Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Part 3

Points 2 and 3 why Rob Bell and Harold Camping are really two sides of the same coin.

2. They both lack real accountability. Harold Camping is the head of a Christian radio organization that encourages people to leave their local church. Camping himself left his local church in the late 80's. This seems preposterous to many because Christians, of every stripe, have always believed that when individuals have come to understand the forgiveness of Christ join the local church and believe it to be the Body of Christ. They believe it to be the physical and spiritual representation of Christ on earth. They've believed that one cannot be close to Christ without being close to His gathered people, His table, and His baptism. They've believed that distance from the church is always representative of distance from Jesus.

To some, the comparison between Harold Camping and Rob Bell seems preposterous when it comes to their relationship to the local church. Camping calls people to leave the church but Rob Bell is encouraging people to come to his church. Camping believes that churches are under the control of Satan but Rob Bell still believes that the Body of Christ is within the church. But Rob Bell eschews accountability also. Rob Bell's congregation is not affiliated with any particular denomination. His ordination does not seem to be with any particular group of churches. No one, in his church, has called for him to be disciplined because of his blatant false teaching. Even though many respected church leaders have from around the country questioned his teaching he has refused to recant. Both Camping and Bell are emboldened by the masses that follow them rather than the clear teaching of the Bible.

When individuals get outside of the authority that the local church and denominations of churches provide, they are susceptible to every wind of false doctrine. There is authority and accountability in church structures that every Christian needs. This is God's plan.

3. They both have a twisted view of church history. There is a story that church history tells. Church history is not authoritative (as some would believe) but it is informative. Biblical conclusions that are not supported throughout the various stages of church history need to be questioned strongly. I'm fairly convinced that Harold Camping does not see church history as important at all and knows very about it but Rob Bell is aware of the history of the church but he does an interesting thing with it. Bell has substantiated his views on the testimony of individuals from church history rather than the testimony of the Churches of Church history. With this approach, one could make history say almost anything. All one would need to do is to string together a list of questionable characters or heretics from church history and say "there has been within the Christian tradition a number of people who have said give it enough time, God will win everybody over. (Rob Bell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA)" Bell even goes so far as to misuse letters written by Martin Luther in order to say that Luther himself questioned whether or not people could turn to God after death. Luther never taught this.

Church history is not the final authority but it tells a story. Church history unanimously tells a story of a Triune Creator God, a sacrificed and resurrected Son, an indwelling Spirit, a set apart worshiping people, a table of remembrance, a baptism in water, a real heavenly state and a real hell. Christians of every group have believed these things, and more, because they are so clear in the Bible.

Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Part 2

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).

Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Few people have made more noise in Christianity in 2011 then Harold Camping and Rob Bell. Harold Camping is an 89 year old radio Bible preacher. It's sometimes hard to believe that Camping has any audience at all. He speaks with a ridiculous monotone. He wears suits that look like he purchased them from the Salvation Army in 1975. His radio stations and websites are completely outdated. Over the years he has taught that the church is under the control of Satan so Christians should abandon their local church. He has taught that torment in hell is not eternal and the occupants of hell will eventually be annihilated. He taught the end of the world was to come in 1994. He later predicted the beginning of judgment on May 21, 2011. He has since said that the judgment has begun but it is a "spiritual" judgment. The end of the world is still coming on October 21, 2011.
You might think that Harold Camping couldn't be more different than Rob Bell. Unlike Camping, Rob Bell is 40 years old and probably thinks that Harold Camping is a kook. Rob Bell created a stir in 2011 by writing a book that questioned what Christians have traditionally believed about hell. Camping says that the judgment of God is a terrible thing while Rob Bell insists that the judgment that God brings will not be painful but rather a wooing process similar to how a romantic boy gets a girl to like him. Rob Bell is seemingly hip and accessible to young people. He dresses cool and wears those cool square glasses and tells great stories. He's an entertaining communicator. He's got an entrepreneurial flare to his ministry. Rob Bell is no annihilationist. He believes that hell is virtually empty and if it does exist it is not a physical place. Rob Bell openly questions Christian beliefs like the atonement, election, and sovereign work of God that Harold Camping clings to. But despite these glaring differences, Harold Camping and Rob Bell are two sides of the same coin. In other words, they look different but they have similar value. Here are three values that Rob Bell and Harold Camping share. The conclusion comes next week....

Arrogance and Humility

Well, everyone's blogging about how Christians should respond to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Maybe I'll write about it next week but I think it may have been done to death (insert joke here).

Below is a great clip by an educator/pastor named Doug Wilson. Wilson has openly criticized Rob Bell and comments on how American Christianity has inverted the definitions of arrogance and humility. I hope you enjoy it.

http://desposyni.blogspot.com/2011/04/doug-wilson-on-arrogance-and-humility.html

Who are you to judge? Part 2

Here are 4 principles for proper judgment from the Bible.
"Judge not lest ye be judged" is not the complete story on judgment. In Matthew 7:1 Jesus said "Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment that you pronounce you will be judged." For most people, even Christians, these are the only verses in the Bible that they are aware of that speak directly towards judgment. In these verses Jesus is not forbidding all judgment but rather forbidding Christians from hypocritical judgment. He goes on to say in the following verses, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."(7:5) He warns believers against our tendency to harshly judge the sin in others that we're deeply entrenched in.

The Bible doesn't forbid Christian people from identifying and opposing unjust actions in a proper manner. "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him."(Prov 14:31) God's idea of justice has nothing to do with self-righteousness but is rather concerned with His name being honored by believers acting with integrity and uprightness. It has to do with the believer knowing what is right and learning to do what is right. This not only applies to the oppressed but it applies to fidelity to the message of Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2 that when he heard that the Apostle Peter was drawing back from the Gentiles in favor of fellowship with the Jews, Paul identifies this as "a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you". In response to Peter, Paul "opposed him to his face because he stood condemned." The Apostle Paul was not only willing "to remember the poor" and was eager to do it but believed that fidelity to the Gospel was the driving force of his desire to see justice take place. He felt so strongly about upholding the True Gospel that he was willing to go directly to Peter and confront him on his compromised lifestyle.

The Bible warns Christians against pride and feelings of superiority when they deal with the sin of unbelievers. The Bible says do not judge those outside the church. Clearly, the Bible warns believers not to apply God's expectation for holiness to unbelievers. "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler- not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? .... God judges those outside (the church)." (1 Cor 5:11-13) We tend to want to exercise these verses differently. We tend to want to give believers a free pass when it comes to judgment and think ourselves superior to the world. Paul, says it must be the opposite. We can oppose sinful ideas and sinful people for the sake of the oppressed but we must guard against pride and superiority when doing it. I know the outcome of an unbelieving life but the ultimate judgment of the unbeliever will be levied by Christ (Acts 10:42) not by me.

It is good and right for believers to speak directly to each other about actions and attitudes that are sinful. This is good judgment. In Matthew 18 Jesus gives the believer a prescription for how to approach other believers who have sinned. In summary, it has to do with going to people personally with a desire to see them return to obedience in Christ. If going to them personally does not bring about repentance then Jesus calls the believer to bring along another believer and then to eventually involve the entire church body. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 say "Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?.... Purge the evil person from among you." If you don't believe in the church disciplining it's members you'll need to go back and examine the message of Jesus and Paul. The Scriptures are painfully clear on this point. We, as believers, have a responsibility to confront one another in love because the reputation of Christ is at stake in the life of the Church and in the life of the individual believer. This is the proper judgment amongst believers. Many believe that actions like these are the absence of love but Jesus assures us that actions like these represent love. Jesus makes it clear that the actions of the church body, either to restore an individual or to put them out of the church, is the church attempting to agree with what heaven already knows about the individual. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (if you think you have a better explanation of that verse, I'd genuinely like to hear it) It's caring about the soul of the individual.

Who are you to judge?

A popular American author/pastor name Rob Bell recently released a book entitled Love Wins: A Book about Heaven and Hell and the Fate of Every Person who Ever Lived. Even before the book was released there was a firestorm of controversy surrounding the book. An editor from Crossway Books named Justin Taylor released a scathing critique of the book after he had read a few chapters. Taylor also critiqued the promotional video that preceded Bell's book. Upon reading Taylor's review a popular Reformed pastor named John Piper Tweeted one statement which read "Farewell Rob Bell." Interestingly, this Tweet created another round of controversy surrounding the book. Many speculated, and I think fairly, that John Piper was stating that Rob Bell had departed from the bounds of Orthodox Christianity by hinting that hell was not a place and that the love of God would not allow people be punished there eternally. But there was an uprising against John Piper for his Tweet. The criticism that Rob Bell was experiencing, in some circles, was equaled by the criticism that John Piper received. Throughout this controversy there was one quote that intrigued me. In a short response to John Piper's Tweet, a random woman wrote to John Piper "Who are you to judge?" Who are you to judge??? This is an extremely popular sentiment in our day. We hear this all the time. "He's so judgmental". "Every time I go there I feel like I'm being judged." When we're feeling really spiritual we quote Jesus and say "judge not lest ye be judged." We believe that everyone else is so judgmental but we almost never say to anyone "you're so judgmental". We announce behind their back that "they're being so judgmental".

Friends, can we at least see the hypocrisy of the statement itself. To say that someone is "judgmental" is itself a judgment. Judgments are a daily activity. We cannot survive in this world with discerning or making judgments. We're constantly judging whether or not we have enough time to run three errands and still make it to class on time. We're judging whether or not there is enough space to make the left hand turn between the two cars that are approaching. You might object to this line of reasoning because it has nothing to do with judging people. You might still believe that judgment associated with people is wrong. But I assure you that you and I are constantly making judgments concerning people. Should I let my kid hang out with that other kid? I'm going to need to make a judgment about the other kid and my kid in order to make that decision. Should I go out to lunch with my co-worker? I'll need to make judgments to decide this. Is my co-worker the same gender as me or a different gender? Where might my co-worker want to go for lunch? What would my boyfriend say? Can we all agree that judgment, itself, is not negative? Proper judgment of situations and others protects us from danger. Judgment is not the issue. The question is, What is proper judgment? According to the Bible, What are the right and wrong ways to judge situations and others? Part 2 coming next week.

Zach Wahls' Iowa Speech for Gay Marriage Goes Viral

Below is an article written by Steven Hoffer who writes for AOLnews.com . Directly below that is the related YouTube clip of Zach Wahls. Zach is a product of artificial insemination and was raised by two lesbians. There seems to be an increasing distance between Zach's generation and the generation that overwhelmingly approved a resolution to propose a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages in Iowa. If I'm understanding this correctly, the Iowa House of Representatives have now placed it in the hands of the people of Iowa as to whether or not their state will sanction gay marriage. After reading and watching the video I'd love to hear your reaction.

Zach Wahls' Iowa Speech for Gay Marriage Goes Viral
The Iowa House of Representatives approved a resolution on Tuesday that proposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

Hundreds of people packed the Iowa State House to debate the issue -- known as House Joint Resolution 6 -- which passed by a 62-37 vote.

One of the individuals who spoke was Zach Wahls, a University of Iowa engineering student and the child of a same-sex couple. His three-minute speech against the resolution is going viral across the Internet, much like Fort Worth, Texas, City Councilman Joel Burns' "It Gets Better" speech did during October.

During his statement, the 19-year-old equates his family to any other in Iowa and mentions that he owns a small business, is an Eagle Scout and scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT college aptitude test, and he even manages to not so subtly tell the House chairman that he'd be "very proud" to have a son like himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQQK2Vuf9Q&feature=topvideos