Rob Bell and Love

Posted on April 5, 2011 by shepherd

I am about half way through Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins.  I don’t hate it.

This makes me ill.

I don’t think, in the end, I am going to love it either.

What I know is this, Rob Bell has fed my soul for many years and I am not about to toss him out of my little circle of orthodoxy because he wonders about heaven and hell and doesn’t think God would torture people for all eternity.

I guess the reason I have some latitude here is I am not entirely sure about heaven and hell myself.

I know the arguments.  I’ve made them.  I am just not sure I believe them any more.

I don’t think the current, evangelical view of hell fits the character of a God who would die for the world.  It doesn’t fit any more than the Old Testament genocidal conquest narratives fit.

I almost lost my faith over the conquest narratives.  I contemplated them and my faith began to unravel.  I wondered how the same God who offered Himself as a sacrifice on behalf of humanity could tell His people to kill everyone who was not like them.  It just didn’t compute.

My faith was saved (clever play on words, eh?) when I preached through 1 John.  I came to 4:16 which says, “We have come to know and believed the love which God has for us….”  We have come to know Love.  Love–the One who came and died for us.  Love–the One who would rather die than let us be ignorant of His love for us.  I figured if God loved me that much, I could trust Him in the Old Testament.  I just trusted that whatever was going on in the Old Testament was beyond my understanding.

I think the same thing about hell.  If hell is like modern evangelicals think it is, and everyone who does not become a Christian in this life burns for all of eternity in horrible, conscious misery, then I will trust God knows what He is doing.

BUT, if, somehow, God’s love ultimately redeems all things, and all things include all people, then I will celebrate.  I will cheer the prodigal who returns.  And should love win, I will even celebrate the older brother when he joins the party.

Rob Bell said in a recent interview, “Let us not make our speculations into dogma.”  I will not.  I will let love rule the day with Pastor Bell and I will trust love rules the day with God.

So, Rob, if you ever read this, thanks for your teachings–including this one.  Thanks for believing in a God who loves more than I do.  Thanks for reminding me He does.

Posted in Theology | 15 Comments

“Best day ever!”

Posted on April 5, 2011 by S

These were the words of my 12 year old Sunday evening. We had returned to _our church_ on our own accord to worship with our family! Home!

That evening my 12 year old and I went to a sporting event together. We laughed, shouted, whistled, chatted (repeat).

At the end of the day I heard, “Dad, this has been the best day ever!”

It’s good to ‘Home’.

~ S

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

Fishing…?

Posted on April 2, 2011 by S

I received an email from E’s youngest son yesterday. He is attending a college that has asked to come share (recruit) at ___our church___. He contacted me on the premise of seeking contact info for them to arrange details. He asked if I was the right person to contact. 

Is he fishing on behalf of E?

~S

Posted in Church Life | 6 Comments

Sexy Evangelism

Posted on March 31, 2011 by shepherd

This week I was invited to preview the movie, “Courageous” by the makers of “Fireproof” “Facing the Giants”  and a couple of other “Christian” movies by Sherwood Baptist Church.  Their movies are meant to be evangelistic.  They come off preachy in all the worst ways.

They actually have some shards of good stories, but the way they Christianize them is sad.  They make all of the conversation stilted and flatly religious.  I have been a Christian for years–committed Christian–and I have never had conversations like that.

As a theologian, I am terribly offended by the movies.  The theology is “If you believe in God and become a Christian, God will make everything right.  If you don’t, you are going to be miserable for now and forever.”  Pure crapola.

Theologically I am opposed.  But I think I am most offended as a movie watcher.

This does to evangelism what porn does to romance.

There are scenes in movies that are so incredibly sexy that they make our minds race wild even heat up our bedrooms.  They are scenes that are romantic, relational, intense and they don’t show everything.

By contrast, porn focuses less on romance, relationships, intensity and in exchange, they show physical, sexual acts from every possible angle.

Good romance gets in touch with what is basic to humanity.  It connects people to people and allows sex to have its proper place.  (The discussion of when it should occur in a righteous relationship notwithstanding.)  Porn discounts the most important aspects of our humanity and focuses on a single aspect, albeit an important one.

By making every scene and every conversation in the movie about coming to Christ and taking every possible opportunity to have someone give a homily about how God will make all your dreams come true through Jesus dying on the cross, they discount some of the most important aspects of being human to focus on one, single aspect, albeit an important one.

I think sexy evangelism should be the mark of a good, Christian movie.  Let us see lives (realistic lives), tell a story (a good story) and let us see what a man of faith looks like in real skin (and with his clothes on.)

Remember when “Shadowlands” came out?  It was the story of CS Lewis’ life.  It was made by unbelievers.  Anthony Hopkins played CS Lewis.  Leaving, I wanted to know more about this man and about his faith.  It was sexy.

When I left “Courageous” I was done.  My mind didn’t race.  My soul was not quickened.  It wasn’t very sexy.

Posted in General | 9 Comments

Time Off

Posted on March 30, 2011 by shepherd

This week, the elders gave me two days off.  I am enjoying them.  :)

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Father Slash Mother

Posted on March 28, 2011 by shepherd

I have been out of the gender wars for a long time.  Years ago, I adopted gender-neutral language for my own writing and preaching.  I resisted it at first because in English (at least yesterday’s English), “He” is the default pronoun and is non-gender specific.  BUT, language changes, culture changes and those who communicate with the culture have to change.  I want to communicate with both men and women, so I speak in ways that does not offend half the population.

I have never cared for the gender neutral changes some have suggested when referring to God.  I don’t like the whole “Father/Mother” designation.  I don’t want to read designations that toggle between “Father” and “Mother.”  The reason is nothing anti-fem or pro-male, but fidelity to translation.  The Scriptures refer to God as “Father” in places and uses feminine images in other places.  I think we should keep those images as they are written.

For the first time, I wanted to change that position.

I heard someone actually argue for the male-ness of God.   “How could God not be male–the Bible calls Him Father.”

Made me want to smack my head.

Does that mean God grunts like Tim Allen?  Does it mean He has chest hair?  Does it mean He has a distinct Adam’s apple?  Does it mean He has a penis?

Sheesh.  Do you think maybe, just maybe all of the talk about God as a father or as a husband (or as a mother in labor, or as a nursing mother) is just anthropological language?  Do you think that God just might be wholly other and thus must find human words to describe Him/Her?

Posted in Nuts, Theology | 4 Comments

Excitement in our house

Posted on March 28, 2011 by S

At the beginning of my ‘imposed’ sabbatical our children didn’t understand why E thought we were broken, but they were troopers in dealing with a few weeks away from our church family. When we resigned, their hearts were broken. Broken, because they wouldn’t be able to serve with their friends, broken because a family friend (E) was pushing us away. Broken.

Now that E is gone and trust is being rebuilt with the remaining elders, and I’m staying on as the worship leader, our kids can hardly contain their excitement!!!

We took a handful of days away from home this past week, hoping our mush minds would at least solidify to a Jello state. :) (They did) We left for home yesterday afternoon and for most of the 5 hour drive all we heard was, “can we go to church tonight?!”. We answered, “of course you can”.

It was nice to have that decision as ours.

~S

Posted in General | 5 Comments