question > rob bell?
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I was asked on Sunday by one of our staff members about Rob Bell and his influence on Christians. Because of the relevance of this topic, I’ve chosen to submit this as an addition to our weekly deeper teaching.
First, some background. Here's some biographical information about Rob Bell from Wikipedia:
Robert "Rob" Bell (born August 23, 1970) is an author, Christian speaker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan. He has authored two books: SEX GOD: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2007) and Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Zondervan, 2005). Rob Bell is also a frequent speaker at youth ministry conferences.In a 2004 Christianity Today article titled "Emergent Mystique," Bell said:
We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life... The Bible is still in the center for us, but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.Around the same time the time that Rob Bell made this comment I was engaged in an email debate with Leonard Sweet (one of the leading lights of the Emerging Church movement) that was published by Fresno Pacific University. I had challenged Dr. Sweet’s conception of Christianity as an "eastern religion" and the idea of "embracing mystery" in an irrational way. My point with Dr. Sweet was that the essential doctrinal truths of Christianity - while they may be beyond our full comprehension - remain fundamentally coherent and rational. They are not irrational and riddled with paradox as Dr. Sweet had suggested at a conference at FPU.
Therefore, the key issue comes back to the propagation and reception of truth. With this in mind, here are some things that trouble me about Rob Bell’s thinking:
PROBLEMATIC THEOLOGICAL IDEAS FROM ROB BELL:
Quote #1:
The philosopher Arthur Holmes is known for saying, "All truth is God's truth." It is such a great statement, because what other kind of truth could there be... So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it...Pastor Jan's response:
Actually, it was St. Augustine that first propagated the concept that "all truth is from God." He did this in his powerful book On Christian Doctrine. Augustine’s main thesis was that since all truth is from God, Christians have the right to affirm and use all philosophical, scientific and sociological insights that have truth-value even if they are first discovered by non-Christians. This insight has given Christianity a huge advantage over Islam which struggles with the issue of what to do with insights engendered by so-called infidels.
Where Bell’s position goes off the tracks is when he says "truth is bigger than any religion." This, it seems to me, is part and parcel of the multicultural (and postmodernist) agenda which posits that no world religion or philosophic system has a corner on the truth. This, however, is essentially a straw-man argument.
Christians have never claimed that its doctrinal truths contain all the truth that can be known. What orthodox Christians believe is that its essential doctrinal truths are revealed by God and are supernatural in origin. Furthermore, Christians hold that these truths would have never been found if God had not revealed them. These truths include the Triune nature of God, the Incarnation of Christ, salvation as through Christ’s atoning death, the resurrection, the Second Coming and other important doctrinal truths. Therefore, none of these are found in any other religion or philosophic system. So, while all truth is from God and vast amounts of it can be found in nature and non-Christian sources; none of the essential truths that secure eternal life can be found in other religions.
Quote #2:
I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God. I love the way Paul puts it in the book of Colossians: These religious acts and rituals are shadows of the reality. "The reality... is found in Christ."
Pastor Jan's response:
Here, again, Bell is mixing and matching ideas in order to submit Christianity to a multiculturalist and postmodernist agenda. The multicultural idea that he is furthering is that "all religious roads lead to God." This, of course, is diametrically opposed to the orthodox Christian belief that without God’s supernatural intervention into human history to reveal His truth, man would be lost.
The key theological mistake that Bell is making is his denigration of the incarnation. Jesus doesn’t lead "me into ultimate reality." Jesus is the ultimate reality. Jesus is God. Notice that Bell subtly moves the reader off the bedrock of the deity of Christ with this statement:
When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things true are at the deepest levels of existence.In other words, in Bell’s view, Jesus connects us to "the deepest levels of existence" much like an electrical cord connects us to a power source. However, the biblical and Christian view is that Jesus is the power source - He and the Father are one. Once we move away from this incarnationist view of Jesus, then He merely becomes one of many possible "connections" that we can find in the world that lead us to "ultimate reality."
According to Rob Bell himself, he believes that of all the possible sources of connection, Jesus is the best one. Muslims, of course, believe something very similar to Bell. However, they prefer Muhammad as the best connection to the source.
ROB BELL'S VIEWS CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALITY:
In February, 2007 Bell spoke in Lexington, KY to a sold-out crowd. During the Q & A he made these points when asked about his view of homosexuality:
Rob Bell:
We have no right to speak about homosexuality unless we have homosexual friends and know of their struggles.
Pastor Jan's response:
First, this view This would immediately eliminate the Apostle Paul. Secondly, this is a self-denying position from the perspective that Bell makes a big point about how we, as Christians, need to be sensitive and listen to all different and contrary points of view.
In my opinion, this is the typical neo-liberal view of freedom of speech and conscience which fosters all kinds of aberrant viewpoints but disallows certain speech or views (usually conservative and traditional) as "insensitive" or even "hate speech." This is simply a way of silencing the opposition.
Rob Bell:
Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality.
Pastor Jan's response:
This is an argument from silence. However, Jesus had plenty to say about sex outside of the legitimate bounds of marriage. Jesus recognized only two God-honoring ways to use human sexuality: in marriage or as celibate for the sake "of the kingdom." This, obviously, does not leave room for homosexual acts to be legitimate. Jesus was also very clear that marriage is a God-ordained institution between a man and a woman (Matthew 19). A "gay marriage" is not a lawful marriage in God’s eyes and all sexual contact in such a relationship is evil.
Rob Bell:
Christians should not single out homosexuality because we have a bad record with marital fidelity.
Pastor Jan's response:
This is another straw-man argument coupled with a wrong-headed notion. Because I have been cited for speeding does not mean that I cannot say that burglary is wrong. Additionally, the Bible gives special attention to certain sexual sins as particularly abhorrent to God. Homosexuality is one of those. Thomas Aquinas termed it a "double" violation of God’s law. It violates both God’s divine statutes and the natural purpose of human sexuality.
Again, Bell is simply trying to silence the opposition and he fails to recognize the extreme stigma that the Bible and traditional Christianity place upon homosexuality as a threat to the God-ordained institution of the family.
Rob Bell:
The Bible says nothing about sexual orientation.
Pastor Jan's response:
This is another straw-man argument. The Bible has plenty to say about homosexual acts and the purity of our thought-lives. Whatever my orientation, I must bring it - by God’s grace - into conformity with God’s will.
I'd also love to get your comments and questions about this topic. You can leave a comment or question by clicking on the thought bubble below. See you on Sunday!
Blessings...
tags: Rob Bell | Mars Hill Church | SEX GOD | Velvet Elvis | Christianity Today | Leonard Sweet | Fresno Pacific University | FPU | Augustine | On Christian Doctrine | homosexuality | Thomas Aquinas
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Chris Cheadle. Image #: 200383696-001
8 Responses to question > rob bell?
Thank you for writing this. Though I didn't know anything about Rob Bell before this, I have read bits here and there about the Emerging Church movement. (From what I understand in this article, he is part of that movement.) Most of what I read, including the first two quotes here from Bell, sound really good, even though, at the same time, there's something about it that seems to be inconsistent with what I know is true. Your responses help me to see some of those inconsistencies.
Now a question regarding your response:
When Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. In other words, in Bell’s view, Jesus connects us to "the deepest levels of existence" much like an electrical cord connects us to a power source. However, the biblical and Christian view is that Jesus is the power source - He and the Father are one. Once we move away from this incarnationist view of Jesus, then He merely becomes one of many possible "connections" that we can find in the world that lead us to "ultimate reality."
I don't see how Bell's words allow for another way to God. It's true that I cannot get to God without going through Jesus, even though he is the only way. I'm not sure how he has taken away Jesus' role as the source by mentioning His role as the conduit. Can you explain that part a little more?
Thanks, Sara, for your insightful question:
The main point of my disagreement with Bell is his concept of Jesus as the “connection” to the “deepest levels of existence.” Christians hold that Jesus is the ultimate reality. In other words, He is God incarnate—and not just the connection to God. We are connected to God by Christ because Christ is God. By making Jesus the “connection” to God (like an electrical cord connects to an outlet) it opens the door to other possible connections to God. For instance, Bell also says this, “For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God.” One might immediately ask oneself, does Bell mean that other world religions also connect us to God? However, Paul makes it clear in Galatians that even the divine law given to the Jews (the highest form of religion) was only a “school master” to bring us to Christ. In other words, I believe Bell’s metaphor (Jesus as the connection) is problematic because it denigrates the deity of Christ in a subtle but significant way.
I get what you're saying now. Thanks!
just had a question for you pastor, me and my fiance were discussing this and we do agree with you on Rob Bell's wrong interpretation of scripture but does that mean that we shouldn't use the Nooma videos in accordance with a good lesson? The problem is if we're using the video lesson with a group of high schoolers, how do we get the message of the night across without having them "idolize" Rob Bell as a great and truthful speaker or have them follow his beliefs in general?
Dear Anonymous,
As I understand it the Nooma videos are quite good. If you think the content of the videos is appropriate and helpful, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them. This also gives you an opportunity to do a “teaching moment” with the students. It is important for them to learn that no one but God Himself and His precious Word are infallible. While all teachers, no matter how gifted, are fallible, all truth comes from God. St. Augustine stressed that Christians have the right and obligation to search out and appropriate all truth—even from non-Christian sources. I do not mean to imply that Rob Bell is non-Christian. The point is that our source is infallible but God uses “broken vessels” to communicate His truth. This is why it is so important that each Christian knows the essential truths of our faith so that they can guard themselves from those things that might not be correct. Ultimately, the Bible tells us that we are to “train ourselves in the things of God: 1 Tim. 4:7 (NIV) Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
This can work to help your students understand the importance of knowing the faith.
I don't think that "simply silencing the opposition" is always a bad thing. I don't want to talk to people who are just trying to find something to accuse me of either. It's fruitless.
"It is important for them to learn that no one but God Himself and His precious Word are infallible. While all teachers, no matter how gifted, are fallible, all truth comes from God." I appreciate that you said this. It makes you a real person to me. But I have to disagree about your opinions of Rob Bell. I feel that most of the arguments against him are nit picking. Jesus is the cord but He is also God. I don't think Rob Bell would disagree with that. The homosexual thing is hard for me. I am against it and it makes me sad that people are lost in it, but that sin is no different then the sin of adultery, or even the thought of adultery, right? In Paul's day there were many churches and they spent time nit picking each other when there focus should have been on God and His love. In 1 Corinthians 13 it talks about love and I believe it includes being sensitive and listening to others. Thank you for listening to my thoughts. I learned some important things form readying your article and I appreciate a human perspective like yours and not a super holy know it all.
Hi,
Having recently read the Rob Bell books that you refer to, I find that I identify with the greater part of what he says. However, I too felt that some issues (the ones you mention being among them) seem to stop a little 'short' of the whole truth, and thus are left somewhat ambiguous.
If however, rather than taking his books as a definitive guide to Christian life, they are utilised as a means to open discussion and debate, I think they can be a great asset, providing a useful forum for Christians to relate Biblical absolutes to everyday life.
Something to say?