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| The entire article about Rob Bell can be found here. |
Rob Bell was a nationally renowned popular Evangelical Michigan megachurch founder and pastor (one of Time’s100 most influential people!) until his 2011 book Love Wins questioned traditional Christian understandings about salvation and damnation. He was following the trajectory of other post-Evangelicals towards liberal Protestantism and well beyond. Bell lost his pastorate and much of his Evangelical following, a fall meriting a New York Times feature.
But Bell is a creative and talented religious entrepreneur in America, where there are always more chances for self re-creation. He moved to California, naturally, continued as a widely read blogger, and accelerated his liberal theological journey, embracing same sex marriage as a “justice issue,” of course, and doubtless much else as he streaked away from orthodoxy. His new book, The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage, has been mocked for citing the Bible only three times, further signifying his expansion into a post-Christian frontier. He now surfs at the beach, rejects theological categories, and happily relates to others who’ve escaped the rigid confines of organized religion.
Bell’s self re-creation appropriately led to his joining a nationwide motivational speaking tour called “Life You Want Weekend” appropriately led by America’s high priestess of therapeutic pop religion, Oprah Winfrey, an evident fan of his provocative books and reassuring style.
Now, the Oprah Winfrey Network will this month start broadcasting “The Rob Bell Show,” consummating Bell’s spiritual transfer from Evangelical subculture to The Cult of Oprah. Like Oprah, Bell no longer belongs to or worships at a traditional church, instead operating in a wider reality. “We have a little tribe of friends,” Bell recently told Religion News Service. “We have a group that we are journeying with. There’s no building. We’re churching all the time. It’s more of a verb for us.”
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GJ
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. John Donne
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. John Donne
I have been writing about religious marketeers for years, because Mark and Avoid Jeske follows them so devotedly. Jeske is not the only dullard in Lutherdom, but he has the most visibility.
One only needs to look at the trends in WELS and Missouri to see that the leaders are bewitched by the latest trends or rather - terrified by the future.
They are circling the drain with Rob Bell, who got there first.
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| The CORE - WELS. The CORE exists to transform lives for Christ through faith that is Real, Relevant, and Relational. We deal with life's issues through the lens of God's Word. We come face to face with sin and the havoc it creates in our lives. We celebrate the forgiving, undeserved love of God and how that changes our lives. We sue our own members in court for telling the truth. We shun them and excommunicate them. |