Can’t wait for BoB

If you haven’t registered either for The Gospel Coalition 2011 Conference or the Band of Bloggers event, stop reading this and do it now. Did I mention there will be free books?

Kevin DeYoung reviews Love Wins by Rob Bell

I just finished reading Kevin DeYoung’s review of the now controversial, soon to be released book by Rob Bell, Love Wins. The review is long (available also as a 20 page PDF) but worth the time it takes to read. The review is not only helpful for understanding Bell’s theology of the afterlife, it also traces the book’s departure from orthodox Christology, eschatology, and as DeYoung suggests most egregiously from the doctrine of God.

“At the very heart of this controversy, and one of the reasons the blogosphere exploded over this book, is that we really do have two different Gods. The stakes are that high. If Bell is right, then historic orthodoxy is toxic and terrible. But if the traditional view of heaven and hell are right, Bell is blaspheming. I do not use the word lightly, just like Bell probably chose “toxic” quite deliberately. Both sides cannot be right. As much as some voices in evangelicalism will suggest that we should all get along and learn from each other and listen for the Spirit speaking in our midst, the fact is we have two irreconcilable views of God.”

DeYoung’s review is well written and without having read Bell’s book yet myself, appears to be very comprehensive. Yet what shines forth most clearly from this review is DeYoung’s grace and charity toward Bell the man and his passion for pointing God’s people toward a right understanding of Biblical truth.

“I have not spent hours and hours on this review because I am out to get another pastor. I may be a sinner, but with four young children and a very full church schedule, I have no time for personal vendettas. No, this is not about a single author or a single church. This is about the truth, about how the rightness or wrongness of our theology can do tremendous help or tremendous harm to the people of God.”

Take the time to read this review. Though DeYoung won’t be the last one to review Love Wins in the coming days, I imagine many bloggers, writers, and thinkers will be citing this helpful article.

Trust Me ;)

Image by feyip via Flickr

I’m not one of the privileged few who have a pre-release copy of Rob Bell’s forthcoming book Love Wins. However, I have been reading and discussing with a local group of pastors Bell’s Jesus Wants to Save Christians. I couldn’t agree more with Carl Truman’s recent post critiquing the way Bell and others construct their arguments:

Popular books written for popular consumption are vital in the church; and Bell is to be commended for seeing that need. Further, when such books simply put forth an unexceptionable position, there is no real necessity for any scholarly apparatus; but when they self-consciously present themselves as arguing for significant or controversial paradigm shifts, the author really does need to cite sources. This is crucial because such citation allows the reader to engage in a conversation with the matter at hand. Indeed, the failure to do so actually prevents the reader from checking such for herself. In short, such an author does theology by fiat, adopting a dictatorial and high-handed approach which precludes constructive dialogue, whatever “conversational” rhetoric the author may use to describe his intentions. The message is not one of dialogue; it is rather ‘Trust me: everyone else is wrong, though I am not going to give you the means to judge their arguments for yourselves.’ That kind of approach lacks any real critical or dialogical integrity.

via JT

The Mark

Image via Wikipedia

Perhaps sometime today (Wednesday) you might see someone with a big, black, dirty smudge on their forehead. Lest you think they were running late and missed their morning shower or that they just wiped their brow after unloading a load of coal, know that smudge was put there on purpose.

Today many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other denominations will be marking the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday has marked the start of this holy season for centuries. Traditionally Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season are celebrated in preparation for Easter.

I remember one day walking back from class on my college campus seeing a group of students just coming out of a church service (the denomination doesn't matter), bearing the mark of the black smudge. What troubled me was that I knew some of these same students and that what I knew of their lifestyle seemed inconsistent with such a mark of repentance. "What hypocrites!" I thought to myself.

The funny thing about hypocrisy, as the old saying goes, "It takes one to know one."

It may be the case that because of our tradition none of us reading these words will attend an Ash Wednesday service or will receive the mark of the cross on our foreheads. But how many of us will wear a cross necklace to work? How many have a silver fish or clever Christian bumper-sticker on the back of our car? Who will dust and straighten up the Christian artwork hanging the wall in their home? None of these are wrong, but do they accurately depict who we are? What are the distinguishing marks of a Christian believer?

Shortly after a meal with his disciples where Jesus identified Judas as his betrayer, the Master once again told the Twelve he would soon be leaving them. And so, Jesus issued a new commandment to his disciples:

"Love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, ESV)

Of all the things Jesus could have said about what will make his followers stand out from the rest of the world, Jesus picked love. Love seems to be one of the most generic human characteristics, and yet Jesus says it will be uniquely demonstrated in those who truly belong to him. What's so unique about "Christian" love? Jesus says the uniqueness will be seen in how we love one another.

It's not hard to love. Jesus said that even sinners are capable of loving others (Luke 6:32). But sinners typically only love the loveable. Sinners love if and only they are loved in return. What if God loved us this way? What if Jesus' sacrificial love was given only to those who were loveable? Scripture tells us that none of us are loveable and therefore none of us would ever know God's saving grace (Ps 130:3; Rom 3:10).

So what then is the distinguishing mark of a Christian? Christ-like love. Love that has nothing to do with favoritism or personal gain. How else could Jesus ever love Judas? How else could Jesus ever love you or me? This is love that says, "I put you first, not because you are good or loveable or even of benefit to me, but because I am Jesus' disciple" (Php 2:3)

Smudge or no smudge we know that tomorrow there will be people out there bearing the distinguishing mark of Jesus Christ. Will you be one of them? How will anyone know?

[This post was written for the Cornerstone EFC Around the Corner weekly newsletter for March 9, 2011]