Why do\u00a0Rob Bell\u2019s critics continue to be so fascinated by him long after they\u2019ve dismissed him as a worthless heretic?<\/em><\/p>\nWell, obviously Rob is a compelling figure. To be sure, he\u2019s no Kim Kardashian, but once you\u2019re famous in Christian circles, you\u2019re Christian famous for life. Everything you do publicly (and anything you do privately that becomes public) will be discussed and dissected ad nauseam. It just comes with the territory.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s more going on here that just that.<\/p>\n
I think part of the inability to actually follow through with the farewell bid\u00a0stems from an addiction to damnation. That is to say, an addiction (mistakingly thought to be some sort of holy calling) to trying to figure out who is and who isn\u2019t going to hell.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s empowering to damn someone to hell. It satisfies that most ancient of desires to be like God, while simultaneously allowing us to completely dismiss ideas that threaten the truthfulness of what we believe. Likewise, everytime we denounce\u00a0someone like Rob as a heretic, it reassures us of our own place in the kingdom of God. In other words, perverse though it may be, damning people like Rob to hell makes us feel like better Christians.<\/p>\n
But, again, I think there\u2019s more going on here that just that.<\/p>\n
At its core, I\u00a0think the critical\u00a0addiction to Rob stems from both fear and jealousy.<\/p>\n
No, not the jealously of his Oprah success, though I\u2019m sure\u00a0that\u2019s some of it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking about jealousy of his newfound freedom and the fear that others will see\u00a0that freedom and\u00a0abandon the Pharisees who control and manipulate so\u00a0much of the Church.<\/p>\n
As we all know too well, even though freedom from the Law is preached from pulpits every Sunday morning, legalism is an epidemic in the Church. Despite the freedom in Christ that we profess with such zeal, we just can\u2019t stop ourselves from constantly arguing about\u00a0what is or is not permissible for Christians to do and to think and to believe. In fact, we\u00a0relish the challenge of judging the \u201cbiblical\u201d acceptability of everyone else\u2019s thoughts and deeds and, therefore, whether or not they\u2019re\u00a0going to heaven or\u00a0hell.<\/p>\n
Which is why I think so many of Rob\u2019s critics just can\u2019t quit him.<\/p>\n
They continue to follow everything he says and does either because they quietly\u00a0long for the\u00a0freedom he so unapologetically enjoys, or because\u00a0they fear others will follow in his footsteps and abandon\u00a0them, leaving them with no one else to control, no one else to manipulate, no one else to exclude.<\/p>\n
Among his critics there seems to be\u00a0a deep sense of both dread\u00a0and envy\u00a0towards\u00a0his newfound freedom from the bondage\u00a0of legalism and the shackles of theological infighting. Rob says what we thinks, asks the questions he wants to asks, lives the life he feels called to live and (at least from an outsider\u2019s perspective) never stops to argue and debate with those already convinced he\u2019s going to hell.<\/p>\n
How could you not be afraid of losing your followers to that sort of life?<\/em><\/p>\nHow could you not be envious of that sort of freedom<\/em>?<\/em><\/p>\nHow could you not long to go on your own\u00a0exodus to a place where you are\u00a0finally free to think out loud, free to ask questions, and free to love people no matter who they are\u00a0or who\u00a0they love?<\/em><\/p>\nIt\u2019s an intoxicating dream for many\u00a0of us (both critic and fan alike) who are still in bondage.<\/p>\n
But many of us stay right where we are because we\u2019re told that an exodus from ideological institutions like fundamentalism or evangelicalism or whatever -ism we\u2019re shackled to is nothing less than an exodus from the faith itself.<\/p>\n
Which is why\u00a0when we see folks like Rob step out into the wilderness of no -isms, we get a bit jealous\u00a0of the freedom we secretly dream about and\/or fearful that others will follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
But it need not be that way.<\/p>\n
In fact, it shouldn\u2019t be that way.<\/p>\n
That dream of freedom should be our daily reality.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean we should abandon or dismantle the institution of the Church and go it alone. There\u2019s a difference between the institution of the Church and the ideologies that so often hijack it. As a Christian, I believe we are all by definition a part of the Body of Christ and therefore cannot do this following Jesus\u00a0thing alone. We need each other and when we come together in that need we will inevitably and unavoidably end up creating an institution.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n
But that institution must be an agent of liberation, not a place of bondage.<\/p>\n
The Church must be a place where we are free to ask questions, free to say what we really think, and free to love people no matter who they are or who they love.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, we have no claim to be the Body of the One who came to set the captives free.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, we\u2019re just hypocrites.<\/p>\n
Preaching freedom, but acting like Pharisees.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Credit: Paul Williams, Flickr Creative Commons) It\u2019s been 3 years since John Piper infamously bid farewell to Rob Bell and, to his credit (I suppose?), he hasn\u2019t had much \u2013 if anything \u2013 to say about Rob\u00a0since them. At least not that I\u2019m aware of. Piper said farewell and he meant it. Countless other conservative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":13333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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(Credit: Paul Williams, Flickr Creative Commons<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n