Well, that's probably a name you heard in a while!
For those of you not familiar with that name, Rob Bell was (and kind of still is?) a big name in the Christian community. He is the former megachurch founder and pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, wrote widely read books Sex God and Velvet Elvis, and is probably most widely known for his NOOMA video series.
In 2011, Rob Bell had a big falling out with the Christian community following the release of his book, Love Wins. In that book, he contended that people would be able to accept Jesus and enter heaven after death in addition to before death, which many people misconstrued as universalism. (Which is not particularly right... but I can see why people would draw that conclusion.)
Having attended a Christian school at the time, I was right in the thick of the controversy. People freaked out. Having been looked at as a Christian hero in the community for the longest time, people were floored with the sentiments shared in Love Wins. It extended far beyond my school's community, too, as the book inevitably led Rob Bell to leave his own church.
Rob Bell is still around, largely as a sort of Christian "spiritual advisor" for Oprah and her folks, but his name is no longer what it used to be in Christian circles today.
Which I kind of think is a shame. And here's why.
Well, before sharing why I miss Rob Bell, I should say that I do NOT necessarily align my beliefs to all what Rob Bell believes (like his big sentiment in Love Wins), but I do appreciate the fact that he wants to talk about it. We'll get into that more below.
There are two big things I think Rob Bell did right that have largely been buried or obscured by most churches.
First, Rob Bell focused on the beauty of things.
This is especially clear within his NOOMA videos. The production value of those videos are through the roof, especially so for the times in which they were released. I would go as far to say that it was the production value and NOT the theology behind his messages that made these videos famous. (I've heard it argued that some of theology shared in those videos is not very sound, and the arguments are pretty sound, to say the least.)
He's also a pretty talented author and pretty talented speaker. If you haven't seen his "Everything Is Spiritual" talk, do yourself a favor and check it out some time. I'll link it into the bottom of this post.
I fully intend on writing a different post on why beauty is an under-emphasized point, both inside and out of the church. Some churches try to encompass this in some areas of their ministries today, but it has never been truly embraced in a way like Rob Bell was able to do.
The second point is that Rob Bell isn't afraid to share his struggles.
And as much as churches say they encourage people to ask questions about their faith, I genuinely don't think are really all that receptive to questions. The reason I appreciate Rob Bell for not being afraid to share his struggles and ask really tough questions is because it adds a level of humanity to him as a pastor that I do not regularly see in other pastors.
One of my favorite podcast episodes of all time is a talk between Rob Bell and comedian Pete Holmes. (Check it out here or search for it on iTunes.) In that talk Rob Bell mentions things about how, as a pastor on Easter Sunday morning, he was afraid to go out to talk to the crowd because he was having doubts about his own faith that morning. Pete Holmes mentioned he could resonate with that as he grew up with one of those youth pastors who "loves everybody" even though he probably didn't love anybody.
I appreciate Bell's authenticity since, if we're honest with ourselves, we all experience doubts about our faith every now and then. I know hate is a strong word, but I genuinely hate it when people try to act like they never have doubts because either a) they're lying or b) they have been able to accomplish something I so desire and am jealous of. (And I'm more apt to lean that it's the former scenario 99% of the time.)
I think these two points, especially the latter, are what keeps people out of churches today. We don't like hypocrisy within anybody, and the church unfortunately is a breeding ground for them. Even though I don't agree with the Rob Bells of the world all the time, I'd rather have a pastor like Rob Bell than a pastor who "never has doubts" and is never willing to ask those hard questions.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't even expect an answer. I understand we will never know everything about God or Jesus or the Christian faith, but I would much rather have a pastor tell me "I don't know" instead of trying to BS his way through a stupid, total bullcrap answer.
Admittedly, I spent a lot of time in the same camp as other people in my attitude about Rob Bell following Love Wins, but my mind has changed. It's changed from one of disgust to one of pity. He's not right all the time, but he was willing to take a risk in a world of pastors who will never share their own struggles.
To that end, I miss Rob Bell.
(And as promised, here's the YouTube clip of "Everything Is Spiritual"!)
For those of you not familiar with that name, Rob Bell was (and kind of still is?) a big name in the Christian community. He is the former megachurch founder and pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, wrote widely read books Sex God and Velvet Elvis, and is probably most widely known for his NOOMA video series.
In 2011, Rob Bell had a big falling out with the Christian community following the release of his book, Love Wins. In that book, he contended that people would be able to accept Jesus and enter heaven after death in addition to before death, which many people misconstrued as universalism. (Which is not particularly right... but I can see why people would draw that conclusion.)
Having attended a Christian school at the time, I was right in the thick of the controversy. People freaked out. Having been looked at as a Christian hero in the community for the longest time, people were floored with the sentiments shared in Love Wins. It extended far beyond my school's community, too, as the book inevitably led Rob Bell to leave his own church.
Rob Bell is still around, largely as a sort of Christian "spiritual advisor" for Oprah and her folks, but his name is no longer what it used to be in Christian circles today.
Which I kind of think is a shame. And here's why.
Well, before sharing why I miss Rob Bell, I should say that I do NOT necessarily align my beliefs to all what Rob Bell believes (like his big sentiment in Love Wins), but I do appreciate the fact that he wants to talk about it. We'll get into that more below.
There are two big things I think Rob Bell did right that have largely been buried or obscured by most churches.
First, Rob Bell focused on the beauty of things.
This is especially clear within his NOOMA videos. The production value of those videos are through the roof, especially so for the times in which they were released. I would go as far to say that it was the production value and NOT the theology behind his messages that made these videos famous. (I've heard it argued that some of theology shared in those videos is not very sound, and the arguments are pretty sound, to say the least.)
He's also a pretty talented author and pretty talented speaker. If you haven't seen his "Everything Is Spiritual" talk, do yourself a favor and check it out some time. I'll link it into the bottom of this post.
I fully intend on writing a different post on why beauty is an under-emphasized point, both inside and out of the church. Some churches try to encompass this in some areas of their ministries today, but it has never been truly embraced in a way like Rob Bell was able to do.
The second point is that Rob Bell isn't afraid to share his struggles.
And as much as churches say they encourage people to ask questions about their faith, I genuinely don't think are really all that receptive to questions. The reason I appreciate Rob Bell for not being afraid to share his struggles and ask really tough questions is because it adds a level of humanity to him as a pastor that I do not regularly see in other pastors.
One of my favorite podcast episodes of all time is a talk between Rob Bell and comedian Pete Holmes. (Check it out here or search for it on iTunes.) In that talk Rob Bell mentions things about how, as a pastor on Easter Sunday morning, he was afraid to go out to talk to the crowd because he was having doubts about his own faith that morning. Pete Holmes mentioned he could resonate with that as he grew up with one of those youth pastors who "loves everybody" even though he probably didn't love anybody.
I appreciate Bell's authenticity since, if we're honest with ourselves, we all experience doubts about our faith every now and then. I know hate is a strong word, but I genuinely hate it when people try to act like they never have doubts because either a) they're lying or b) they have been able to accomplish something I so desire and am jealous of. (And I'm more apt to lean that it's the former scenario 99% of the time.)
I think these two points, especially the latter, are what keeps people out of churches today. We don't like hypocrisy within anybody, and the church unfortunately is a breeding ground for them. Even though I don't agree with the Rob Bells of the world all the time, I'd rather have a pastor like Rob Bell than a pastor who "never has doubts" and is never willing to ask those hard questions.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't even expect an answer. I understand we will never know everything about God or Jesus or the Christian faith, but I would much rather have a pastor tell me "I don't know" instead of trying to BS his way through a stupid, total bullcrap answer.
Admittedly, I spent a lot of time in the same camp as other people in my attitude about Rob Bell following Love Wins, but my mind has changed. It's changed from one of disgust to one of pity. He's not right all the time, but he was willing to take a risk in a world of pastors who will never share their own struggles.
To that end, I miss Rob Bell.
(And as promised, here's the YouTube clip of "Everything Is Spiritual"!)
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