What if we began to engage Rob Bell’s questions instead of denouncing them?I am all about asking questions but Rob's questions are not meant to simply be questions. He actually has views that are spelled out (ok, not completely clear, but still rather explicit) in his book. For the most part, his questions are not really questions. He has answers to those questions and his book is his way of answering those questions.
Instead of bidding Rob Bell farewell, what if we invited him and the others asking these questions to the table?
Rob doesn't need to be invited to the table because he has the answers that he desires and his book is his intention to draw anyone with him who would like to believe as he does. Rob may be an agnostic on some things but if he was truly agnostic he wouldn't have much to say in book form, right? His book would be rather short and filled with the phrase "I don't know".
So, let's ask questions if we are really asking questions and seeking honest answers. I don't get the sense that that is what Rob is doing, but I don't doubt that there are thousands out there that are greatly desiring answers to tough theological questions. I pray they look to God's word before Rob's book
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6 comments:
Thanks for linking over to the site and for the riff!
My question where you are getting your info on the book from... did you get an advance copy? If so, I would love to see what he is saying in context, as opposed to the short bursts that I have seen on reviews so far. My copy comes on Friday so I will be able to decide shortly after that.
"Inviting him to the table" legitimizes his argument. As soon as it becomes "just a part of the conversation", we've lost the argument.
Sife, that is the type of thinking that will turn the coming generation away from faith. At some point we need to allow our God to be God and work in the hearts of the ones involved in the discussion and guide them to truth... I truly doubt that God needs us to help protect him from potential heretics.
Matt, that kind of sounds like the Mormon apologetic of "just pray and ask God to reveal himself to you and then you will know". Guidance comes through God's word. Without the Bible we have no word from God (other than creation, Psalm 19) in the least and the big problem that most have is that Rob's use of the Bible in his book is quite a BIG stretch. His use of scripture is quite hermeneutically challenged.
God doesn't need protection from heretics. That is not the problem at all, but as a pastor, my people completely do! Read Acts 20 and see Paul outline how heretics are always on the prowl looking to devour people in our churches. Paul has very little patience for false teachers when you read his letters. For him, this has nothing to do with protecting God and everything to do with protecting the people in the church.
There seems to be two different messages being sent here:
First, you are saying that we need to rely on the Word to help us discern what is and what is not orthodox. I would agree with that.
Second, you seem to be subscribing to a Catholic interpretation of the priesthood of believers: the pastor is the only one who can really tell what is orthodox or not.
As a youth pastor my goal was to teach our students how to think critically and discern what was God's will and what was not. They learned to soak on scripture, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then act. We walked through all sorts of theological questions this way. What I did not do was tell them what was orthodox and what was not... rather I would read the books they had questions about with them and helped them to ask good questions about what they were reading and back it up with scripture. It sounds to me that rather than have people think critically you would much rather them just avoid reading or interacting with Rob Bell entirely...
That mindset is dangerous to the future of our faith.
Matt,
I hear you. I too want my people to be like the Bereans and be able to search the Bible and think critically. But I would also want to encourage you to search the Bible and pay careful attention to Paul's letters and how he exhorts his leaders to deal with false teachers.
z
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