Rob Bell is an author, Christian speaker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan. While Rob Bell has never claimed an association with the movement, Bell's critics often associate him with the Emerging Church movement, pointing out that Bell teaches that the church should embrace mystery and doubt rather than certainty. In his writings, Bell affirms truth regardless of the source, saying "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." "This is not just the same old message with new methods. We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don't deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don't speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God." His teaching is often characterized as postmodern, he does not believe that all the answers can be found in "Scripture alone." 'Brickianity' is the term he uses to describe churches that emphasize doctrine. He writes that doctrines should be more like springs, helping people jump joyfully toward God. Some conservative Christians have claimed that Bell's teaching of the gospel as described in the book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith is flawed and compromises many essential Christian doctrines along with the basic message of the gospel.
Immediately following the release of his book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, some evangelicals criticized some comments made in the book, especially those focused on the virgin birth of Jesus and the concept of the Trinity:
What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archaeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being "born of a virgin" also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?
However, residing on only the next page (p. 27), Rob comments on how "I affirm the historic Christian faith, which includes the virgin birth and the trinity." Many claim that the outrage over these words only further the point that Rob was trying to make. That if we question our faith, for some people it can crumble. (p. 26) Commenting on the outrage on stage at Mars Hill Bible Church a very candid Bell informed the congregation on how "reporters can use little sections of anything to twist what I say" and how those who haven't read the book have no basis of argument.
Some evangelicals see these words as heretical and neo-liberal. Rev. Casey Freswick, in an article entitled Postmodern Liberalism: Repainting a Non-Christian Faith, commented: "Rob Bell's position is the repainting of historic liberal theology." (Wikipedia) Following is an excerpt from beliefnet.com on Rob Bell's basic beliefs:
As different as the pure white cover with small orange-and-gray lettering may be to book publishing, much of what is inside "Velvet Elvis" seems just as radical. You seem to suggest that Christians need to be open in their understanding of the virgin birth or even praying before meals. What's behind this?
Well, I affirm orthodox Christian faith. I affirm the Nicene Creed. I don't think I'm doing anything terribly new. Central to authentic, historic Christian faith has been the searching and struggling and doubting... the people who are considered the heroes of the Bible have deep, kind of ache-of-the-soul questions before God.
And then talking about things like the virgin birth and prayer-and I actually do pray before meals-but these are discussions we have all the time with each other over theology and faith.
When friends are together generally late at night you get to talking about what you are really wrestling with. I don't think I'm saying anything that people aren't talking about or discussing.
For more information on the Emerging Church Movement, please click here.
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