Rob Bell: The Gods Aren't Angry

Amen! God has already acted. God has already said “yes” to us.

This entire DVD is awesome.

This is the message of Christianity !!! Thank you Rob for making it so clear and thank you Steve for bringing Rob’s voice in here.

Yes, yes…. saw Rob do this in NYC and just watched the dvd this weekend. It breathes the fresh breath needed back into a christianity whose vital signs on grace are disconcerting, but whose people secretly know they can live with nothing less than this beautiful truth, [myself included]... we are already accepted and beloved… Thank you for the reminder.

This is not message of Christianity. This is preaching a false Gospel.Read your full Bibles!

Jeff,
What do you think the “message of Christianity” is?

And, why do you think this very short clip is a “false gospel”?

Chad
What are the chances of Jeff taking you up on that challenge?

In my experience, dive bombing comments are the modus operandi of the threatened.

Jeff, Chad asks you a very reasonable set of questions. Are you “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”?

Go on brother, break the mould and prove me wrong!

I did a search for the word “repent” here’s what I found….

From that time on Jesus began to peach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” -Matt 4:17

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” -Acts 3:19

The greek word is metaneo it is used 32 times in the NT and always repent.

“He, then, who has received the forgiveness of sins ought to sin no more. For, in addition to the first and only repentance from sins (this is from the previous sins in the first and heathen life—I mean that in ignorance), there is forthwith proposed to those who have been called, the repentance which cleanses the seat of the soul from transgressions, that faith may be established.” -Clement of Alexandria

My point is this… Rob Bell is wrong. There WAS repentance in the first century. And the usage sounds pretty conditional to me.

Now in reference to Nic’s (to make sure I’m not being unfairly catagorized like Jeff seems to be) I’m not threatened, I just don’t agree.

If I could, let me throw out another way to look at these things; I think everyone on this page (including Mr. Bell) would agree. It seems clear, to Justin’s point, that repentance is required to partake in the full blessing of a relationship with God. Bell’s point, I think, is that repentance, in its nature a response to the love God has shown, is not to be used as a bargaining chip. (The idea that I can get God to give me what I want if I “repent” is not repentance at all. The idea that I turn from my sin because I have discovered His Grace, now THAT is the stuff of true repentence!)
And I know for a fact that there are religious communities that teach this sort of if/then “manipulation.”

Repentance is clearly stated over and over in the N.T. And it’s not something we generate on our own, it’s something the Holy Spirit generates in us. Mr. Bell needs to repent for teaching false doctrine. Wake up and study that bible for yourself. Check everything people say.

To the men of Athens Paul said. Acts 17:30- Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Did you catch that command to ALL men everywhere. Repent. Man is rotten to the core and must repent of their wretchedness. The heart is deceitful above ALL things and desperately wicked who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Repentance means “To make a change” “To turn from” when Jesus says repent for the kingdom has come near, Jesus is saying make a change in your life. Turn your life towards God. Bell’s argument is that of change. When the Holy Spirit enters our life our lives will make change towards God. We often make change to satisfy our need to be liked… liked by others and God. A bargining of sorts. God has already made the arrangement for us to recieve forgiveness. Will we simply make change in our lives?

I know some will disagree with me. But that said, Josephus writes that he was sent out to a brigand leader to try and convince him to stop his attempts at rebellion. Now the phrase that Josephus uses is “Repent and believe in me.” This is the same thing we hear Jesus saying.

Now, Josephus and Jesus were different people, but the common phrase lends itself towards a common usage. While one could say that they both use the phrase for different reasons I see a common theme. That is that repentance was an action of trust. I agree that we cannot hold repentance over the heads of others like modern form of indulgence. Repentance should come from a trust that Jesus teaches the best way to live. Which is the point towards which Bell was going, as I remember.

The Josephus story I picked up from NT Wright. He talks about it in several of his writings.

Thanks for your comment James. You have some goods points. Particularly where you said” (The idea that I can get God to give me what I want if I “repent” is not repentance at all. The idea that I turn from my sin because I have discovered His Grace, now THAT is the stuff of true repentance!)” I absolutely agree. I think many people simply go through the motions to they can feel they have eternity covered, and then go on living however they want. That’s not true repentance. My thoughts where more about what seems to be a larger message of universalism. Now possibly I’m wrong and that’s not what Rob Bell is saying. (Possibly, but I don’t think so.) However, to that point, I think we need to always realize that even though salvation is offered it will not always be received. In fact the Bible says it will not be received in most cases. And to those who refuse God’s grace, they will not see heaven. The great news about that is we are able to intervene. Not only has God provided salvation in Jesus Christ but he has provided a voice on earth through us. How exciting is that.

A big thank you to Rob Bell for finally stepping up to the plate and addressing the difficulties of the origins of religion. All too often, Christians ignore the findings of secular scholarship—Rob Bell here steps up to the challenge and presents a dynamic message of hope and life, all within the reality of messy human history. I feel as though he is addressing a specific audience in this talk, namely those skeptical about faith. He brings forth an incredible message that demonstrates the uniqueness of the story of God. People are all different and need to hear the message of God presented in different ways—given his audience, I think that what he said was very good. Rather than causing people to leave yet another sermon scratching their heads and wondering how the gospel of Jesus is supposed to be good news, Bell presents a message that resonates like the sweetest of honey to the very core of our being.
Watching this has made me want to give my search for faith yet another chance.

I wrote a post last month on my blog about Bell’s talk: click on my name above and you can follow the link.