Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 8)

BULLHORN GUYS SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

One of the most disgusting and cruel caricatures of open air preaching was a video called "Bullhorn Guy" by Rob Bell where he attempts to invalidate open air preachers and more specifically the Gospel itself. Some real Bullhorn guys responded with a devastating satire of Rob Bell's video (Bullwhip Guy) which clearly exposes the entire disconnect between Bell's teaching and Christianity. These videos were shown and discussed in part 5 of my series on Rob Bell.

Well, it seems that Rob Bell has become a big sacred cow among his legions of followers who are willing to defend him at great lengths. It would be great if they had half that much regard for Scripture and the Gospel contained therein. Criticising anything Rob Bell says or teaches is akin to poking a hornet's nest with a big stick. My critique of Bell's Nooma called "Dust" also caused a huge furore when I posted it on youtube generating over 6000 comments. The criticism that has been levelled at both Bullwhip and my Dust Expose has been almost identical and repetitive. I have never encountered so many judgmental people as these "defenders of Rob Bell" (I'm sure I don't speak for everybody influenced by Bell) who have cried foul and hurled an enormous number of personal insults. Of the hundreds of "angry emergents" I have attempted to "dialogue" with only three have showed a willingness to reason from Scripture and attempt to biblically critique my biblical critique.

Since most of the objections raised against both videos are so similar in nature I thought I would present the video response from Joaquin who was one of the people behind the "Bullwhip Guy" video. It is a response to his critics that is both sharp biblically and warm in tone. It covers most of the objections that have been raised and . . . well . . . you'd have a hard time arguing with Joaquin - he nails this one!



Coming tomorrow - Way of the Master Profiles continues with the Lawman.

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 5)

Wow, it has been spicy lately. I find it interesting and quite surpising that criticising Rick Warren or Tony Campolo or Brian McLaren draws little or no response but daring to criticize Rob Bell is like walking into a hornets nest. Can someone tell me why he is such a sacred cow especially in the light of his patently unbiblical teaching. This may highlight why there has been a large focus concerning Rob Bell in my series titled "Foxes Book of Emergents with Hurt Feelings".

While heretical, he is not even in the same league as Brian McLaren. But it is his popularity and influence that warrants such a focussed response - especially among youth. His Nooma series is very seductive with enough truth mixed in to smokescreen the real agenda. Sure there is truth there but even a broken clock gets it right twice a day. Here is a clip of Rob Bell's disgusting Nooma video called "Bullhorn Guy" where he rebukes open air preachers for preaching the true Gospel. It is very alarming that many modern church goers cannot exercise enough biblical discernment to see through this rubbish.




Here is a wonderful send up of the Bullhorn video called "Bullwhip Guy". These guys nail the sheer unbiblical lunacy of what Rob Bell is passing off as "Christianity"


My series on the emergents is not yet finished because there is so much more that must be said particularly in the light of their extreme activism in rallying behind pro murder Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

There is also many other things more important than the financial crisis to discuss at the moment including the plight of the persecuted church in India right now as they face horrendous hindu violence. Please pray for them.

I am leaving for the USA tomorrow to attend some evangelism conferences and training. I will be attending the "Deeper" conference in Atlanta (Oct 17-18) and the Way of the Master Ambassadors Academy in LA (Oct 30-Nov1). I hope to see some blog readers at these events - keep an eye out for me. My posting may be sporadic over the next four weeks. Please hang in there - there's more to come.

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 3)

On Monday I posted the letter I sent to the innapropriately named fellowship Rob Bell pastors (Mars Hill Bible Church). The response was disappointing to say the least. In fairness to them they probably get a lot of questions and may be short on time. But the following response seems like a fairly standard response that ignores the reason for the questions that I asked. They pointed me to the "narrative theology" when the lack of answers therein was the reason I wrote the e-mail.

Thank you for contacting us. We hope you'll find this response helpful, although it might not answer all your questions or concerns. With the high volume of questions and comments we receive, we hope you understand it's difficult for us to reply specifically in each instance.

We care deeply how Scripture is interpreted and how to discern living the way of Jesus, and in encountering differing viewpoints it is our aim to agree or disagree in love, keeping central a shared desire to know God and serve Jesus Christ. Regarding your comments or questions, we'd like to direct you to our mission, Narrative Theology, Directions [shared values], and serving focus, available at marshill.org. You might also find our recent audio teachings and archived series as well as Rob Bell's recommended reading list to be beneficial.

More compelling than anything we might say is the power of Christ displayed when we love well.

Grace + Peace
Michelle Garvelink | Mars Hill Communications

Pay close attention to this sentence "We care deeply how Scripture is interpreted and how to discern living the way of Jesus, and in encountering differing viewpoints it is our aim to agree or disagree in love, keeping central a shared desire to know God and serve Jesus Christ."

This is spin doctoring that I'm sure Barack Obama would love to add to his campaign. They care more deeply about interpreting Scripture (ie imposing their own liberal ideas on the text) than what Scripture actually says.

Here are some examples:

On the authority of Scripture:
"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." (Christianity Today November 2004).
In contrast to Bell's iterpretation we'll let Scripture speak for itself - IITimothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

On repentance:
(from Rob Bell's "the god's aren't angry" speaking tour):
Bell mangled the definition of repentance, stating that repentance is not turning from sin. Rather, he says it is a “celebration” of life in Christ. He further stated that anyone who tells you that you need to repent is not talking about Christianity. If he is right, then John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), Peter (Acts 3:19), Paul (Acts 20:21) and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 4:17; 9:13) weren’t preaching Christianity. In order to come to this conclusion, Bell has to ignore all of the Old and New Testament evidence that repentance is turning from sin and turning to Christ alone in faith. He has to ignore the Jewish conception of repentance (which was not lost on the Jewish believers of the early church) which was turning from sin to turn to God (Ezekiel 18). (comment courtesy Jon Speed who attended one of the meetings)

Rob Bell On Hell:
“Now if there is a life in heaven, and we can choose it, then there’s also another way. A way of living out of sync with how God created us to live. The word for this is hell: a way, a place, a realm absent of how God desires things to be. We can bring heaven to earth; we can bring hell to earth. For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one because he understood that the life beyond this one is a continuation of the kinds of choices we make here and now" (Velvet Elvis p147)
Jesus on Hell:
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. (Luke 12:4-5)

How about a verse like John 14:6 where Jesus says "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." You would think that leaves no room for reinterpretation. Not with Rob Bell, listen to the number he does on John 14:6, "“Jesus at one point claimed to be ‘the way, the truth, and the life’. Jesus was not making claims about one religion being better than all other religions. That completely misses the point, the depth, and the truth” (Velvet Elvis p.21). Bell continues on "“I don’t follow Christianity because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me’, he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence” (p. 83).

Contrast that with Acts 4:11-12 "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

A basic grasp of the biblical text shows Rob Bell to be heretical. It is a scary inditement on biblical literacy among church goers that Rob Bell gains wide acceptance and Christian bookstores are willing to stock his material.

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 2)

10 QUESTIONS FOR ROB BELL.
I have received many accusations concerning my Rob Bell expose video for not attempting to dialogue personally with Rob Bell, even though these people never dialogued with me to find out whether their accusation was true or not. To satisfy their curiosity I am now posting the letter (e-mail) I sent to the fellowship he pastors - Mars Hill Bible Church. This was my attempt to try and get a response to the many bizarre, cryptic, and disturbing things that have been uttered by Rob Bell in recent years.

This was never a Matthew 18 discipline issue anyway and did not require an attempt to contact Rob Bell personally (as difficult as that is). Rob Bell's false teachings are publicly marketed and demand a public response, Scripture mandates it (Romans 16:17), and Rob Bell even invites it on the back cover of his book Velvet Elvis. It is Rob Bell who should have consulted with credible theologians before publishing his book, committed open air preachers before slandering them in "Bullhorn Guy", and the biblical text before making a hash of the Gospel whenever he preaches.

Nonetheless I wrote to Mars Hill church (Grand Rapids) in the hope of getting some clear answers. Their website requested I read their "narrative theology" before writing as it would possibly answer my questions. Well the "narrative theology" did not answer any of my questions it just raised a whole lot more. What follows is the letter I wrote.

To whom it may concern
I have read through your theology page but many questions remain unresolved. I would be so grateful if you could clearly answer the following 10 questions:

1. Could you explain what Mars Hill (MH) teaches concerning how an individual can be "born again" as Jesus spoke about in the John 3:3?

2. If a person is"born again" or "saved" - what are they saved from?

3. Is there a such thing as eternal conscious punishment (ie Hell or the Lake of Fire) - and if so who will end up there?

4. Do you hold to the doctrine of the Trinity - and if so how do you describe it?

5. How do you define sin (it only seemed to be described in the sense of social responsibility on your theology page)?

6. What happens to people who aren't Christians when they die, what is their eternal destiny? For example what would happen to a devout muslim, devout buddhist etc

7. Is it necessary to repent of sin in order for an individual to recieve salvation -and if so how would you define this repentance?

8. Do you believe that the Cross of Jesus Christ was about or mainly about God pouring out His wrath on His Son as a penal subsitutionary payment for human sin?

9. How would you teach people in your congregation to witness or proclaim the Christian message and what are the essential elements of this message?

10. Would you agree or disagree with the following statement - The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

I very much appreciate you taking the time to read this mail and consider these questions.

Yours sincerely
Cameron Buettel

They did respond and I'll post it on thursday - be prepared for disappointment.

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 1)

Yersterday I posted the youtube video that has caused a lot of furore among many within the emergent crowd. It is an expose of Rob Bell's humanistic teaching found in his Nooma video called Dust. In reality this video only scratches the surface of the many "robellian" heresies and false teachings.

The video I posted was a biblical critique that questioned only Rob Bell's teaching and not his motive or character. It's a shame that many emergents could not afford me the same courtesy and continually pretended to know my motives, resorted to name calling, and failed to reason from Scriptures. There were many supportive comments as well. But what surpised me was how judgmental many people are within the emergent movement - the very thing I was continually accused of. Out of the hundreds of abusive comments there were only three people I can recall who were willing to reason from Scripture. Though we disagreed I have genuinely enjoyed dialoging with them.

Most of the criticisms have been as repetitive as a scratched record so I have decided to post responses to many of the criticisms over the coming days. I have been continually surprised by the number of people who have rebuked me for not taking the matter up with Rob Bell privately without een knowing if this was the case. The truth is that I have written to Rob Bell's church and I will post that letter tomorrow. But it is not a matter that demands private dialogue (and it is very hard to get a private hearing with Rob Bell anyway) because I am criticising publicly marketed material and it warrants a public response. Furthermore Scripture madates the testing of teaching (Romans 16:17) and Rob Bell even invites it on the back cover of Velvet Elvis (“We have to test everything... Test it. Probe it. Do that to this book”). So in reality I was only taking up Rob Bell's offer.

Tomorrow - My letter to Rob Bell's church.

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Sacred Cow Saturday - Episode 11 - Rob Bell

I'm going to be continuing in exposing a lot of the emergent deception over the coming days. I thought I would post the video that started all the furore. It is my biblical critique of Rob Bell's man centred theology as explained in his Nooma video Dust. I've had a lot of critical comments about it. See what you think!



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