I enjoy Rob Bell’s Nooma series, though I was late to the game and only started watching them about 18 months ago. My youth enjoy counting his blinks and watching his eyebrows…and hopefully learning something too! So it is with great expectation that I watched the trailer for his new book (yes, they did a video trailer for his book…well done there) and was very amused at the responses. Check it out:
Rob Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing, would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever…? With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly hopeful—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.
There was a lot of pushback from Neo-Calvinists (“family friendly” contemporary Calvinists ranging from poster-boy Mark Driscoll to lite forms like Rick Warren). In fact, Rob Bell became a trending topic on Twitter…can’t recall a Christian author who has done that. JesusNeedsNewPR has a great comment on it:
Boom.
Now, some have started saying to stop bashing Rob Bell before the book comes out and that Bell is a rogue preacher anyway so he’s likely not affected by it. That’s a fair comment and one I’ll join in on. But I *do* find it amusing that a book that pushes back against condemnation received so much premature condemnation. Hilarious.
I guess I’m posting this
- So you are aware of the book and its controversy and the passionate responses to the perceived topic of Universalism.
- I’ve pre-ordered the book and I’ll be reading it, blogging about it, and sharing highlights on my kindle since it likely fits the “hacking” part of Christianity very well, so look for that in April.
Thoughts on the well-done controversy and the video?
Yes, there is something about Rob Bell’s super-clean “Made on a Mac” aesthetic that can wear on you and his delivery is sometimes stuck a little between naturalistic and homiletic. On the other hand, when I hear him speak –even when I know I have a problem with his theology –he doesn’t sound like an @$$#0!=. He presents himself and his ideas in a way that invite, that raises questions and engages — unlike say Mark Driscoll with the pathetic, “Rock-Em Sock-Em Robot” machismo he has to imbue everything with.
Was just comparing the way the OKUMC has sent out an email with Bishop Hayes’ video that they are asking us to forward to our peeps and the way Bell’s book is being promoted via this video.
While watching “Never Say Never” on Saturday was amazed (again) at the power of social media like twitter and remembered hearing someone say that we in the “church” are too busy to tweet. I doubt the mainline churches will ever be as effective at using traditional media and social media as others are and I can’t quit figure out why. And, no, I’m doing little to rectify the situation.
The UMC in Westwood we used to attend had a stained glass window of Ghandi. I always loved that about that church. I think there are a group of small minded people who are ready to crucify Rob Bell for pretty much anything he says. He spoke at this worship conference I went to in Sept. (the one you didn’t want to go to b/c it didn’t have enough women speakers–“enough” being “any” :)) about the need to use other language than just blood atonement and monarchical images in worship liturgies and music in order to communicate with today’s people in a meaningful way. He rooted his argument in the plethora of different ways that Paul spoke about grace and salvation to the different audiences he spoke with. That is, he grounded his argument in scripture. He didn’t say the blood atonement and monarchical images were “untrue,” mind you, just that they had no real resonance with our culture anymore since they were tied to systems of worship and government that we don’t practice. After the conference was over, I looked at some of the comments about his speech on Christianity Today and elsewhere, and they were all enraged about “how Rob Bell denied blood atonement and the kingship of God, etc.” Haters gonna hate! God bless Rob Bell–I think he’s a great preacher and theologian, and is guided by the Spirit of God. The Spirit is used to being met with resistance and conflict, so I’d say it is par for the course.
awesome video…thanks for sharing! i will definitely be buying the book 🙂
Ghandi is also in the stained glass at Ada FUMC.
Is he in Hell? 🙂
I’m looking forward to the book and your take on it. I may pre-order as well.
You know, this theme seems to be coming up over and over and over again lately: that far too many people’s first response to anything out of the pre-conscribed ordinary is condemnation. I grappled with this during the astroturf uproar over Marie Claire’s recent article, grappled with it again when you wrote a post about prayer that was met with at least one “I’m concerned about pastors who feel this way about prayer” response, and am grappling with it now again. I find it disheartening that those of us in ministry seem to be out to “get” each other. Isn’t the rest of the world already out to get us enough? Shouldn’t we be supporting one another in love? Especially in times of personal crisis. Shouldn’t we be giving one another the benefit of the doubt, and when mistakes are made – when we miss the mark, as all people do – shouldn’t we be reflecting the grace of the Lord whose holy name we profess?
Infighting has been tearing at the fabric of the church since before its inception. How long is it going to take us to learn this lesson? How long will it be before our first response is love and not hatred, is grace and not judgement, is healing and not rifting, is fellowship and not shunning? How can we lead people to a merciful God if we refuse to show mercy?
I struggle with this also. I admit that condemnation has come swift from my fingers and mouth at times at other pastors, so I can understand the inclination: We all represent each other. A person at my doorstep who has been condemned before by a pastor makes my role much more difficult. A loudmouth with a microphone makes my outreach to the community that much harder. One of my own relatives assumed that since I am clergy that I must like Glenn Beck. This sort of association we have with each other makes it very hard for me to not be swift to condemn people who make my job harder. How can you build up the body when you feel someone is going around as an arsonist?
So, i can understand the condemnation. But you are right, how long until we all jointly keep our tempers to ourselves and our prayers for the other’s healing rather than repentance? I pray for this also.