So, over the course of the past few days, a bit of a fervor has been stirred up. About Rob Bell, Jesus’ love, and Hell. 
All three of those topics can lead to very intense responses if you feel that they are relevant to you and all three can seem silly if you don’t. This post would be for those who do.
Justin Taylor, wrote a about Bell’s new book In the blog he had some very strong things to say about Bell and the possibility that Bell may have embraced universalism. Universalism is the idea that God, based on his love for humanity will forgive everyone on the planet upon their death, and allow them to join him in heaven. This is regardless of their desire to be with God or to be forgiven by God. Here is one quote from Taylor…
So on that level, I’m glad that Rob Bell has the integrity to be lay his cards on the table about universalism. It seems that this is not just optimism about the fate of those who haven’t heard the Good News, but (as it seems from below) full-blown hell-is-empty-everyone-gets-saved universalism.
I want to be clear that I like several aspects of and I value its focus and voice, even if I don’t share all of its views. (If you would like any clarity on that, let me know) My issue isn’t with that. It is with the apparently over-rapid response to a book that Taylor hadn’t yet read fully. His response seems to me to have been too quick and too strong.
At this point, I will direct you to two of my friends, and , who have written a much more complete reflection on what has been going on. These are great guys, so, Jr and Eugene, take ‘er away…
First JR’s …
Now …
Thoughts?
When this is posted, I will be neck-deep into a great several days in Chevy Chase MD at the We will be spending time with church planters, leaders, and followers of Jesus from all over the country and interacting with some excellent men and women that will no doubt challenge our thinking about how we follow Jesus today and the practices we use to do that following.
That is the part I love to be involved in. Here is the thing I don’t like to do.
I won’t be posting my reflections on , until next week. Fortunately I suspect that no ones lives are going to be shut down by this truth and I also suspect that God’s plan for our world is still on track 
. But I had told a number of people who have asked for my take on Jennifer Wright Knust’s take that I would get the start of that out this week.
Alas… won’t happen. Have a great week and we can interact (if you are still interested) next week. If you are in the Chevy Chase area, let me know, maybe we can connect!
Peace, Jim
Having a daughter that is 10 1/2 and is already very much aware of body sizes of her classmates and is already lamenting the fact
that she doesn’t look exactly like the most popular girls, I get this. We have avoided, what I would consider, the gross excesses that this article brings out and have discouraged the boyfriend/girlfriend jokes that can fly around everywhere. We consistently emphasize to our daughter the value of her humor, her intellect, her kindness and artistic ability. But these statistics and cultural realities still turn my stomach when I think of her entering her teens all too soon.
Overall, there is content in this from that I agree with and some that I personally disagree with, but I especially was grateful for their description of “sexy” vs “sexualized.” That was a great distinction for Rachel Combe to explore.
I usually sign off with “Peace,” but for this post “Vigilance” seems more apropo. :/
Jim
So, just so we are starting off on the right foot, the title line came from a guy I was speaking to about some of his issues
with Jesus’ teaching… This will make a lot more sense if you take a look here first. And now, without further delay… Part Two…
So, to get a running start, imagine Jesus were to appear in your town today. Now imagine if he made those claims. Imagine him saying, “If you ask, I will do it. If you seek me, you will find me…”
Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of some of those in the crowd? People would clearly be running down their lists. Those lists of times where God hasn’t’ come through for them, where they asked and didn’t get. When they sought him and didn’t find him. It would seem that the expressions and thoughts weren’t so different in the crowd around Jesus. Look at what he did next.
He changed tactics. He turned the tables a bit.
“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
He didn’t deflect, he didn’t recant, and he didn’t avoid their concerns. He asked a different question that adjusted their viewpoint. In the first few verses we looked at, the people were asking, seeking, and knocking. This is the right approach for us as followers of the Messiah. He leads us, we seek him. So the imagery is right. He has authority over us.
The problem isn’t with that. Most of us that are followers of Jesus get that we are followers of Jesus. The issue arises when we don’t get what we ask for. Especially when it seems like we have some pretty straightforward language that shows we can expect to get what we ask for. Even more so when we deeply believe what we are asking for is fair or right.
So, back to Jesus turning the tables. What he did next is put us in the role of the authority. He asked what we would do if our child asked for something from us. Would we trick them, hurt them, put them in danger? Of course not! Jesus specifically chooses the relationship of parent and child because it isn’t just one of authority, but one where there is authority that is completely bound up in love.
Essentially, he puts us a bit in God’s place.
Smart move, Jesus. Smart move. :)
Doing that called on a few things that certainly any parent in that day (or ours) would almost intuitively know.
One is that the parent’s knowledge and experiential pool is greater than a kid’s. That means that there will be things that a child will believe are fine that actually aren’t. For instance, all three of our children, when they were younger, watched Tracy and I when we drove them places and let us know that not only did driving look fun, but that it looked easy. Push a pedal with your foot and turn a wheel with your hands. Done and done.
In light of their understanding of the simplicity of driving, they made many requests of us to simply hand over the keys and let them drive. When you heard them develop their arguments, it was clear that they felt very strongly that it would be fine. Why wouldn’t we just do it?
Obviously in this situation, wiser minds prevailed and so, even when a child cannot understand any reason for the restriction, they cannot drive. The larger knowledge pool wins. Driving is harder than that, it requires more coordination then they had at that age, more focus. Their belief that they were ready didn’t mean they were.
Any parent that allows their child to drive underage wouldn’t be considered a good parent, but a bad one. My point here is not that all of our requests are equivalent to a five year old asking to drive by themselves, please hear that. To compare a kid wanting to drive and some of the pain that we pray our way through our out of would be a total misunderstanding of my point. My point is rather that even if the child has no understanding of why something is the way it is, or isn’t the way they would prefer, doesn’t mean there is no point, no reason. Just because I feel there is no wisdom or purpose to a decision made by an authority of mine doesn’t mean there isn’t wisdom or purpose. Sometimes I simply don’t get what I don’t get.
We will close off this discussion on Sunday, check back if you dare!
Okay that was a bit much. See you Sunday. Or early next week… Or …
Peace, Jim
I am sure we have all heard about the new iPhone app that is intended to prepare you for confession. Here is one of the youtube clips… Take a look…
First of all, I am not a huge fan of the flippancy the reporter showed the app.
Second of all, I kind of like it. Certainly I have issues with the theology of needing to have a confessor. I strongly believe the scriptures make it clear we can go straight to Jesus with our confession, and that we should. And while I do believe in repentance, literally “to change your mind,” and that repentance involves action, I do have some significant issues with the practice of penance (or more accurately, some of the works of satisfaction.)
But that having been said, look at what it does. At its base it gives you a metric for reflecting on how you have walked with Christ. Questions to reflect on are so helpful in this way. I have some images of screen shots…
There are some great questions here.
Sorry that I cannot put these pics across the page, I am just not that awesome… Here is the next one…
If you cannot read it, you get a scripture for thought and reflection. Like that…
You can even reflect on how you have done with obeying the Ten Commandments.
First of all, I am not as positive as I am no this because it is an iphone app. Truly.
I like anything that causes us to reflect on how we are actually living out our lives of faith. Reflection is important and I find that few in my age demographic really understand its necessity and make appropriate time for it.
Again, there are questions. Does it focus on behaviors exclusively? I am not sure about that one. I would want to be challenged not just in how I follow certain standards and rules, but in how I bring those together with my soul and my life and truly live a life that looks more and more like the one Jesus lived. I wouldn’t want something to give someone the impression that they are able to live their life with Christ even more fully alone. Those of us that follow Christ have a very communal faith. We are to live it together, grow together, encourage one another together. If the app discouraged that, then that would be an additional issue.
I don’t get the sense from the clip that it does though. It is a heart preparation tool. I like that.
What is your take? Aside from pun fun… is it a helpful tool?
Peace, Jim
Like almost everyone that has heard it, the I Have A Dream speech given by Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most powerful speeches I have ever heard. Part of the reason that I write and speak so much is that I have seen the impact of amazing words delivered well.
But my favorite quote from MLK Jr. would be the very simply titled, Letter From Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963.) You can read it in its entirety . In it, King is responding to Birmingham pastors who were claiming he was, an outsider coming in to stir up trouble. That he should be patient and allow negotiation and discussion to prevail. My favorite excerpt, that I can almost never fully read without tearing up, is this…
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you go forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
I have thought a lot about those Birmingham pastors. And myself.
Would I have been one of them? (more…)
Every now and then there is something that is truly creative. Either it brings something to the table that hasn’t been brought before, or it casts something in a new light.
seems to do that. Not only is it funny, it is an interesting reflection on how we interact with important events today with, and through, technology. So, again, for the two or three that haven’t seen it yet… here you go!
The saga, and conversation continues…
Imagine if you came upon the video of your early childhood and you see your parents’ interaction with you at a playground. There would be countless things they would say to you. Some would be commands, some would be encouraging (hopefullyJ), plus many things. Now, imagine if your parents saw that same video and said, “Those were good days, we want to go
back to them. Okay, starting today, no more crossing the street without holding our hands. You will need to move back home so we can make sure you are always dressed warmly before you go outside and that we have had a chance to talk to the parents of all your friends before you go to see them. And members of the opposite sex? Absolutely NOT!” (Okay as a parent of three kids that are between 10 and 13, that one might be okay.)
That would be insane wouldn’t it? Why? Because your parents no longer love you? They don’t care about your life or your safety or whether you have your gloves on a cold day? Of course not. They don’t do those things anymore, because they have launched you into life and now you are able to internalize the heart of what they taught you and apply it in your own life. The intent wasn’t that you would stay in the infant toddler phase, but that you would grow up.
Hmmm… that will lead us very nicely into the next layer of this whole thing….
Still with me?
Peace, Jim
So… How do I look at the scriptures that clearly state I should do something that I don’t do, or that I
shouldn’t do something that I am?
I think this is a great jumping off point for a larger discussion about the specifics of how we approach some of the commands of the Old Testament.
If you recall from the last topic of whether we can/should take the scriptures literally, the first issue that must be worked through deals with who the information was first intended for and what they would have understood it to mean. Every culture is rich in nuance and shading, shared experiences and history that they automatically draw on when communicating. That sharedness obviously effects both what we say and how we hear what others say.
This, in many ways, is part of what can make understanding some of the Old Testament a bit harder than simply reading what is on the page and then doing it. A.J. Jacobs, in his book The Year of Living Biblically, attempted to sidestep this process. In his very interesting book, he stated his goal was, “to live the ultimate biblical life. To follow every single rule in the Bible – as literally as possible.”
What makes for a very interesting read does not always make for a solid understanding of what the scriptures are actually calling upon us to do. Please hear this, I am neither saying that we shouldn’t try to follow what the Old Testament teaches, nor that it is impossible to arrive at what it is saying. It isn’t even always difficult. I am simply saying that in some of the more tricky passages, a larger understanding to the environment surrounding the text is helpful. David Barr, the author of The New Testament Story says it like this…
“…there are three obstacles that stand in the way of correctly interpreting the biblical writings: We speak a different language, we live approximately two millennia later, and we bring different expectations to the text.”
So, what might be some of the issues that God was looking at when he guided the writer of the Pentateuch to originally give these commands to the Jews, and then to later have them be written down for us? Just so we are clear, here are some of those tricky commands that we don’t always know what to do with…
10 “But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales–whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water–you are to detest. 11 And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. 12 Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.” Lev 11.10-12 NIV
‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. ” ‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” Lev 19.19 NIV
“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Lev 19:27
And then, one of my favorites, Deut 14.21… “Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
So, these are just some of them. What do we make of this? I personally love our local Cajun restaurant’s jambalaya, complete with boiled crayfish on the top. We have even taken our new members out for that very jambalaya because we are so awesome. Those are certainly out, aren’t they?
The first question we should ask, perhaps after “What the ….?!” is, “What is God trying to do here?”
I think it is important to look at that question. What is God trying to do? And maybe another question would help it out a bit, that one would be, who is God trying to be?
Stay tuned… more in a couple of days…
Peace, Jim
I have to admit, that when I saw this on CNN.com’s I was a bit surprised. To quote the artist, “I wanted to elicit the feeling of this family that’s desperate and lost and, you know, ‘What are we going to do? We’re having this baby. We’re not at home. This wasn’t our plan. This wasn’t what we um had thought we would be doing,’” sculptor Sarah Pratt.
Okay, it would seem that she has missed a bit of story, but I can work with that. To me, the wildest part of this whole thing is that, at some point there was a conversation that included… You know the nativity scene right? Okay, now picture it, in butter...
