Special Report
by Roger Oakland, Understand the Times
Many Pastors promoting Rob Bell and emerging church
September 19, 2007
There are pastors (including Calvary Chapel
pastors) who are promoting Rob Bell's view that Christianity must be
"reinvented for the 21st century." Rob Bell is one of the prominent
leaders of the Emerging Church movement.
In Faith Undone, the following facts about Rob Bell are presented:
Bell,
a graduate of Wheaton College (the same as Billy Graham), is the
producer for short films called Noomas (derived from the word Pneuma,
meaning breath or spirit.) In his Nooma film called Breathe, Bells
states: "Each day we take around 26,000 breaths ... Our breathing should
come from our stomach, not our chest."
This sounds fairly benign at first glance. But in a 2004 Christianity Today article
titled "Emergent Mystique," Bell says, "We're rediscovering
Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life." Is Bell just
trying to sound postmodern and culturally-relevant when he says this, or
does he really believe that Christianity is an Eastern religion? The
answer to that question can be found in two people with whom Bell
strongly resonates.
In Bell's Velvet Elvis,
in the "Endnotes" section, Bell recommends Ken Wilber (whom I mentioned
in chapter two as one of Leonard Sweet's "New Light" teachers). Of
Wilber, Bell states:
"For a mind-blowing introduction to emergence theory and divine
creativity, set aside three months and read Ken Wilber's A Brief History
of Everything."
Ken Wilber was raised in a conservative Christian church, but at some
point he left that faith and is now a major proponent of Buddhist
mysticism. His book that Bell recommends, A Brief History of Everything,
is published by Shambhala Publications, named after the term, which in
Buddhism means the mystical abode of spirit beings. Wilber is one of the
most respected and highly regarded theoreticians in the New Age
movement today. (from pp. 109-11, Faith Undone)
Any pastor (including a Calvary Chapel pastor) who follows and promotes the teachings of Rob Bell (Velvet Elvis ,
Nooma films, etc.), but claims not to be part of the Emerging Church
after reading the following article (see link below) about Rob Bell,
needs to publicly declare whether he is Emerging Church or not. A pastor
who follows Rob Bell has the potential to be led away from a
Bible-based Christiantiy towards a New Age eastern mysticism that
includes contemplative spirituality. This is a perfect example of how a
shepherd who is supposed to protect his flock from wolves can become a
wolf in sheep's clothing and become a danger to his own flock and other
pastors who follow him or his methods.
Roger Oakland
Understand the Times
Excerpts from the article:
Faith
in Jesus, Bell says, must be repainted for each generation if it is to
avoid the fate of his velvet Elvis. "What often happens in religion is
people freeze the faith at a certain point," Bell says. "There's no more
need to paint. We've got the ultimate painting."
On
the contrary, he says -- religion, like art, must keep exploring and
reforming, or "you end up with a velvet Elvis on your hands."
"It
is not possible to simply do what the Bible says," Bell writes. "We
must first make decisions about what it means at this time, in this
place, for these people."
Many of them are looking for what Bell says his book offers -- "a fresh take on Jesus."
Bell
also shakes up traditional evangelical beliefs. While calling Christ's
way "the best possible way to live," Bell writes Jesus did not claim one
religion is better than another when he said he was "the way, the truth
and the life." Rather, he writes, "his way is the way to the depth of
reality."
As a follower of Jesus, Bell says, he is free to claim the truth wherever he finds it.
"One
of the lies is that truth only resides in this particular community or
that particular thought system," Bell says. "I affirm the truth anywhere
in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to
God."
LTRP Note: Please see the articles below for more information:
