"Logic dictates that if you believe in the one you have to reconcile the existence of the other" Dr. Spencer Reid
If you ever wish to start a fight with Christians, simply gather them in a circle and state the following: You don't believe in hell, homosexuality is not a sin, and that you voted for Obama. Say those three things, unless your in group that agrees just say the opposite, and watch the stones fly. Do not believe me? Attempt it if you feel lucky or just google Rob Bell and John Piper.
Recently, my Facebook news feed has been loaded with links to articles about Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. You can check on the video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUvw2McL8g. Rob's new book is to hit the stores soon which means only a few have gotten to read it. Google Rob Bell Love Wins and you find your google feed loaded with headlines that read, "Pastor creates Controversy" etc. I am sure that Mr. Bell's book will be flying off the shelf, if my newsfeed is any indication, when it comes out. My newsfeed is loaded with friends who side with Bell and those who side against Bell.
I read an article that popped up on my newsfeed by Brain McLaren in which McLaren writes, "The question is going to be asked from now of potential candidates (ministers), what is your position on heaven and hell?" There is some truth to that. Ministers will be asked where they stand on the doctrine of hell and salvation. They will give long expository statements, and like any good politician, will not give a full answer. So, congregants will listen for key phrases such as "justified by faith" or "I am the way the truth and the life" "all have sinned and fallen short." They'll listen for scriptures used to pretend to make the issue clear. But there's a greater truth that is being revealed in this great "controversy". Fear.
You'll be hard pressed to find a Christian that might even slightly agree that the underlining issue is fear. Fear of the unknown. I would argue that death, afterlife, heaven, and hell are the top main topics that many Sunday school classes, youth groups, small groups, and preachers focus on or worry on. I wish I had statistics to back that claim up; however, when my high schoolers have three separate studies on Revelation and heaven and hell, or a Sunday school class teaches a series on certain salvation or when small groups are having a Revelation study done by Beth Moore, I am convinced that these are the topics that we concern ourselves with the most.
But why? Why is it that we are so wrapped up in trying to nail down in certainty something that is not in our control? Why are we so afraid of what waits beyond the sun?
Because we are afraid. We're afraid that when Jesus says, "Love your God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul. And love your neighbor as yourself" he cannot be serious. We're afraid that Jesus words, "I am the bread of life and the living water" that he is just yanking our chain. We're afraid that Jesus is joshing us by saying, "Do not fear. Do not worry." We're afraid that there has to be more than just having faith. We need to know what waits on the other side. So, we turn to "Christian Rock Stars" like John Piper and Rob Bell to have all the answers. We fill our small group time and Sunday school time with series focusing on one book. We do not rest in the assurance that our faith in Christ is enough. We need "sound doctrine".
I read an article at the Huffington Post about this controversy. The writer suggested that sometimes it's not an either/or it's both/and. He's correct to a point. Logic does dictate that if you believe in one, you have to reconcile the existence of the other. Rob Bell is not the first to present another view of the afterlife and God's final judgment. CS Lewis wrote of a heaven in The Last Battle that was all encompassing and very inclusive. He also wrote about it in The Great Divorce, in which he depicts hell as this isolated space, always raining, and houses with no roofs. He writes about spirits visiting this new place lush with green grass and beautiful water. He presents an idea that the schism between heaven and hell is not so great that God cannot cross over.
CS Lewis was not the first to approach the subject. You can go back to the times of early Christianity and read about from faithful men like St. Augustine. This subject, this topic is a topic that Paul tried to answer a few times when asked by a Thessalonian congregation afraid that those who died would not ever see the glory of Christ's return. Rob Bell is not on to anything new. He is openly asking questions and openly seeking to reconcile the beliefs of a loving God and hell.
Those questions are not bad questions. I sometimes laugh when Christians say that we should love our neighbor but are not fully for a gracious God. One would think that we would be for a gracious, loving God. I snicker when Christians worry about such things especially when the Son of God says, "Do not worry."
I read a book awhile back by Samuel Wells called Improvisation. It's possibly one of my favorite theological books. In this book he presents the idea of a five act narrative. Act I is creation; Act II is Israel; Act III is Jesus; Act IV is the Church (us); Act V is the eschaton (the end). He suggests that if the Church focused on living in Act IV, we would see a change in our church polity. We would find ourselves opening up and living fuller lives. Wells writes that Act V is not up to us or about us. It's about God. The eschaton, he says, is all God. In other words, God is the one who will take care of Act V, live in Act IV. Yet, our fear of the unknown is so great that we must know. We do not have strong enough faith to rest in Christ. We have to be absolutely sure.
I have noticed a few things over the past few months and it has been driven home with this controversy. Christians prefer to talk with certainty about areas that require faith and talk in metaphors about everything else. Revelation is to be taken literally while the Sermon on the Mount is to be taken figuratively. 1 Peter is literal and absolute. "Love one another as I have loved you" is simply a metaphor for God's unending love. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" reads "Now certitude is confidence in what we know and the truth about what we do not see." Why is faith not enough?
The topic of heaven and hell will never go away in the church. I do not think it should. I think we should talk openly about it. I think we should engage one another in a healthy discussion with an understanding that we are going to disagree. However, I think we should begin to move on. This issue, this controversy, brings to light a question I have been asking lately. Where is the uproar about the amount of people who do not have a home? Where is the uproar about sick being unattended because they cannot afford health insurance? Where is the uproar that our teenagers are cutting themselves because of the self hate they feel? Where is the uproar about the oppressed and the poor? Where is the uproar about the issues that Christ went to the cross preaching on?
I need to be absolutely clear. I am not, in any shape or form, suggesting that this is not an important topic. I am suggesting that our fear and doubt cast by faith, causes us to look for certainty. I am suggesting that we should begin to live not obsessed with the unknown or things we only see through a glass half darkly. I am suggesting that we should rest in knowing that Christ is the Son of God and that God is the one who will have the last word.
This conversation will never end. It will be a conversation that will go on and on until the end of this world. It is a question as old as time itself. However, our attention does not need to stay there. We will eventually have to move on and direct our attention to the hurting of this world. Rob Bell, John Piper, Joel Osteen, Brian McLaren, etc. will eventually have to turn their attention to the message of Christ that says, "Blessed are the poor. Love one another. Sell all your possessions." Eventually, we all will have to return to reality because reality is screaming in pain. While we fight over doctrine, more and more people will continually turn to things of this world that will not solve their problems.
Personally, I've reconciled my belief in one and the existence of the other. I've reconciled my understanding of heaven and hell and I do not need John Piper or Rob Bell to reconcile it for me. I can sum it all up in one statement, "I place my faith and trust in Jesus Christ." I rest in that faith and that's good enough for me.
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