Rob Bell, the gods aren't angry tour: San Francisco (Some Reflections & Concerns)

UPDATE: This post was also published as an article for NextWave. Also, most of the photos I took at the event and included in this post were lost when my blog was transferred from Typepad to Wordpress.Rob Bell is an excellent communicator, a very likable guy, and a man whose enthusiastic love for God and others is compelling and contagious. If I were to hang out with Rob, I think I'd really enjoy his company.That being said, ever since reading Rob's book, Velvet Elvis: Re-painting the Christian Faith (which is the most attractively designed book I've ever read, and which makes some excellent points), I've had some significant questions and concerns over Rob's handling of Scripture and some of his theological conclusions. And I'm certainly not alone in my concern.Many Christian leaders, coming from a diversity of backgrounds--conservative, emergent, reformed, etc., have critiqued Bell's writing. Much of the critique has centered on Rob's handling of Scripture, on how 2nd-6th century rabbinics governs his interpretation of Scripture, and on Rob's expression of the gospel which can sound rather different, or at least incomplete, from the biblical gospel. Some have thoughtfully, humbly critiqued Bell's writing. Others been less thoughtful and charitable in expressing their concerns. Rather than further rehash critique of Bell's Velvet Elvis here, I'd encourage you to google this topic and study the matter for yourself.Needless to say, it was with great curiosity that I took my wife on a date Monday night to listen to Rob Bell speak. After a hurried dinner at the Village Pizzeria on Van Ness Blvd. in San Francisco, my wife and I walked across the street to The Grand, stop number 6 on Rob's the god's aren't angry tour.The website bills Bell's tour as follows:

Part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction - this is new material that Rob hasn't taught before, exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better.

Since in my own preaching and teaching I constantly contrast the gospel with religion, seeking to show how the gospel of Jesus is something totally different from religion, I was quite interested in the topic of this tour.As my wife and I approached the venue the first thing we saw and heard were angry dudes with megaphones who kept yelling about Hell, who clearly weren't happy about Rob Bell's tour, and who evidently believed most people who came to listen to Rob needed to "turn or burn."These guys were jerks. I'd never want to hang out with these guys. Unless, of course, I had the opportunity to show them (inflict upon them) my favorite mixed martial arts move, the move I refer to as "the turn or burn." Ask me about it sometime.Leaving the sidewalk megaphone men, we entered The Grand. The Grand is a hip venue. I'd never been there before. My guess is that 600-700 people were present. My wife and I sat in the balcony.
Part of why we sat in the balcony was because of the bar. This was the first time I've attended a Christian speaking event where a friendly bartender was available to serve up your favorite beverage.
From the picture below you can see that the friendly bartender either served me a beer or a glass of apple juice. You be the judge.
A few minutes after we settled into our seats on the left wing of the balcony, Rob Bell came on stage and began his message. Rob spoke for a long time, just a bit over 1 hour and 30 minutes. His delivery was exceptional and engaging. He began his message by telling a fictional, humorous story of the religious impulse of an ancient cave woman and cave man. This led into a survey of the religion and mythology of ancient cultures, of how all ancient cultures had some form of religion, some form of dealing with feelings of guilt and shame through offering sacrifices to their gods and idols.Rob then placed the story of the Bible against this backdrop, showing how the biblical story was not written in isolation from these other cultures, but was written in the midst of such cultures and worldviews. Beginning in Genesis, Rob stressed the utter uniqueness of the God of the Bible, emphasizing the fact that God spoke to Abram/his people (Genesis 12) and the fact that God provided for Abraham/his people (Genesis 22). I thought Rob handled Genesis 12 and 22 very well, especially his emphasis that Genesis 22 is all about substitution, about God providing a substitute for his people. I began to get excited for how this set things up for Rob to talk about how and why Jesus substituted himself on the cross in the place of sinners like you and me.
Beginning to use the altar prop that sat on stage, Rob then spoke about the sacrificial system as recorded in Leviticus and practiced throughout the centuries by God's people, both in the Tabernacle and in the Jerusalem Temple. Next Rob spoke of the corruption of the Temple/sacrificial system and of how Jesus confronted this corruption and claimed to be the true Temple, the true sacrifice of exchange between God and humanity.Rob then spoke a great deal from Hebrews. I loved much of what Rob did here. He gave the people solid biblical theology--he spoke of how Hebrews teaches you to go back and read the whole Bible, the whole Old Testament, as a book about Jesus. Amen. I'm stressing this same, absolutely central point as I'm presently teaching through Hebrews.But it was here, during Rob's statements on Hebrews, that his message began to concern me. As Rob repeatedly emphasized that through the sacrifice of Jesus God has reconciled and made peace with all things, I began to see that Rob wasn't going to talk about a foundational biblical truth that runs from Genesis 3 straight through to the end of the Bible, the biblical truth which makes the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross both necessary and amazing, the biblical truth that makes the good news of the gospel so good: Sin.Though Rob spoke articulately and personally about the guilty, shameful, inadequate feelings we all have and the false ways we go about dealing with those feelings, Rob never articulated humanity's sin problem. As Rob told the story of the Bible, he left out a central plotline. He left out a central doctrine. He left out the plotline of the Fall, the doctrine of sin, the tragedy of humanity's severe separation from God due to the distance between God's holiness and our sin. As Rob sought to convey the message of the Bible, even the climax of the Bible--Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, he failed to articulate the truth of the human condition, the complexity and depth of what's wrong with the human heart--where all of our guilty, shameful, inadequate feelings come from: our separation from a loving, holy God due to our massive sin problem.It's evident to me that Rob Bell highly values study of the Scriptures. But it was at this point in the message that I began to feel that Rob and I read different Bibles, or at least that we read the same Bible very differently. The big idea of "the god's aren't angry" tour is that the God of the Bible isn't angry and, therefore, we're all okay, everybody is okay--we're all okay with God. Well, as I read my Bible I simply don't see this. My Bible tells of a God who rightfully remains angry, angry over sin. My Bible tells of a God who is so holy, glorious, just, and loving that he hates sin and is committed to doing away with sin. As I look around at a sinful, broken world, I find my only hope in the fact that my God is indeed angry at sin and has promised to do something about it.An understanding of the biblical plotline/doctrine of sin and the just anger of God over sin is what makes the good news of the gospel so good, so sweet, so amazing and transforming. The biblical gospel is the good news that centuries ago, on the cross, God the Father poured out his wrath against sin and sinners upon his sinless Son. Jesus Christ lived the sinless life that you and I are unable to live and he died the tragic death that you and I deserve to die. Jesus did this in our place, as our substitute, to pay for our sins and reconcile our broken relationship with God. A Christian is someone who owns up to their massive sin problem, who recognizes a holy God's just anger towards sin, and who places their faith in Jesus, rejoicing over the reality that God poured out his anger against sin on his sinless Son, instead of on the sinner.This last Monday night, I didn't hear this gospel from Rob Bell. I didn't hear him deal honestly with the depths of the human condition/problem (all humans have a massive sin problem, the problem of being radically separated from the one true God who is justly angry over sin). And I didn't hear him deal clearly with God's solution to the human condition/problem (at the cross God graciously poured out his anger over sin on his sinless Son instead of on sinners, so that all who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus receive a restored relationship with God). Though I'm not saying that Rob believes this, I think the natural extension of the message that I heard from him on Monday night and the impression that any non-Christian would've had from his message is one of universalism--that God isn't angry at sin or at anyone, that on the cross Jesus has made reconciliation with all things and all people are automatically "okay" with God (no need to repent of sin and place faith in Jesus), and that God has placed humans at the center of the universe, rather than himself. This portrait that Rob painted of God and of the cross greatly troubles me.A few weeks I wrote a post entitled, The Cross: Your Greatest Criticism & Your Greatest Affirmation. In that post I wrote:

The cross of Christ is simultaneously the greatest criticism and the greatest affirmation you could ever receive.The great criticism of the cross is that you are so sinful that God had to sacrifice his Son on the cross for your sins.The great affirmation of the cross is that you are so loved that God sacrificed his Son on the cross for your sins.The cross criticizes you, it reveals the extent of your sin. The cross simultaneously affirms you, it reveals the extent of God's sacrificial love for you through Jesus.

The cross that I heard Rob Bell speak of on Monday night was a cross full of affirmation, but void of criticism. My conviction is that you don't have a true cross unless you hold together the paradox of the cross--that what Jesus did on the cross is simultaneously a radical criticism of your sinfulness and a radical affirmation of your value to God. Rob's message left me with a lot of affirmation, but no criticism. His message left me with a big vision of myself and a small vision of God.But when I survey the wondrous cross of the Bible I'm simultaneously criticized and affirmed, giving me a big vision of a very big, very good God and small vision of myself, a sinner saved by amazing grace. I experience joy, I give glory to God, and I am of help to my neighbor and my city when I have such a perspective.I love to quote the famous words of John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, "I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior." I don't think those 10 words came to mind for many people listening to Rob Bell on Monday night in San Francisco.I wish I'd had an opportunity to speak with Rob after the message. Like I said above, I think I'd really enjoy hanging out with the guy. If I had gotten a chance to talk with Rob I would've asked him three questions/said three things to him:

1. Rob, I felt that your message mostly ignored what the Bible has to say about the reality and extent and depth of sin. Could you share with me what you believe the Bible teaches about sin?2. Rob, what you had to say about Jesus and the cross seemed to suggest that you don't hold to the traditional, penal-substitutionary understanding of Christ's death on the cross. Could you share with me what exactly you believe about the atonement, about why Christ died on the cross and what he accomplished there?3. Rob, I felt like your message, especially for the non-Christians in the audience, left a wide open door to universalism. I would imagine with was unintentional. Could you tell me what you believe about salvation, heaven, and hell?

Perhaps this blog post will make its way back to Rob, giving him an opportunity to answer these questions from a distance. Hopefully I fairly represented Rob's message and humbly expressed my concerns with his message. I welcome your comments, whatever you might think of Rob Bell or of this post. And, if you live in any of the cities listed here, I'd encourage you to check out Rob's tour for yourself. Perhaps you'll get a chance to ask the three questions I wanted to ask.