Rob Bell and Heresy…
16 February 2007 – 9:09 am
Gavin Knight has posted an interesting conversation with Jordan Westrupp that was prompted by Jordan’s reading of a blog referring to Rob Bell of Mars Hill as a heretic.

I’ve just spent a bit of time trolling through a number of articles (see here for an example) that are extremely critical of Rob.

I have a number of comments to make (and I’m trying to be objective):

They claim that Rob Bell believes in panentheism. I’m not so sure he does though. He certainly has a bigger view of God than many of us manage, but I’m pretty sure that he believes God created the universe, not that the universe is part of God.
They claim that he doesn’t believe in creation because he is not a proponent of reading the Genesis story in a very literal sense. I don’t think that means he doesn’t actually believe in creation… In fact, I’ve read much from him that states that God is the creator of all.
They claim he believes that Jesus’ death on the cross was for all (which he most certainly does), and that this means that all people are automatically part of God’s kingdom. I don’t read his comments and preaching this way personally. I suspect the critics in this case are Calvinists who are getting hung up on an Arminian point of view. (Though I may be wrong here of course!)
They claim that he highlights the “love” of God too much and doesn’t preach the need for an actual decision to be made to accept Christ AND be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I can’t say that I agree that he preaches “love” too much (how can you…) but I definitely am uneasy that Rob doesn’t appear to ever ask people for a decision… Am I wrong here (I obviously don’t hear all his preaches)
This isn’t the whole argument by any stretch of the imagination of course. However, I do feel the need to be very careful about what I preach. Without a doubt, much of what Rob says not only strikes a chord, but seems, after Biblical research, to be absolutely correct. However, there are aspects of his theology that I wouldn’t preach.

By the same token, there is much I would take from the (excuse the term) fundamentalists but also stuff that they appear to have wrong (imho). An example of this would be the incredible judgmental attitude of the church.

An example of what I really struggle with with these fundamentalists is their belief that they really have their full interpretation of the Scriptures absolutely nailed and that it is absolutely accurate! Personally, I believe that in this sense Rob Bell in “Velvet Elvis” gets it right. We must continue to debate, discuss and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit on all aspects of our faith.

God bless