Timothy Tennent dissects Bell's "domesticated" gospel

Timothy Tennent, president of Asbury Seminary, has written a four-part review of Rob Bell's Love Wins.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Tennent's perspective is refreshing for several reasons. First, he is not a Calvinist and, therefore, not so easily miffed by Bell's subtle anti-Calvinism. Second, and more importantly from my own personal perspective, Tennent calls attention to what I found to be an obvious problem, namely, Bell's caricature of evangelical beliefs, while also finding reason to commend Bell for calling attention to the weak theology prevalent in many evangelical circles.

Bell is to be commended for exposing the weak theology which apparently is present in many evangelical churches. To be fair, Bell caricatures evangelical beliefs to the limit of one’s imagination, playing on the worst kinds of stereotypes. According to Bell, evangelicals often proclaim a God who “is a slave driver” ready to “inflict pain and agony” on those who don’t pray “the sinner’s prayer in precisely the right way.” Exclusivists are stereotyped as those who insist that “followers of Jesus confess him in the precise way defined by the group” or you will not be “going to heaven.” Bell portrays evangelicals as those who are arrogantly cramming the gospel down the throats of an unbelieving world. Evangelicals as those who care nothing about the environment or poverty or nuclear disarmament, or pollution because all that really matters is “getting people to pray the right prayer,” or believe just the right things so they can die and go to heaven which is “somewhere else” and in a time which is a “different time” than that which we occupy today.

I could spend pages disputing Bell’s caricature of evangelical faith and practice. I have met hundreds of solid evangelical pastors who do not fall into the traps which Rob Bell cites. The historic relationship between evangelical commitments and social action is a powerful and compelling story. But, for the sake of the argument, let’s accept Bell’s critique as fairly exposing some serious flaws in the theology of contemporary evangelicalism. If it is true, then Bell has definitely revealed that most evangelical pastors need to go back to seminary. Apparently, today’s pastors have forgotten that the kingdom of God has already broken in to the present age and we are to live out the full realities of the New Creation in the present age. Apparently, today’s evangelicals have confused the New Creation with 19th century hymns concerning heaven which depict the “other side” as a remote, vague place of passivity with little to do but pluck our harps and walk on streets of gold. Apparently, quite a few pastors across our nation need to re-learn the basic lesson that God actually loves lost people. If half of what Rob Bell says about evangelicals is true, then we need to declare a massive recall along the lines of what Toyota did last year when so many cars were discovered to be defective. We need to declare that listening to today’s pastors is no longer safe and reliable until they are sent back for a re-fit and some major theological adjustments. Something deep inside me suspects that Rob Bell may actually be on to something here. Thank you, Rob! Indeed, it is time for a renewed emphasis on the grand meta-narrative which tells the “big story” and puts all of these doctrines in a larger and more robust theological frame. Perhaps we need a recall and a re-tooling of a largely Christendom trained clergy to a clergy better prepared for a post-Christendom world which desperately needs a robust gospel, not a domesticated one. Bell has been listening to the church and to the culture and he has insightfully diagnosed that the church is theologically anemic. Bell is saying, in effect, “Houston, we have a problem…” and for that I applaud him.

At the end of the day, however, Tennent concludes that Bell and many of his colleagues might benefit from a few refresher courses on the basics of Christian theology.

In conclusion, Bell is probably right about several things. A lot of pastors out there are teaching stuff which only vaguely reflects the actual teachings of the New Testament. If Bell awakens in the evangelical community a fresh, robust conversation about what we really believe about the kingdom, heaven, hell, the lost and the New Creation, we should all be delighted. It is important to recognize that Bell’s response reveals that the depth of his own theological reflection is a bit thin, too. Bell has given us a domesticated gospel which tries to make the gospel relevant to contemporary sensibilities. However, it is not the gospel which needs to be made relevant to us. It is we who need to be made relevant to the gospel. The gospel is always relevant whether it is recognized as such or not. In my estimation, Rob Bell and, apparently quite a few evangelical pastors, need a thorough re-grounding in the biblical doctrines of God’s love, sin, the kingdom of God, the necessity of human response and ecclesiology.

It is great to see such thoughtful reflection coming from the president of my alma mater.

Leaders of large evangelical organizations denounce small church publicity stunt

Christianity Today reports on the unified outrage of "evangelical leaders" over a plan by the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida to commemorate 9/11 by burning copies of the Qu'ran. The plan has raised the ire of some of evangelicalism's heaviest hitters, including Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and Richard Land, director of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The National Association for Evangelicals released a statement Thursday urging the church, which averages 50 attendees each Sunday, to call off the event.

"It sounds like the proposed Qu'ran burning is rooted in revenge," said NAE president Leith Anderson. "The most powerful statement by the organizers of the planned September 11th bonfire would be to call it off in the name and love of Jesus Christ."

"I think it is appalling, disgusting, and brainless," said Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "I think that those of us who find what they are doing abhorrent should say so, and say so publicly and often."

The Southern Baptist Convention, despite some recent decline, is still the largest Protestant body in America. The National Association of Evangelicals represents over 40 denominations and thousands of local churches. But note that the church which is causing so much consternation among leaders of these august bodies "averages 50 attendees each Sunday." It doesn't sound like the Dove Outreach Center is doing much in the area of, well, outreach. But it does appear its pastor is quite adept at calling attention to himself and his flock, much like the wandering weirdos of the Phelps Family Chapel, a.k.a. Westboro Baptist Church, which might draw 50 attendees on that rare Sunday when Fred's long lost cousins are in town for the family reunion.

But let's be serious here. Why should the leading lights of the supposed upper echelon of the evangelical community concern themselves with the cheap publicity stunts of small fringe congregations? Who would have known about this "apalling, disgusting, and brainless" exercise in uncharitable behavior if the big guns hadn't taken aim at it?

"What Spirit Was Released into Your Country on That Day?"

As westerners, we often suffer from a hyper-rational worldview which clouds our perception of spiritual realities. On this matter, the growing influence of the African missionary thrust into North America is proving most helpful. In the introduction to his book, Never Silent, Bishop Thaddeus Barnum recounts a conversation between Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda and an American evangelical clergyman. +Rucyahana's holistic perception of the consequences of the schismatic actions of one mainline denomination in the United States is chilling precisely because it is dead on accurate. It exhibits the kind of spiritual discernment that is so tragically lacking in so much of western Christianity.

"You don't care?" John reacted immediately, his voice unconsciously rising.

The clergyman responded apologetically: "It's not my denomination. It's not my problem."

The pain struck deep. John Rucyahana is an African missionary to the States. In 1994 his country of Rwanda suffered unimaginable genocide. His people cried for help. As a matter of documented history, the world heard that cry, saw their suffering, and did nothing. Nearly one million perished. Rwandans know these words too well: Not my problem.

"You think there's a firewall between you and the Episcopalians?" John asked.

The clergyman had no response.

John wouldn't relent. "What do you think happened in November 2003 when they consecrated an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire? They invoked the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over that man--the same One who died for you, who saved you. They did it publicly, for all the world to see. That didn't move you? Who can sit back and do nothing when the One you love is being mocked and spit on?"

Still no reaction.

John pressed harder: "They laid hands on that man. They called on the Holy Spirit to bless and consecrate him. You know the Holy Spirit doesn't do that. He will not bless sin." John lifted his hands, palms up, pleadingly. "So what spirit came upon him? What spirit was released into your country on that day? Do you know?" His eyes were wide and fixed on the minister. "Aren't you troubled by that? Isn't there something inside you rising up to protect the Christians in your country?"

Finally, the clergyman's eyes fell away, and he shook his head slightly.

John's voice took on an urgency. "How can you say, 'Not my problem'? Fire is raging in the house of God. Can't you feel the heat? Doesn't the smoke fill your nostrils with burning pain? How can you pretend that your people are safe? Who told you there were firewalls between denominations?"

The clergyman looked back up and did his best to show concern. But he remained distant, unaffected.

John knew it and reacted sharply, "You Americans sleep while the devil goes after your children." (pp. 15-16)

What spirit, indeed, was released into our country that day? It's a frightening question with an answer we might not want to hear.

Time to Get Serious About Something Very Serious

If the plight of Jim Wallis is instructive to Christians in any way, it is this: never put your faith in a political party to do the work God has called the church to do. Unfortunately, many evangelical leaders do not see the disconnect between success in the realm of the secular and faithfulness in the realm of the sacred. Wallis and others like him are trapped in a system which requires them to conform their faith to a political agenda, all the while convincing themselves it is the other way around. Evangelicals at the other end of the spectrum face the same peril if they don’t get serious about the truly weighty matters of the faith.

Is it really necessary to send out “E-Mail Alerts” every time some foul-mouthed comedian goes on a televised profanity rampage? Should we really act so outraged whenever a political pundit calls Christians “stupid” and “uneducated?” Jesus said we should rejoice when people insult us, and it’s easy to understand why our Lord treated the matter with such levity. It is, or at least ought to be, quite amusing to see these supposed experts display such blatant ignorance.

There also ought to be a tinge of sorrow over the fact that someone could be so deceived into thinking, much less saying, that Christians have a “neurological disorder.” But in the gamut of emotions I may run whenever I hear such comments, anger and outrage do not even register. After all, my allegiance is to a man the same kind of people nailed to a cross. No matter how “outrageous” these present-day stone throwers get, they will never be able to top that. But Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Contrary to the impression one might get from the increasingly inane topics covered on the cable news shows, we are living in serious times. If you want to know why our nation’s culture continues to slide downward at an alarming rate, you need look no further than one eye-opening statistic: There are 130 million people in the United States who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Consider that disturbing fact and maybe you will begin to realize why the church does not have time to gripe and complain about every insult hurled by a politician, pundit, or comedian. It’s time to get serious about something very serious.

Evangelical with a Capital "E"

The newly released "Evangelical Manifesto" is not exactly opening to rave reviews. After reading it myself, I am inclined to agree with Tony Perkins' assessment. The document is heavy on the theoretical but light on the practical.

"Unfortunately, this takes on [the] kind of a perspective of Christians who live in an ivory tower -- that they never are touched with the realities that we live in a world in which we have to come outside the walls of the church and influence society. It's kind of like [saying] 'I want to rid the world of evil; I just don't want to get involved in the issues,'" Perkins explains.

Drafters of the Manifesto, according to Perkins, made little effort to create Christian unity. "We each have our role to play in the kingdom, and I feel we should take the direction of [the Apostle] Paul," he suggests. "We shouldn't beat up on our own body and give ourselves a black eye. We ought to realize that we have different roles to play. And I encourage the theologians to continue to come up with ideas and speak to those issues, but they should be respectful to the other members of the body of Christ," Perkins contends.

What is most difficult to accept about the "Manifesto" is its consistent use of the term "Evangelical" as opposed to the more broadly appealing "evangelical." A footnote at the end of the text makes it clear that the signers have been very intentional in this regard.

The terms Evangelical and Evangelicals should be spelled with an upper case as are the terms Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, or Christian, Jew, and Muslim.

This kind of deliberate sectarianism underscores Perkins' concern that the drafters "made little effort to create Christian unity." There are many Christians from many denominations who will rally around the term "evangelical" as descriptive of the nature and vitality of their faith. "Evangelicals" with a capital "E" are a small, generally harmless bunch whose perspective does, indeed, sound like that of the ivory tower.