are taken care of, lessen poverty, crime and disease. But don’t trust in it. Our citizenship is in the kingdom of God… the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is our king and our leader. Not an old prisoner of war. Not a young, charismatic community planner. Not a pitbull wearing lipstick.
I found this quote from Bono about the recent bailout:
“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger…that’s mad, that is mad.”
We’re all worried about the world’s economy and about the price of gas and about our houses and cars and stuff. There are a lot of people who will not be affected by this economic slump because they did not have anything to be affected. They never had a house. They never had a car. They never had healthcare. They did have diseases. They also had dirty water. They also had lives surrounded by death, disease and war. But, unlike those of us who have a lot, many of them have contentment. Many of them have hope. Many of them live lives that are full of joy and happiness in spite of all of their poverty. Many of them had no hope before the financial crisis and have no hope after the financial crisis. If someone wants to help, where to start?
In other news, I befriended a bear on the shoulder of Highway 6 in Manitoba, just south of Devil’s Lake.
Sometimes I wonder who decided which verses of Scripture would be the most commonly memorized. While some of them are good, many of them are incomplete in what they say about the nature of God or of salvation or of whatever they talk about.
This wouldn’t be so huge of a problem except that a lot of Christians know nothing more of God or of 
Christianity or of the Bible than those few verses that they memorized as children.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
-Ephesians 2:8-9
This is good. It teaches us about salvation by grace through faith… it clearly denies salvation by works… but in the long run, I think this has been a pretty damaging memory verse because of its incompleteness. Many people take this to be cheap grace–grace that costs nothing and leads, as Bonhoeffer puts it, to the justification of sin, instead of the justification of the sinner.
It continues in verse ten to say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” This verse is rarely, if ever, memorized by Christians. Here Paul is clearly saying that saving faith is followed by “good works.” Of course there are a lot of different ways to interpret what kind of works it is exactly talking about, but I think it probably includes things like service, mercy, love, caring for the poor and downtrodden, that sort of thing, more than it includes things like not smoking, not cussing, not drinking, and handing out tracts.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
I don’t even need to give the reference for that one. I think this verse has caused more of the easy-believeism that plagues evangelicalism today than anything else. Sure, it is true. It is only by grace through faith that we are saved. But what about verse 21? “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” Once again, things concerning the Christians obligation to actually follow Christ in faith are left out. Jesus called his disciples to have faith, sure, but he also expected them to follow him.
John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We’ve all heard that one as well. But it doesn’t really make much sense on its own. The verse before it says, “If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We need to abide in his word. Not simply memorize a few random verses. Abide.
I don’t do it nearly enough. God’s word is powerful. God’s word is authoritative. God’s word is the power unto salvation. The whole thing. Period. And it really will set you free.
I’m at a loss for words. Perhaps my mind is not yet renewed? Christian DDR meets Joyce Meyers meets Joyful Sound (from our NGU days)…
So I just spoke with my wife on the phone and told her I’d be home in a second. But before I got up I looked at internetmonk.com real quick and saw a picture of Bob Dylan… and then I saw a picture of N.T. Wright holding a guitar… and then I found a link to N.T. Wright singing a Bob Dylan song. I prefer Dylan’s version better. But other than that, this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in the past twenty minutes…
Here is the link to him singing… apparently he gives a talk afterwords that I haven’t yet listened to…
