Check out this interview with Rob Bell on Relevant.com. Rob talks about his new book, the "New Exodus Perspective" and, as always, drops all kind of sound biblical knowledge. In his own awesome way. My fav was this quote:
"It's hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven when you're content with the Kingdom you already have."
You rock, Rob!
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Sometimes Rob leaves these little comments out there that scream for clarification; here's one:
1. Master the art of doubt. Faith needs it to survive.
Does this mean "Take control over your ability TO doubt. Without this control, your faith will constantly be wavering, and you'll miss out on the lessons Jesus wants to teach you."
Or does it mean "You've got to be able to doubt some of the things you hear about religion and faith and the church. If we completely stifle or deny that any doubt exists in our life, then our faith is a paper tiger. Therefore, listen to your doubts, give thought to your doubts, wrestle with your doubts until you've mastered them. THEN you'll be able to better understand what Jesus is trying to teach us."
Or, in a place I'm hoping he's not going, is he saying "It's OK to doubt some of the stuff you read in the bible. Let's face it...there's no way that Jonah REALLY spent 3 days in the belly of a big fish. That's just the writer's way of addressing a popular myth in the culture of the day, taking a message to a group of people who worshiped a fish god. Let's not get hung up in the literal words of the bible and miss out on the bigger picture."
There's a point in "Jesus Wants to Save the Christians" where Rob touches ever so briefly on the book of Revelations, and suggests that it's only the story of John talking to the people oppressed by the Roman empire, people who lived with the boot of thuggery constantly on their necks, and that any interpretation that suggests that it's about a very real and approaching future for us or the generations to follow is misreading the author's intent.
It occurs to me now that the bible is our most clear introduction to the Holy Spirit. If its possible to get inside the head of the author of a book, then reading the bible should tell us all we need to know about the final incarnation of a tri-equal God in the form of the Holy Spirit.
The books of the bible are named most often after the person who penned them, not the Holy Spirit who dictated them. To say that the book of Revelations was "written" by John the disciple that Jesus loved is certainly not the same as saying that the ideas for the book came out of John's head. They didn't. We can certainly give him credit for the nuance, tone, and literal words on the page, but John and all the other authors of the bible served merely as stenographers, writing down what the Holy Spirit prompted them to say.
A friend of mine likes to say that the bible isn't a book, it's a person. Scripture says the word of God is "living and active," and that's the best description of a real, live, living, breathing, animated person that I can imagine. To say then, that a certain passage of the bible reflects only John's perspective, and not that of the Holy Spirit seems to be misunderstanding who the bible is really about.
I like Rob, but sometimes I get the feeling that he throws the grenade into the middle of the room, then shuts the door and runs on to the next room, leaving the rest of us to sort through the pieces.
...plus, he's a big fan of soccer and skateboarding, so how trustworthy can he really be? :)
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