Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Rob Bell: "is homosexuality a sin?"


  • Here's the video below.  Do watch the whole thing before commenting...I dare you (:
  • Some transcript/summary here
  • Complete audio here..for context; the video below is just the "hot" part. (BTW,the 43 min. mark would be helpful for those who say "Rob Bell endorses universalism, see also this brief clip._
  • Here's a link by  Tony Jones on  the  vacjstory, and word Bell uses at 16:45: "Rob Bell Calls 'Bullshit' on Christian Radio"
  • You may enjoy David Hayward's response to the profanity (more profanity alert)..

5 comments:

  1. This interview confirms my thoughts after reading Bell's books---that he has sloppy populist theology. His morality is seems to be defined by Bell, rather than by God. Andrew Hayward makes a great point that God defines morality, not the latest change within the unbelieving society at large (i.e. the World).

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  2. It's dangerous to hold to experience to re-define scripture. However, when you truly have a compassionate heart, it's very hard to not "lower the bar." I think true compassion is revealed when we accept people without redefining truth. I am sad that Rob could only say "this is the way world is now." There are many things that are accepted as normal today that are contrary to God's standard of holiness. The challenge for Christianity is to bring kingdom to earth - which is truly counter-culture.

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  3. 1. Grace is more generous than orthodoxy. However, the road is narrow. The western Church shies away from thinking paradoxically or holistically and we need to face the reality that a lot of western thinking won't hold up.
    2. Grace is more generous than orthodoxy. We're not saved by orthodoxy (other than that which pertains to atonement), we are saved by Christ. And I say that as one who is not a Calvinist.
    3. I disagree with some of Bell's conclusions but appreciate the discussion. I think having a discussion, even unresolved, is healthier than being so comfortable in our theology and perception of how well we love our neighbors to not feel the need for the discussion. I especially appreciate the question of how do we respond to theological impasse. We can err generously when loving our neighbors. I believe the Bible is clear we will be judged far more by how well we love others than how much theology we got exactly right which we only saw as through a dark glass anyway.
    4. Not accepting Christ's atonement excludes people from Heaven. Sin is a package deal, it's a condition. No one sin or category of sins excludes anyone from Heaven. We sin once, break one commandment, we broke the whole law. Atonement covers all or nothing. Grace is more generous than orthodoxy.

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  4. What if we're all children of the devil lest we be saved, and otherwise it's a moot point? Lest our Trust and Hope in Christ (Faith) be accounted to us for Righteousness and we are saved not by works but by God's Grace. In the benefit of the 'dooubt' God calls all into repentance and 'some' answer the Calling and fully and truly desire forgiveness and it is received, does that have anything do do with one's sexuality at all, or are we mere persons driven by sex and if you're gay you're born doomed? Which is better, a happily married couple in Christ who Love God first above all other things, or a happily married couple in Christ that nit picks their brothers and sisters forgetting where they came from. There is some translation problems where prejudice was projected into the original text. There are points where temple prostitution and men having sex with boys was translated as 'homosexual'. Adam and Eve couldn't have been married , for who was there to marry them? They would have had sex out of wedlock. They both sinned Adam and Eve and had sex afterward, therefore a man will marry a woman but why? TO get closer to God in the physical because we are separated in nature (in sin) to begin with? It's a strange thing, sex is, or are we just splitting hairs like unFair-i-sees.

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    Replies
    1. Is there anything about it in the 10 Commandments? Maybe one, YOu shall not bear false witness against your Neighbor.Honor your Mother and Father, Agape Love Your Neighbors and Your Enemies. None of this has to do with sex. Rumors, assumptions, presumptions, and opinions are all righteousness of men, yet no one is Fully Righteous, Be not respecters of men. Only God can perceive the conscious, conscience, will, and desire (heart), "The human heart, who can understand it?!" I can't .

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Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!