Rob Bell has a broad range as a teacher. His teaching ranges from misleading to illogical to stupid to hypocritical to heretical. Rob Bell recently made some comments in his latest book "God wants to Save Christians" concerning the war in Iraq. It s just a joke that he gets away with his blatant hypocrisy. There is a phony high ground of humility many emergents (including Bell) take where they claim that certainty is overrated and that it is arrogant to say we know truth or more importantly Scripture's explicit meaning. Here's this doozy of a quote from Brian McLaren (who is kind of like Rob Bell's Yoda):
If I seem to show too little respect for your opinions or thought, be assured I have equal doubts about my own, and I don’t mind if you think I am wrong. I’m sure I am wrong about many things, although I’m not sure exactly which things I’m wrong about. I’m even sure I’m wrong about what I think I’m right about in at least some cases. So wherever you think I’m wrong, you could be right.(Generous Orthodoxy)
This celebration of doubt and confusion is a common emergent theme. The only thing they are certain about is that fundamentalists are wrong - they are very certain about that! Here's my question - is it arrogant to believe that God is kind enough to make His plan of salvation knowable to a man as simple as myself?
Rob Bell and his wife Kristen had this to say about the authority of Scripture when speaking to Christianity Today in November 2004:
The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it."
"I grew up thinking that we've figured out the Bible," Kristen says, "that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it's in color."
Clear as mud and heretical to boot. Now watch Rob Bell make the leap from heresy to hypocrisy as he "embraces the mystery" of the war in Iraq.
"We are fighting a war right now for oil. American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are getting killed today because they have a resource that (we) are addicted to. You know you are part of an empire when, in order to get a resource that literally fuels your empire, you will use violence... but when the American way becomes addicted to this comfort, and this comfort is dependent on a particular natural resource which we cannot provide enough of, we literally wage war to support our comfort and addiction.... It is hard for people to comprehend that our hands have blood on them, especially when some of the political rhetoric is "They're Evil, we're good" - that is absolutely destructive."
How does Rob Bell know this? Did Rick Warren give him a backstage pass to the Council on Foreign Relations? Or is he just speaking with authority on a subject he clearly knows very little about. As little as I know here is a little history
1991: Iraq invades Kuwait in an attempt to overtake them, this includes attacking Israel.
90's: Iraq refuses to cooperate with UN
1999: Iraq rejects UN Resolution
2000: Again rejects weapons inspection
2002: Again rejects weapons inspection
2002: US President George W. Bush addresses a special session of the UN, calls for multilateral action against Iraq. Iraq responds by announcing it will allow inspections unconditionally, but quickly retracts the offer, making it conditional on no new US resolutions.
2003: Hans Blix reports large amounts of illegal weapons unaccounted for, inspection not satisfied
2003: Arab Summit calls on Iraq to disarm, refuses. (http://www.mideastweb.org/iraqtimeline.htm)
Hmmmm so it's all about oil. I suggest Rob Bell take a break from his study of Rabbinical history and spend some time studying recent history.
Church goer - please don't buy into this emergent nonsense. God gave us a Bible that we can trust and know how to be reconciled to Him. Spend more time studying that and use it to cut through the fog of confusion that people like Rob Bell sprout.
Go On To Part 7
Go Back To Part 5
Go Back To Part 1
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
52 minutes ago
10 comments:
Is no one else entitled to an opinion but you?
I have my own personal opinions about the war in Iraq, I am not a huge fan of the war at all. I guess maybe you believe everything the news tells you and Bush tells you. Maybe Bell and myself and others, simply don't trust politicians or our leaders to simply tell us the truth so we wonder if there is more to it then we know.
Also maybe your next post needs to be about Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan he seems to agree with Rob on this one. Maybe you need to write a post on how he is wrong as well and you are write. You can find the whole article here http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/17/nation/na-oil17
Uh oh, you have a lot of blogging to do here are some more people that believe John McCain admitted the Iraq war was simply because of oil.
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/05/02/john-mccain-admits-iraq-war-was-over-oil
You need to set all these people straight. It seems nobody but you understand history. It's shame. Maybe you could hold a history class sometime for all of us take.
Erica, stop having a big cry over this. I never pretended to know everything about it. This wasn't about the war - it merely serves to show Rob Bell's heresy and hypocrisy. Rob Bell doesn't know al the details about the war to speak so factually about it and conversely he should understand Scripture much better than the confusion he propogates. Take off those emergent glasss and read the article again - and then ring Oprah or Dr.Phil and have a cry on their shoulder.
Since you have never heard Mars talk about sin and Christ Death on the cross you should tune in on Tuesday to the podcast of Greg Boyd speaking at our church today it was a phenominal message and a great reminder as to what God is like:-)
Grace and Peace to you Cameron. I hope you have a blessed day:-)
Cameron,
My name is Joe. I am Erica's husband and you sir, a first class jerk. Your response is a completely inappropriate way in which to talk to a woman. Your response lacked anything that looked like grace. "We shall know them by their fruits" and your fruit stinks.
I've watched you and for the most part told my wife to just let you go. I believe you've been given over to Satan and your heart is hard. This latest response seems to prove it.
Good day, Sir.
Erica, Greg Boyd is an open theist. The God he speaks of is not the God of Scripture.
Joe, Erica has been posting a lot of comments here and I have responded a lot of times. As an emergent maybe you need to take a look at the whole "conversation". Furthermore there are comments that have been posted in response to Erica that I haven't published for her sake.
It has become clear over time that Erica is almost solely interested in defending Rob Bell. When I write on the same subjects without mentioning Rob Bell I hear nothing from her. Erica has been a single issue commentator on this blog and it has grown tiring, repetitive, and with a real lack of reasoning from Scripture. I don't mind people posting with opposing views but there are numerous people who have grown weary of Erica's persistant and repetitive contentions. Erica has shown a willingness to talk at length about Rob Bell all the while showing little interest in the purity of the Gospel which Rob Bell distorts - and that is what this is ultimately about.
Please go back and read through the previous posts again and if you want to debate defining the Gospel I will gladly engage.
Cameron I am done. Please don't not post something for the sake my feeling my get hurt. Their is nothing anyone from your camp could say that would hurt my feelings. I simply handle you like I do the Pharisees. I find your other posts to be boring to be quite honest. I comment on the ones that pertain to Rob because I know Rob and Mars Hill and I simply not interested in defending Rob. I am interesting more in you have integrity in which you seem to lack greatly.
You lack integrity to when you tell my husband I don't use scripture either. I have a number of times and you simply don't like my view.
Grace and Peace to you. God will is merciful and just and will deal with you.
Thought you might be interested in this Rob Bell sermon review by Chris Roseboro of ExtremeTheology.com and ALittleLeaven.com.
He does an excellent job of pointing out Rob's incorrect use/view of scripture.
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