Here's one reason why people like Harold Camping and Rob Bell are two sides of the same coin. Two more reasons coming next week.....
1. They both believe that the meaning of the Scripture is not within the words themselves. Harold Camping is a civil engineer and approaches the Bible as such. He's looking for the math of the Scriptures. He trying to crack the Bible code through the use of mathematics. In his mind, if you do the equations right then you get ALL of the right answers. He approaches the Bible as a modernist. A modernist says 'I can understand truth by applying my mind properly.' Camping believes that the meaning of the Scripture is underneath the words. If you know all he knows, then you'll really know. On the other side of the coin, Rob Bell approaches the Bible as a mystic. He's wants to revel in the mystery of the Scripture. He approaches the Bible as a post-modernist. A post-modernist says 'because of the diversity of our world, truth is not cross cultural but is intensely personal and individually understood by what I experience.' To Rob Bell the meaning of the Scripture is not mainly contained in the words of Scripture but is mystically understood. To Bell, the meaning of the Scripture is above the Scripture. 'Don't get caught up with the detail of the words', he might say, 'get caught up in the grand mystery of it all'.
Jesus says, that to his disciples "has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but for others they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear. (Luke 8:10)" The idea that Rob Bell promotes that Christianity is a continual reveling in unanswered questions is not compatible with the Bible. This way of thinking cannot be substantiated by the Old or New Testament. Jesus says in Luke 8 that his disciples come to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God but that unbelievers are blind and deaf to this meaning. The Bible repeatedly says that true faith is a growing realization of who God is and how He works, with growing certainty (Deut 29:29, Isaiah 43:10, John 17:3, Rom 8:16, Heb 11:1). At the same time, the idea that all of the things that we ever wanted to know are answered in the Bible is not accurate. This is where Harold Camping has gone astray. Harold Camping is in trouble because God repeatedly gives warnings against mapping out a detailed timeline in order to ascertain the day of Christ's return (Matt 24:36, Mark 13:32). The meaning of the Bible is neither below or above the text. The meaning of the Bible is within the words themselves. The meaning of the Bible is right in the text. It is the Words that are true and powerful( Jn 17, Rom 10). It is the Words that impart life (Gen 1, Ez 37). It is the words that reveal Jesus Christ (Lk 24:27). The meaning of the Scripture is plain and these words will be saving and transformative when God applies them by His Holy Spirit (2 Thess 2:13-14).
It's so sad for all those who follow these two men, and men/women like them, who lead their flock astray.
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