D.A. Carson on Rob Bell
The following is an excerpt from a sermon by Dr. D.A. Carson. The sermon was preached at the 2008 Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology.
The title of the sermon was “Keeping Up With The Conversation,” and it surveyed the Emerging Church, the Emergent Movement, and postmodernism.
I’ll post here when all audio from the conference is available.
Technorati Tags:
DA Carson, Emerging Church, Rob Bell, Nooma
Interesting points..
So, what Carson is saying is that a local church pastor is doing what is necessary to reach the people in his area where they are with teachings about the Gospel that they can understand, while understanding their levels of Gospel understanding, and all along the way making really interesting points (even points that are interesting to Carson himself). Seems pretty good (to quote Larry David) to me.
Thanks for writing, Garrett. It sounds like you accept Carson’s premise that Bell is only teaching Gospel periphery. As he said in the excerpt in this post, that works when you have churched, catechized people. But what happens if a completely unchurched, unregenerate person walks in on that fellowship? Where will they hear the crux of the Gospel? Shouldn’t the Gospel truth have a place of prominence in public preaching?
If you haven’t already, have a listen to the entirety of Carson’s sermon, which can now be heard as Session 1 here.
I think that D.A. Carson makes some good points about Bell’s teachings. I really like Bell’s teachings, but I understand the concerns some have about the lack of full information about the gospel in his NOOMA videos. However, I think everything has to be put in context. His NOOMA videos and books are intended to bring people to a point where they will see Jesus positively and seek to follow Him. From that point, they can then learn the “theological points” of the gospel. If you look at what Jesus said, we are commanded to do two things: Love God, and love people. When we do those things, we fulfill the whole law. Further, the Bible tells us that Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Finally, it was Jesus who gave us the parable about the sheep and the goats, wherein the people who were the goats were not criticized for their lack of theological knowledge, but their lack of showing love to others. So, I would rather err on the side of a Rob Bell, who basically tells us to put hands and feet to faith and live a life of love following Jesus, than to err on the side of knowing a lot of theology, but having not love. Or, as James says, I will show you my faith by my deeds! God can correct our theology if we are genuinely seeking to follow Jesus and to love God and people.
I would like to respond to Craig’s points. Even when we put things “in context,” I don’t think we draw people to the real Jesus by telling lies, including the one that everybody has the Spirit of God in them--I saw this in “Rhythm” while wathcing Nooma in a Christian bookstore. To get people to follow Jesus according to Bell’s methods, one is resorting to “bait and switch” tactics. Rather than prefering to err on the side of Rob Bell, instead of someone with too much theology, but “having not love,” why don’t we get both of them correct (like D.A. Carson)? Lots of cultists are “genuinely seeking to follow Jesus and love God and people,” and they ignore God when He uses people (like D.A. Carson) to correct their theology.
Carl,
Great points, but we all must never forget that not even D.A. Carsen has it all on straight. From his views on baptism to eschatology, he doesn’t quite hit the mark always either. I guess what I’m trying to say is, we can always point out the fault of others, but when doing so we miss out on the good they may actually be doing. Even if Bell is only bring 30% of his congregation to Christ, that is to say that only 30% become christians.. well that is still 3,000 people and when compared to most churches today, that is excellent. One should never critisize anyone when they bring the good news of Christ to people in a way that resonates with them. Being all things to all people, as Paul would say.
Grace and Peace
DB
Looking for a good sum up of his/his church’s beliefs?
http://www.marshill.org/pdf/narrativeTheology.pdf
Carl:
I agree with you that anyone who is teaching heresy is dangerous and leading people astray. I own all of the NOOMA videos, including Rhythm. I have never understood Bell to say that everyone has the Holy Spirit in them. Rhythm certainly does not contain that statement in it. If you go to Rob Bell’s church’s website (Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids) and read their doctrinal statement, you will see it is very orthodox. So, I agree with most people’s concerns about unorthodox teaching. But, I do not see that in Rob Bell’s teaching. While he uses different wording than that used by most Christians, that is just in an effort to reach the unchurched or those who have rejected traditional Christianity for reasons other than the gospel itself. But, what does it matter whether Rob Bell uses “churchy” language or uses “commonfolk” language to communicate with people, as long as he is directing them to Jesus and to the Word of God? Again, his views are very orthodox if you look at his church’s website.
Craig,
Rhythm does not have the statement that “everybody has the Holy Spirit in them.” You are correct. Since you actually own the video,you missed a the perfect opportunity to clarify what Rob Bell really did say. What I remember from that day in the Christian bookstore was Rob Bell saying that God breathed his breath into Adam, then equated God’s breath with His Spirit, and then said that the people all around us have this breath/spirit in them. A non-Christian would easily be led to look for God within, as the New Age teaches, rather than to look for sin within and a Savior from above. It is the lie of the New Age and of the serpent. It is ANOTHER gospel. If we accept Rob Bell’s teaching on this point, we are accepting the idea that the Holy Spirit will lie to bring people to Christ. This is heretical teaching, no matter what our doctrinal statements say. Furthermore, being all things to all people (as Dustin posted above) should not include being a deceiver to the deceived, even if that is what resonates with them. Deception does not have a 30% success rate in making true converts. It does not direct lost people (but perhaps a few Bereans!) to the Word of God, and it does not bring the good news of Christ to people.
Either Carson is jealous of Rob Bell or he is a confused thinker. Rob has been warmly recieved in dozens of US cities as well as many countries by tens of thousands. Small mindedness is a disease as is envy.
There’s a huge difference between being “warmly received” in a particular city and having a successful Gospel ministry there over a period of many years. You mischaracterize the issue by trying to reduce it to such a simple, marginal point.
Carl:
I understand the concern about people misconstruing things. However, that cannot be the test for our measure of the orthodoxy of something. Cult groups use the Bible to distort their views all the time, and many non-believers read what they want to into the Bible. That does not mean that there is something wrong with it. We cannot control what people will try to say something means.
As for Rhythm and Breathe, two NOOMA videos that touch on the subject of your post, neither would indicate in any way that God has put His Holy Spirit into everyone. Rather, they both touch on the fact that there is an element of hummans that can connect to God. In essence, we have a spiritual component. His point, as I surmise it from the videos, is then us choosing to learn how to live in relationship with God. He then specifically tells us that Jesus is God’s way of showing us Himself and that we need to choose to follow Jesus.
The problem most people have is that Rob Bell doesn’t reduce the gospel to a set of creeds. Rather, he presetns it much the same way Jesus did when Jesus said “Come and follow me.” Rob Bell challenges people to follow Jesus, and he holds up the Bible as the way to know about what it means to follow Jesus. But, for anybody whose faith is based upon simply holding the right knowledge, and is more shown by assenting to a set of beliefs, then Rob Bell’s message is troubling. But, I love God’s word and I have found bell’s message to be far more consistent with Jesus’s than the gospel that is reduced to a set of “right beliefs.”
Our faith is shown by our actions. We are to follow Jesus with our lives, by loving God and loving others. That is the gospel message. Now, we are able to do that and are reconciled to God through Jesus’s death on the cross. But, the emphasis is on how we live, not simply what we say we believe. That is consistent with James chapter 1, where we see that true faith is displayed by action, not simply a group of knowledge.
Love covers a multitude of sin.
Peace and grace!
Craig
Post a comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.