A few postings I ago I reported the rather strong words of the Rev Mark Stibbe who suggested that those Christains who did not fall for the 1994 Toronto Blessing were in danger of committing the unforgivable sin. Well, today I have just received my copy of the February edition of “Christainity”. In this edition Rob Bell, Pastor of an emerging mega church and creator of the Nooma series of DVDs, is reported as saying “Evangelical culture is terribly sick in America. It’s absolutely disgusting and it is in no way a representation of what Jesus had in mind. It’s actually anti-Christ in its orientation”. Now let me say straight away that my impressions of Rob Bell have generally been very favourable and he comes over as an unwilling Christian megastar who is acutely aware of the pitfalls of celebrity and heady Christian scenes. But is evangelical culture really disgusting? That accusation is no big deal: how many times have I wanted to sign a written complaint about this or that bizzare evangelical practice or belief with “Disgusted of Norwich”? However, the “anti-christ” charge is rather different: that’s as strong as accusations of theological sin can get and makes Stibbe look like a master of tact! Whatever the truth is here it is nevertheless clear that there is spiritual pathology in America, because at the very least this sort of contention is evidence that things are not at all right between some very influential American Christains.I sometimes ask myself why do I have to take such an interest in the “negative” hotspots of the Christian community and immerse my self in the worst that that community can throw at me? Some Christains, it seems, opt for a subtle epistemological method that in one sweep fixes all the deep contradictions in their ontology – they simply don’t go looking for them or they ignore them when they come their way. They stay within their social and empirical playpen and this circumvents what are otherwise spiritually dangerous liaisons with circumstances that are difficult to interpret. And those puzzling circumstances can be excessively challenging: after all, some of the contradictions one finds within evangelicalism actually could be construed as evidence against the very veracity of Christianity (if such is possible)
Why don’t I lead the quiet life and use a playpen epistemology? I don’t think I could do that simply because, as any serious investigator is aware, it is those strange anomalies that don’t quite fit the categories which are signposts to deeper truths. For this reason, and for reasons of integrity, VNP is committed to facing up to the whole of reality without prejudice, even when those sense making interpretations are not readily to hand.
Make my day - give me an anomaly.
8 comments:
how come you got your Christianity before us? Are you on the "special" early bird mailing list or is it that you live a mile closer to the sorting office?
'W's are probably still in the post. Perhaps you should get it sent to Helen in future!
not sure about disgusting - certainly confusing.
This guy doesnt like Rob Bell and many others ...
http://www.apprising.org/
worth a shufty round his site - too much negaitivity for me though.
My worry about Bell is that he is still relying on people's base weaknesses - maybe that is the way forward ... a bunch of normal messed up sick people just trying to find our way through this messed up sick world of money, violence and porn. Is this the emergent church?
People need strong leaders however unwilling those leaders appear to be. People want answers. Easy answers with quick fix results.
I dont know whether mega churches like Bell's are ok or not. Maybe he is trying to distance himself from the "regular" mega evangelical church for which I can't really blame him. But at the end of the day Mars Hill is still just another brand with a slick website.
Mars Hill dont take a collection. I wonder what they say to their non covenant members? I was listening to another mega church preacher the other day - John Piper. I enjoy his preaching. In the last talk I heard he said that of the 4000 in their services, around 2000 were covenant members. The others, he said, should either join them or leave. He didnt want hangers on and the leadership felt their primary responsibility was to the covenant members and their small groups. Clearly not one for wanting bums on seats for the sake of it.
“Mars Hill Just another mega brand ..” you’ve said it! And the “Apprising” web site just another web site claiming to “Contend for the truth”! In comparison with Mars Hill I’m probably fairly conservative in my approach to the Bible, but to the very orthodox, the strict and particulars, and the Gnostics, even my position is likely to be regarded as at best compromised and at worst either Spirit resisting or blasphemous! (In fact I can think of people who think like that!). One thing in favour of Rob Bell et al (however) is that I suspect he wouldn’t accuse me of such things! In turn I would accept that Mars Hill has grasped the Gospel, even though I might disagree with this and that belief or practice of theirs.
I suppose the concept of the Open Gospel was my response to this hotch-potch of mutually contending Christains. Cutting away all the questionable religious elaborations you are often left with one thing – a common acceptance of the message of God’s grace and a commitment to Christ. If Christains are ungracious to one another that doesn’t mean to say that God is ungracious to them. If people have grasped and fully accepted the message of grace that is a start. Like a hospital full of cantankerous old gits who are suspicious of one another and forever maligning one another’s motives, as long as they accept their medicine, then perhaps progress can start.
Look at the NT and see the terrible state the “church visible” was in even then – forget this concept of some kind Edenic pastoral NT idyll. This observation, however, doesn’t excuse the disharmonious shambles church culture is (and always has been), but it does give one hope, because clearly the Gospel, like some resilient kind of plant life, is robust and “fault tolerant” and brings the first fruits of growth in our spiritually blasted world. In fact for me that robustness of message is the deep truth sign posted by the “anomalous” behavior of Christains.
Not that I think the strict and particulars evangelicals (STRAPS) with their emphasis on adherence to Biblical teaching are necessarily doctrinally correct – in my experience under theological counter attack they do a runner and look for weaker opponents – as do the Jehovah’s witnesses. In fact Straps and JW are very similar in sentiment and methodology.
I liked your expression "..maybe that is the way forward ... a bunch of normal messed up sick people just trying to find our way through this messed up sick world of money, violence and porn." It is an irony that this expression equally applies to the most critical of STRAP christians and Jehovah's Witnesses.
I think you only need to look at how viciously Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of the time to know that sometimes holding back isn't called for. And yes, I'd agree that some US evangelicals act in disgusting ways or say things that disgust me.
I'm liking Helen's use of th word `some` :-) good stuff
We wouldn't want to demonise every evangelical now would we Benvolio? ;)
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