Rob Bell blew up the conservative Christian blogosphere recently. It got me thinking. I wonder who is worse for the cause of Christ:
(1) A universalist ignoring the clear claims of Christ in Scripture,
or
(2) An arrogant fundamentalist (Me in college, and if I’m honest, still my default mode apart from the grace of God) angrily misapplying and weaponizing the clear claims of Christ in Scripture.
What do you think? Who is worse, me or Rob Bell?
by all means, keep reading more!
Easily the best way to stay up to date on the world's best humor/financial support blog is to subscribe. Here's how to go about that:
Previous post: Are you trying to be your own “enough?”
Next post: Support raising, Laundry, and Pimples: A cautionary tale.
Blessed with the gift of sarcasm from a very young age, I often put a foot where my sandwich belonged. As a professional missionary for 8 years, this skill did not help on the support-raising trail. Hopefully it will serve me better as a writer. If not, I do hope you'll Assume the Best.
Do you like how this site is designed? I did it myself, using the best wordpress theme imaginable. It requires a lot of coding, don't let the logo fool you. But I'd be happy to create the blog or website of your dreams, for a very competitive price.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Rob Bell by a long shot.
Rob Bell has led many people into a church and a worldview that is disguised as Christianity, which is actually a re-working of universalism with a humanist twist. Not only is he leading thousands of people astray with a false gospel, he’s doing it with an attitude that he is a lone voice of reason in the evangelical world, a victim of such “arrogant fundamentalism.” What is dangerous about him is that people will believe him when he paints his picture of Jesus as an ancient Ghandi/ Mother Theresa/ Cesar Chavez/ Jimmy Carter/ John Lennon who just loves everybody no matter what and why-cant-we-all-just-get-along type of guy. Doesn’t matter about all of the other stuff He did (preach about eternal punishment, atone for sins, etc) since it’s so controversial and politically incorrect so we’ll just devalue it and eventually drop it altogether. He’s dangerous because whether he realizes it or not- he’s doing Satan’s work. The people who believe in Rob Bell’s Jesus now have enormous obstacles in their way to believe in the real Jesus- more so than your average nonbeliever who actually has awareness of their sinfulness. God will judge him in the end.
If in your “fundamentalism” you had distorted and changed the very central truths of the gospel, and your message convinced thousands of people, then you would be as bad. But if in your “fundamentalism” you actually did portray the fundamentals of the gospel, “burned” people, or pissed them off, then you are guilty of much less.
Philippians 1:[15] Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. [16] The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. [17] The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. [18] What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
I don’t know about you, but I would say the angry fundamentalist. Not that universalism is right, but he is pretty squishy on it. He doesn’t actually push people away from Christ, whereas angry fundamentalists do.
I don’t think either of them are right:
http://thereforenow.com/?p=645
Jim McNeely recently posted..Wonderful Things
I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs and I hope you don’t mind me crashing your comments page.
I believe that false teachers are more destructive to the church and the Bible has some harsh words directed towards false teachers (which is why we should be extremely careful in labeling false teachers and why the Bible gives direction in discerning false teachers). Rob Bell’s great swelling words of emptiness makes vain the sacrifice of Jesus and denies Him as the Anointed One. Bell’s teachings are more than theological squabble; they are a danger in taking captive weak Christians.
Of course, an arrogant fundamentalist could also be a false teacher… but I am confident that you are not a false teacher. I vote Bell.
It’s not crashing if you are invited! Thanks for the comment!
I appreciate you weighing in!
Christian flamewar! Yes!
Jim McNeely recently posted..Wonderful Things
Believe me, I’ll be the first to throw water on a flamewar. This is still a great conversation!
It’s a fun question, but I think you’re missing the point.
I think the real question we need to be asking is this:
What’s more awesome – John Piper’s tweed coat, or Rob Bell’s super hipster glasses?
Zack recently posted..Brian Regan On Little League
Oprah.
Rob Bell is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a hipster heretic. Subscribing to his beliefs will lead you to Hell, because he denies what God clearly teaches regarding salvation. Deceivers like Bell need to be treated as enemies of the church, and not given any respect unless they repent.