does that mean? What it means for me: a study of the life of Christ. Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor. I don’t let my religious world get too complicated. I just kind of go: Well, I think I know what God is. God is love, and as much as I respond[sighs] in allowing myself to be transformed by that love and acting in that love, that’s my religion. Where things get complicated for me, is when I try to live this love. Now that’s not so easy.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?
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
I won’t go any farther with this line as I dealt with it a great deal in .
Jesus deftly put his listeners, who were frustrated with the times God hadn’t lived up to their initial take on ask, seek and knock, in the role of the authority that would need to occasionally restrain themselves from giving something that they might love to give, but cannot.
In doing so, he made a strong point.
Last Christmas, all three of our kids asked for cell phones. All three. AT&T loves us.
When they made that request, Tracy and I started to consider it. We asked ourselves if getting them the phones violated the values we try to live by, we asked ourselves (and them) why they were asking for them. Were they chasing status at their school? Would these be gifts that they would appreciate six months down the road? Had they demonstrated they could handle the responsibility of a small, fairly expensive piece of electronics? Could we afford them? What else was going on in their lives that spoke into this issue? What plan would we get? Which phones don’t need data plans? We asked the kids if they would be willing to have the cost of the phone and the monthly added line fee deducted from their Christmas money. We asked the poor AT&T store reps about 1,000 questions as well.
Do you know one question that never came up even once?
Did we love the kids enough to get them the phones. Didn’t even get broached.
And not because we didn’t think to talk about it. We didn’t have to. It was self–evident.
We would give our kids our phones if they needed them in a second, we would give them our arms as well. Love, commitment, dedication to their good is not the point. We would do anything for them. Except something that our greater knowledge pool determined would harm them or violate an important standard we hold. And it was love for each of them that guided us to get two of the three phones and the third something else. The third was thrilled with the decision, by the way! :)
I think that is the genius of Jesus’ shifting the question. He knew that doing so would remind the people that askers and askees have different questions. That when you love someone and have been entrusted with the task of leading them, no simple request is ever a simple request.
Not because you don’t love them, but because you do.
So, when people ask me what I think they should do with the Matt 7 and Luke 11 verses, I say, do it! Ask, seek and knock. And know.
Know that you are loved. That you are cherished. That you are heard and cared for. And that in those occasions when God’s larger knowledge pool prevents him from doing what you ask, he is likely more saddened by that than you are.
Unless you ask for a Hokie win. There is no good reason that those wouldn’t happen, right?
Peace, Jim
I get asked about tricky verses a lot. But the guy I was talking to on this day was very upset. As he told me his story, this frustration was so clear you could almost touch it. So we started to chat about it. The two instances he was talking about are recounted in Matt and Luke. In them, Jesus was talking with a group of people about how things work in the Kingdom of God. How God intended us to live. How in some ways life in the Kingdom of God is very similar to the kingdom of this world and in other ways, it is very different. Let me list both of the instances.
Matt 7.7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11.9-10 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Here we have two fairly straightforward accounts of Jesus talking about how things work with those who follow God. They sound great too. The only problem is that we all have countless examples of when they haven’t been true. Times where we have asked for things that range from the selfish to the selfless. Yes, I have asked for my share of Hokie victories and things to go my way, primarily for my benefit. But I have also asked for things that go far beyond me, very selfless things. Likely we all have. Some of those have happened and some have not.
So, either Jesus was wrong, someone got his statement written incorrectly, or I am not looking at the whole picture. As I have spent a lot of time in teachings and on the blog dealing with questions of the accuracy of the biblical scriptures, and I believe Jesus wasn’t wrong, I am going to hone in on the last option. I think we miss the point.
And I think Jesus thought the same thing. Come back Friday and see why I think that.
Peace, Jim
and I really could have ended up one another’s arch enemies. If you know J.R. and I, then you immediately get why.
He and I might be the two best looking men that are a part of the missional movement of the church. I know for a fact that he and I are the two best looking men on the board of .
But do we fight? No. Do we try to bring the other down to raise ourselves up? Not recently.
Instead, we took the road less traveled. We got to know the person behind the beauty, and (at least I) discovered, he is a great guy that I respect a great deal.
So, I am very excited to let you know about a conference that J.R. has guided into being. It is called, . Let me share an excerpt from the conference site…
The idea for this conference came from two sources: A post from J.R. Briggs, a pastor at Renew Community in Lansdale, Pa and the wildly popular site .
A few dangerous questions were asked:
-What if we offered a space that is gutsy, hopeful, courageously vulnerable for pastors to let go of the burden to be a Super Pastor?
-What if we could hold an event that was free from the thrills and frills of other pastors conferences?
-What if we came together as epic failures and sought not successful models or how-do’s but instead celebrated faithfulness in ministry because of the reality of Jesus?
-What if we were reminded that we’re not responsible for being ‘successful’ in ministry, but we are responsible for being faithful to the calling that God has laid out for us – regardless of the outcome?
-What if we had a conference that was not led not by famous pastors who are household names, but by scandalously ordinary ministers and leaders who are faithfully attempting to join with God – even in the midst of glaring obscurity and anonymity?
I love those questions!
In my experience I have run into countless examples of two extremes. I have been to many events 
where either those that are speaking or those that are attending find ways to let everyone know about the numeric success they have experienced. Sometimes this is subtly done, and other times, less subtly so. I have also seen examples of those that are so broken, usually by their reletive lack of numeric success, that they become bitter and ultimately frustrated with the very group they were trying to reach.
I can say that I have been in both of those camps. During my time at [nlcf] I have experienced multiple seasons of numeric growth and also multiple seasons of having lower numbers. Times where I have given in to the temptation to let others know how “well” we are doing and others where I have grown frustrated that the people I am trying to reach don’t want to be reached!
The thread that runs through all that, is that it is primarly about me. My kingdom building, my success.
Yes, we get that numbers matter. Each of those numbers is a person who matters a great deal to God. To that extent, there is an important place for hearing from people that have seen God bless their efforts. So, this conference doesn’t deny the value of that. Rather, it honors the fact that the life of faith is a challenge. That living our lives in an honest way before our Messiah will mean that at times we will face frustration, confusion, difficulty and failure. And in a culture that so highly values numeric success, not demonstrating that success; while not a failure, can certainly feel like it.
So, having a space where men and women can gather and be honest about what hasn’t gone right, what hasn’t shown results and what hasn’t been pleasant, could be a great thing. A space that doesn’t worship failure, but one that worships Christ in the midst of it; a space, not to be cynical, but honest, is necessary.
So, go if you can and encourage friends in the ministry to do so as well.
I like the idea so much, I am going to encourage all 2,000 people that attend our church to consider it as well. Wait, did that just drop out? 
Peace, Jim
“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong” Ben Franklin
Late last year we started a conversation about some of the more difficult issues that can come up when you are trying to read,
reflect on, and live in light of the bible. It is beautiful, powerful, transforming. But it can also be confusing, frustrating and strange.
How do we handle that tension? We know that even those (myself included) that believe that the bible is God’s word to us don’t follow all of it word for word. So what do we make of that?
How do we walk through the many tricky issues that living life through the bible brings up?
What do we make of the writers who claim the bible we read is so inaccurate and wrong that it likely serves no purpose at all other than to make us feel good?
I have heard from many people that they would like to pose some questions and interact over a few of these issues, but that the end of last year was too busy to do so. So, let’s get this party started up again!
What issues do you have with the bible or living a life of obedience to it? What questions? What makes you angry or sad? What do you love and appreciate?
Looking forward to the conversation.
Peace, Jim
There is a question I get almost all the time when I am interviewed or when someone stops me to ask about the book. They inevitably ask why God does things the way he does them. God is so different from us in many ways and those differences can make things quite difficult.
It’s a bit like learning a new language.
When I initially took French 1 at Clifton Middle School I walked into a language that made no sense to me. My name wasn’t even said the same way. The first day I was taught how to ask people whose names I already knew what their names were. But we had to start at that basic level. We had to learn how to say the letters of the alphabet differently, we had to learn how to blend them into words differently, how to pronounce those words differently. Let’s not even get into the conjugation of the verb aller.
But over time more and more made sense. Over time I learned the language and what was non-sensical on the first day was an understandable language very quickly.
Learning to understand God is much the same. We have to relearn a good bit. Go back to basic things we haven’t questioned
in years and reflect on them a bit differently, but with God this time. And somewhere along the line we stop trying to make God do things our way and we start seeing the wisdom of doing them His way. Even when His way seems strange.
I am very grateful to the great folks at in Abingdon VA for the chance to speak again. I always love it when I can join them.
If you are interested, here is the video of that talk…
from on .
The Apprentice Week 2 – Jim Pace, guest speaker
Tomorrow, from 11.15 until noon I will be interviewed by Tim Wildmon & Marvin Sanders on the Today’s Issues program. It is carried on American Family Radio which is a part of the Christian Radio Network that has over 200 stations and 19 affiliates that tune in and covers 34 states and Canada.
Other than my generalized fear of anyone that is French-Canadian (they all seem like very tough and hardy people that could beat me up without ever losing the cigarette that would be dangling from their lips) I am excited to be able to speak to a very broad listening audience.
If you are interested in tuning in, .
My being interviewed on their show doesn’t speak to whether I agree with everything the program would suggest. I haven’t agreed with everything on any show I have been on so far. That having been said, I am very grateful to Tim and Marvin for having me on and allowing me to chat about issues that I think are critically important to a meaningful expression of our faith.
Peace, Jim
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!
