Beyond His New Book, What's WRONG with Rob Bell?

    I waited to write this one.  In the midst of last month's Internet fury, I was so tempted to write about the things in Bell's book that bothered me.  I bridled my desire, however, wanting to make every effort to give Bell and his book due process. I'm glad I waited.  Because I have grown to realize that the problem is not Bell's book; the problem is Bell himself.  He, is his own worst enemy.
    I love his interrogative approach to scripture; it challenges me.  I appreciate the way he questions traditional thinking; it makes me think.  But, I'm abnormal.  I'm weird.  I eat this stuff up. I really don't care if he is right or wrong.  I let him challenge my thinking, it propels me to study and then I decide for myself.  Sometimes I agree with him and many times I do not, but I don't care. I know what I believe.  I dig.  I grow.  I'm glad to go back for more.
     So what's wrong with Bell?  Most people are not like me.  Most like to be told what to believe. Others have studied just enough to think they know what they believe, and when some one like Bell comes along it rattles their world.  Rather than study and accept the challenge they paint little red horns on him and label him a heretic.  But, that's more about us than it is Bell.  What's wrong with Bell?
     Well, first of all, Bell is on the cutting edge.  He's not following a tried and true methodology for doing church.  He does things that are out of the box and experimental.  Some things work well.  Others do not. It freaks people out.  When you are the forerunner in a movement you will be under constant scrutiny, at all times.  "What movement?", you ask.
     Well that brings me to the second thing that's wrong with Bell.  He is a leader in the Emerging Church movement.  Some even label him as being associated with the Emergent Church Conversation and that's even worse.  Honestly though, most people do not know the difference;  they tend to lump them both together and call them both bad.  But, I have very little issue with the Emerging Church Movement, in it's purist form.  This is where the now popular Missional Church Movement was birthed; which is the direction that I'm leading my congregation.  The Emergent Conversation, however is very unhealthy; it is very liberal and is accepting of lifestyles and beliefs that are blatantly contrary to scripture. It goes beyond asking provocative questions that challenge our thinking in a controversial book.
      Which brings me to the third thing that's wrong with Bell.  He associates with leaders in the Emergent Church Conversation.  He also has them fill the pulpit in his church on occasion.  I've listened to some of those sermons online.  I've read what I can about their association.  I have not heard or read anything that would make me think that Bell himself is aligning himself with the Emergent Conversation, but "birds of a feather..." ...if you know what I mean.
     It's for this reason that men like Justin Taylor and John Piper, who consider themselves doctrinal watch dogs,  have been very suspect of Bell.  For at least a few years, they have been chomping at the bit to find evidence of what they have long suspected.  When they saw the promo video and read the chapter sampling of his book they thought,  "ah-ha!".  "We've got him!".  So much so that Piper jumped the gun and crossed the line with his now infamous tweet, "Farewell, Rob Bell!".        
     In the midst of surfacing apologizes we have yet to hear from Mr. Piper, by the way.  I'm not saying that Piper has to embrace Bell's theology.  I would respect Piper a little more, however,  if he would apologize for the mistake that everyone now  knows he made instead of trying to justify why he did what he did.  He jumped the gun and criticized a book he had not read.  How would he feel if someone did the same thing to him?
     Bell however, opened the door for all this; it's what's wrong with him.  He put himself in this arena.  He is the one who has associated with those of the Emergent Conversation. I mean really, what did he expect?  He should know that this comes with the territory.  But, at the same time I can't help but wonder what  Piper would have tweeted, if he had witnessed first hand Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors. 


*special thanks to Jason Wiedel for the artwork!

What's Right About Rob Bell's New Book, Love Wins?

     I have always thought that Rob Bell was a little cheesy. I saw him preach at a Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta, several years ago before he had reached the summit of his popularity.   My attraction to his work, in the past, has been due to his writing style and the probing questions that he asks.  Unlike a Lucado, whose writing style allows my mind to slumber while he takes me on a spiritual journey, with Bell I have to think for myself.  He is good at this.  I really enjoy his challenging manner; it engages me.  So much so, that I can easily look past the cheesiness.

     Probably because I have watched more than twenty of his NOOMA videos and have his goofy persona engraved in my grey matter, when I read his new book I can hear the inflection of his voice with almost every word he writes.

     I say all this to make, what I feel is, a very important point in the wake of so much controversy over his latest offering.  Bell is not trying to be a theological pastor;  that is not his quest.  Bell is an artistic pastor.  Where many a pastor is theological first and then artistic, Bell is artistic first and then a theologian.  He expresses his faith best with his creativity.  Though I have my opinion, I'm not saying this is right or wrong.  I'm just pointing this out because I think it will help us better understand why there is so much controversy over this book.  Bell's creativity has superseded his theology on this one.

     I could follow suit with the hoards of blogs and reviews that pick apart Bell's work, thought by thought. But as I survey the internet frenzy I realize that any schmuck with even a slight hint of theological training can point out what's wrong with Bell's work.  If you want that type of review from me, you will be better served with a quick Google search.  I'm choosing to offer you something in this review that you won't find very many places.  In a cyberspace full of people telling you what's wrong with Rob Bell's new book, I'd like to share with you what I think is right about it.

     First of all, Bell dares to challenge Evangelical Theology.  This is healthy.  It freaks people out, but it's healthy. I like it! If what you and I believe cannot stand up to a book like Bell's then what we believe is doomed from the start. We should welcome the debate. For this reason, I challenge every well grounded Christian to read this book.  If Bell can show you something from scripture that you need to think differently about, then he has edified you.  If he cannot then he will strengthen your resolve.
     For those of you who are on the "protect the immature believer" kick, I do not believe we protect new believers by shielding them from views that differ from the evangelical mainstream.  What's next?  Will evangelical churches allover this country start hosting, Love Wins, book burnings?  If we are discipling new believers like we should be, this isn't a real threat.

     Also, Bell points out a weakness in Evangelical Theology.  This too is healthy.  Evangelical Theology is only weak when we speak where the Bible does not.  Evangelical thinkers are frustrated that Bell would dare to challenge their thinking on subjects like Heaven and Hell.  The truth is, however, the Bible tells us very little about Heaven and even less about Hell.  Someone please tell me where in the Bible it says we will go to Heaven when we die.  Chapter and verse please?    Go ahead, flip to your concordance and prove it to yourself...it does not. There are plenty of verses that refer to everlasting life and being caught up in the clouds, but no where does the Bible say that people will go to a place called Heaven.  This highlights the weakness of Evangelical Theology.  Evangelicals have treated this and other topics like it's Rague spaghetti sause; it's in there!...somewhere...right?  Sorry, no its not.
   If this fact startles you, shakes your faith, or causes you spiritual pause...you have just been the recipient of a theological doctrine the inaccuracy of which has spawned an insecurity within you.  So, you have a choice to make.  You can join the "Bell is a heretic!" bandwagon with every other chump who has more theological degrees than common sense, or you can allow your new found awareness to propel you back to scripture... so you can grow and better understand what God's word really says.  Which I'm guessing was Bell's intention all along.  That's his probing, questioning nature.
   All that being said, I indeed found a few things in the book that I thought were off, theologically speaking.  Honestly though, this is true of every Christian author I read.  I'll not mention what's wrong with the book  because that's not what this review is about.  If you want the negative perspective it's a Google's click away.  What's right about Bell's book is that it makes you think, really think.  It makes you re-examine why you believe what you believe.  It forces you out of your evangelical clone mode.  It peals back the veneer of man made fundamentalism.  It strips away those identities so that you can approach the word of God with the only identity that scripture points us toward: ...to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

CORE 4: West K's Core Values

I'm excited to share with you about where God has been leading our church. In February we will be looking at what West K is all about. Several months ago a team of West K members were asked to evaluate and re-work our mission and vision structure.

That team met several times, prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to give them direction. He indeed did. That direction was two-fold: Our mission should be simple and it should be evangelistically centered.

The leadership here at West K has been praying about these results for several months, asking God to reveal through His Holy Spirit direction for West K. He indeed has.

Through the Holy Spirit's prompting during our Crazy Love Campaign, and His prompting on the hearts of leadership directly, we are excited to share with you West K's CORE 4.

These four core values are at the heart of both our mission and vision as a church:

Surrender, Relationships, Truth, and Transformation.

On January 30, we will have a promo Sunday for this campaign, and I will explain this in much more detail. We will then spend a Sunday on each of these core values, individually. Each Sunday morning focus will be followed by discussion in your small group as it meets the following week.

We are asking that everyone make every effort to be in church over these 5 weeks and attend a small group as well. We do not want anyone to be left out of where God is leading our church.

If you are not yet in a small group, signing up for one is easy. Just visit www.westk.org and click on the sign-up link. More group opportunities are being added as this campaign gets underway.

I am so looking forward to worshiping with you in February as we discover together what God has planned for West K.