Friends and Family,
My son John sent me this email of two interviews. The first is Martin Bashir interviewing Rob Bell on MSBC and the second is Bashir being interviewed about his interview. The first is just a few minutes and the second is 40 minutes. They are both well worth watching. John went to Bell's church when he went to Calvin College before Rob Bell was well known. John's comments below are very perceptive.
The interviw is about Rob's new book "Love Wins" which espouses universalism. Several things have struck me.
1. Rob Bell's lack of honesty. It really came through at multiple levels both in how he makes his case and in how he describes himself. The circle diagram I like to use to describe Judas in the Person of Jesus lesson "Symphony of Love" describes Rob well. Outside the circle he says he is not a universalist and inside the circle everything he says is.
2. How much the modern evangelical pulpit is preaching relationships (more hip) or theology (more conservative) to the exclusion of facing the hard issues of our age. They are frankly afraid to talk about hell. So the silence on hell leaves a vast untaught middle that is vulnerable to new ideas. The same is true of ordaining women for elder and pastor. Other than saying "no" quietly when it comes up, there is no defense made of the Biblical position so our flank is wide open. Interestingly, I saw in blogs about five years ago the Rob Bell had quietly, without bringing the congregation in on it, elected a woman as elder in his church. Notice the same pattern, of giving into the culture and doing it without integrity. We need to learn to speak to the post-Christian mind in bold but persusasive and winsome ways. For instance, I've been struck that cultures that deny hell are always the ones that create hell on earth. Marxism and Nazism are two clear examples.
3. Martin Bashir was brilliant. I often see if people who have grown up outside the Enlightenment West, that they are not as afraid of the spiritual.
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 3:42 PM, John Miller <jmiller@ezshield.com> wrote:
Dad,
You have GOT to check this out. It's entirely worth your time… Please trust me.
My former paster Rob Bell put out a book that I'm sure you heard about, "Love Wins". It made the cover of Time a couple weeks back. Anyway, I read it this weekend and it's one of the best examples of postmodern theology gone wrong, very wrong, and betraying Jesus, the gospel and history in the same breath.
Anyway, Robs first week this came out was on a liberal book tour of Good Morning American, Today, etc… Of people praising him for his work. He went on this program and you have got to watch this… It's only 7 minutes. Instead of worshiping the liberal theology, Martin Bashir from MSNBC, stands up to him beautifully. Here it is:
Ok, so then, blogs are exploding about how awesome that interview was, so a Christian radio program interviewed Martin about the interview with Rob. This is 45 minutes… But PLEASE listen to it. It's, quite frankly, one of the best explanations and critiques of postmodern christianity that lacks… Well… Almost everything and looses Jesus in the process.
John E. MillerDirector, Customer Experience
No comments:
Post a Comment