There is some controversy going on about Rob Bell's last tour (or really, I guess about anything he says). I don't really want to dig too much deeper into this particular Bell-saga because this stuff drives just ends up driving me crazy and doesn't really do any good, but here is the gist...
One camp is arguing that all Bell talks about is love, and he doesn't tell the whole story about needing to repent and finding your salvation in Christ. It's more effective (and thus, loving) to tell them they are going to hell and then telling them about fire insurance, pointing to the 10 commandments and our necessary obedience.
The other camp is saying that Bell totally knows we need Christ as our savior, but the street corner scare tactics aren't really getting anywhere and we are better off sharing the gospel through love, as pointed out by Jesus's answer to what is most important: loving God and loving others.
Just wondering what you think of this back and forth between "sides" of Christianity. It reminds me of the tag-line on Wallis's book "...the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it." I want to see both sides to every story and not be so black & white in my thinking, but I find it hard when one or the other seems so obviously right. What a pickle!
1 comment:
I had no idea that Bell was so controversial. I obviously have not been paying attention.
I haven't read all his books or seen all his short films but what I have read and seen has been good. I firmly believe that "the medium is the message." The way we convey our messages to others constitutes a lot about what we mean. For example, I frequently see the 'street preacher' types at ASU. They take the biggest sign they can hold with two hands and often write out every imaginable sin they can fit on said sign. Some have megaphone and others are just plain loud. They always draw a crowd and it always is an argument. I usually stand around for a bit listening and all I see most of the time are heated exchanges. No one is convincing the other and I do believe that most of the not-yet-Christians are made even firmer atheists, agnostics, or whatever. I detest the methods of the street preachers at ASU because it reflects so poorly on the rest of us Christians and, most of all, on God.
When I search the pages of the Bible, I see the message that we are condemned by our sin but that God's love is seeking us anyway. For someone to be "saved," they must be saved from something. A lifeguard doesn't jump into a pool for someone floating in an innertube and a fire fighter doesn't rush into a building where there is no fire. Likewise, Jesus didn't come to earth when everything was peachy.
However, we've pounded the message about sins, damnation and hell into the minds of people so much that we do not have a willing audience. I think most people know they screw up sometimes. I also think they need to see these things through the eyes Christ and know that anyone that turns to him will receive his love.
So...I like Rob Bell's stuff. I haven't seen anything that worries me and I hope his ministry has continued success in reaching out to people.
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