Rob Bell has a new book coming out titled, Love Wins. By the response to the video below you’d think the publicity around it will be called Chaos Reigns.
Consider the following verse that many people are throwing around while attacking Bell (even before they’ve read what he has to say).
I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
But there seems to me to be a problem with applying this verse too quickly to Bell. Do we ever give people a chance to challenge what we believe? What if we are the ones caught believing a myth?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had several changes to my belief system through the years.
Holy Spirit
- I went to a church who didn’t believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today.
- Then I went to a church who not only believed in them but said speaking in tongues was the first sign a Christian would get after being baptized in the Spirit.
Divorce
- I went to a church who wouldn’t let anyone who had been divorced be in the ministry and felt that second marriages were to be considered adultery.
- I went to a church who readily performed second marriages and encouraged those believers to get involved in church leadership.
Free Will
- I’ve gone to a Calvinistic based church
- I’ve gone to a Arminian based church
Catholics
- I belonged to an organization that had a vocal element who were convinced that all Roman Catholics will go to hell.
- I live next to a Roman Catholic believer who intercedes for me daily and cares for me like a second mom.
So I try to be careful not to pre-judge a book (especially before I’ve seen its cover) that addresses a topic that has more than a bit of ambiguity in scripture. I know that much of what I think about the place we call “hell” and eternal damnation come from extra-biblical interpretations, teachings, and culture. Having not actually traveled there, I’m not sure what is true.
I look forward to reading Rob Bell’s book and being challenged to consider what I’ve picked up along the way. It may be I’m believing in things that are holding me back from sharing the good news of the Kingdom, or it may be that I have already been grasping something good. Then again, it may be some of both. Time, discussion, processing, study, iron sharpening iron, and listening to Jesus will surely tell.
TweetProve all things; hold fast that which is good.
-1 Thess 5:21
Check out my other blog, Jesus or Squirrel. It’s a fun attempt at figuring out what should truly be credited to Jesus, Religion, Hype, Tradition, Superstition, Satan, Oral Roberts and his Friends, or The Squirrel.
Studio Casey
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