Rob Bell Interview part two Christianity Today
Continuing the interview of Rob Bell by Christianity Today. My comments will be in bold italics.
You say, “Jesus wants to save us from making the Good News about another world and not this one.” What do you mean?
The story is about God’s intentions to bring about a new heaven and a new earth, and the story begins here with shalom—shalom between each other and with our Maker and with the earth. The story line is that God intends to bring about a new creation, this place, this new heaven and earth here. And that Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning, essentially, of the future; this great Resurrection has rushed into the present.
The evacuation theology that says, “figure out the ticket, say the right prayer, get the right formula, and then we’ll go somewhere else” is lethal to Jesus, who endlessly speaks of the renewal of all things.
Rob Bell’s Gospel presentation is weak and lacking the essential elements. First, what is the Gospel message? The Apostle Paul wrote:
1Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is His death, burial, and resurrection. All three are essential to the Gospel or Good News about Jesus Christ. God will bring a new Heaven and a new Earth, however, that will not happen until after the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 66; 2 Peter 3; Revelation 21). It is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that man can be reconciled with God because Jesus Christ is the only mediator between sinful man and the All Holy God (1 Timothy 1:5). You cannot just focus on one aspect of the Gospel and leave out the rest.
As for Rob Bell’s comments on the Evacuation Theology, I admit that there are those that teach: “say a prayer and you will go to Heaven.” Prominent men like Jack Hyles did that, however, that is not Biblical. Salvation is NOT a case of saying the right thing or doing the right thing. A person will not miss Heaven on a technicality, but a person needs to realize their sinful condition and separation from God, and then repent and fully trust in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. If you have not done this, please go to the “One Needful Thing” page on this website.
Please note that Rob Bell does not quote a single bit of Scripture in this interview. I am curious what verses Rob Bell is referring to when he states that Jesus Christ endlessly spoke of the renewal of all things. He also spoke about a person’s need to repent (Matthew 4:17).
All well and good, but how is this good news to people with no earthly hope? If I’m dying of aids or cancer, I probably don’t give a rip about the renewal of all things. I want to know if my sins are forgiven, and when I die, if am I going to see Jesus or not.
Yes, and I would say that central to that new creation is the problem with the first creation—death. The Resurrection is about God dealing with the death problem. And central to this giant cosmic hope is a very intimate, yes, you can trust this Jesus. You can trust this new creation. You can trust being with him when you die, when you leave this life, however you want to put it. Yes, there is an intensely personal dimension to this giant story that you and I get to be a part of.
Note that the interviewer brings up the need for forgiveness of sins, however, Rob Bell does not answer that part of the question. Is Rob Bell teaching universalism — the belief that all will go to Heaven no matter what their beliefs are? If everyone is going to Heaven, then why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? If everyone is going to Heaven, then why is condemnation discussed by each writer of the New Testament?
John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The problem is that Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and others in the emerging church movement do not believe that there is a literal place called Hell. Brian McLaren has even stated that he does not think we have gotten the Gospel right yet! If that is true, then we may as well throw away the Bible.
If you do some research on Rob Bell and others of the Emerging Church, you will see that they talk about being in a story. We get to be in part of the story of God — almost like we are just characters in a book rather than real people.
You’re essentially reframing the gospel—at least the gospel you inherited, the gospel we have known as the gospel in North America for the last couple hundred years.
I am leery of people who have very clear ideas of what they’re doing from outside of themselves: “You have to understand that I’m doing this and doing this.” I would say that for 10 years, I have tried to invite people to trust Jesus. You can trust this Jesus. You can trust him past, present, future; sins, mistakes, money, sexuality. I think this Jesus can be trusted.
I often put it this way: If there is a God, some sort of Divine Being, Mind, Spirit, and all of this is not just some random chance thing, and history has some sort of movement to it, and you have a connection with Whatever—that is awesome. Hard and awesome and creative and challenging and provoking.
And there is this group of people who say that whoever that being is came up among us and took on flesh and blood—Andrew Sullivan talks about this immense occasion the world could not bear. So a church would be this odd blend of swagger—an open tomb, come on—and humility and mystery. The Resurrection accounts are jumbled and don’t really line up with each other—I really relate to that. Yet something momentous has burst forth in the middle of history. You just have to have faith, and you get caught up in something.
I like to say that I practice militant mysticism. I’m really absolutely sure of some things that I don’t quite know.
To the emerging church crowd, faith goes hand in hand with doubt. Why? Because if I can cast doubt on things, like the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or cast doubt on the authority and sufficiency of the Bible, then that gives me wiggle room to do what I want and believe what I want. Rob Bell said: “I’m really absolutely sure of some things that I don’t quite know” Does that even make sense? Rob Bell tells us that he is “leery” about people that have confidence about their faith. And why does he say “this Jesus?” Which Jesus is he referring to? I doubt that he is talking about the Jesus Christ of the Bible. The Apostle John tells us that we can KNOW that we are saved and know who it is that saved us.
1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
How would you present this gospel on Twitter?
I would say that history is headed somewhere. The thousands of little ways in which you are tempted to believe that hope might actually be a legitimate response to the insanity of the world actually can be trusted. And the Christian story is that a tomb is empty, and a movement has actually begun that has been present in a sense all along in creation. And all those times when your cynicism was at odds with an impulse within you that said that this little thing might be about something bigger—those tiny little slivers may in fact be connected to something really, really big.
Not quite down to 140 characters.
Well, you can’t really tweet the gospel. I’m convinced that I am not doing anything new. I am hoping that I’m in a long tradition.
We can be tempted to believe in hope? “Those tiny little slivers may in fact be connected to something really, really big.” Again, a person can KNOW they are a born again child of God. They need to believe on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and repent of their sins.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Does Acts 4:12 say, “…whereby we might be saved?” Does Acts 4:12 say, “whereby we could just possibly be saved?” NO! It declares that we must be saved only through Jesus Christ. Again, read 1 John 5:13.
This interview was not a probing, hard-hitting interview. Rob Bell says sounds very intellectual, but does not seem to really know what he believes.