Recently, I had sometime on my hands, so I decided to read Rob Bell's
Love Wins. I will start of by saying this: I will never get that time back.
I have heard a lot about this book. It made quite a splash when it came out a few months back and I, being a curious fellow, decided to give it a whirl. As a literary work, it is, to say the least lacking. Its written in a staccato, had-too-much-coffee-not-enough-toast-this-morning type prose. It was very easy to skim, it never truly grabbed me and pulled me in, which in the end was probably a good thing.
As for the theology, well, it was, to say the least, lacking. As I was reading/skimming the book John 10:1 kept coming to mind: "Truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way is, that man is a thief and a robber." Bell tries with great veracity and very little success to turn the head of the reader. His premise is basically
this: John 3:17, Jesus really didn't mean that. Nope, not at all, he was kind foolin, yeah. Srsly!
In short, he stops at John 3:169a. The whole bit about "whoever believes in me shall be should not perish but have eternal life" he just kind of pushes away. And John 3:17? Forget it, doesnt exist.
2 comments:
Dear Christian,
Someone has convinced you that a square can be a circle. Someone has convinced you that the blood-thirsty, psychopathic god of the Old Testament is the same being as the loving, compassionate Jesus of the Gospels.
Squares can never be circles.
Your belief system is an ancient middle-eastern superstition. If you choose to continue to hold onto it that it is certainly your right. However, you are teaching this superstition to little children. Please consider what you are doing. These children deserve to know the Truth.
I encourage you to watch this five minute video on this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqfGu6vTxFY
Best wishes,
Gary
Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ---I Corinthians 6:9-10
If you are an LCMS Lutheran, how often have you heard an LCMS pastor's sermon, or read an LCMS pastor's blog article, on the sin of Divorce (divorce other than for infidelity), the sin of Adultery, the sin of Fornication, or the sin of being a Drunkard?
Now compare the number of times that you have heard or read an LCMS pastor preach from his pulpit or from his blog on the damning sins of Divorce, Adultery, Fornication, and Drunkenness with the number of times you have heard the same LCMS pastor preach about the sin of Homosexuality from his pulpit and blog. I will bet that the number of sermons condemning Homosexuality will exceed the total of all the other sins combined.
But, not only is the sin of Homosexuality preached against (attacked) more frequently from the pulpits and blogs of LCMS pastors, but the name calling against the perpetrators of this particular sin far exceeds the name calling against divorcees, adulterers, fornicators, and drunkards. "Sodomites", "Perverts" "Boy Sodomizers", "Degenerates" are perfectly acceptable terms for the perpetrators of the sin of Homosexuality, but the cute, little cashier at the corner market who has shacked-up with her boyfriend for the last two years is not referred to as "that Fornicator", nor is the drunkard standing in front of the LCMS altar, pronouncing the Words of Institution, referred to as a "vile and evil Drunk". No. The good pastors of the LCMS have decided that just one of the sins in the above Bible verse, and the perpetrators of that one sin in the above Bible verse, deserve their greatest attention, condemnation, and vilification.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod...officially...will tell you that LCMS Lutheran Christians hate Homosexuality but love the people "afflicted" by the sin of Homosexuality. In other words, the official position of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is: "Hate the sin, but love the sinner." But the reality is, that a very significant percentage of pastors in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod hate homosexuals. They really, really hate homosexuals! Homosexuals make their skin crawl and their stomachs squeemish. Yes, you read that previous sentence correctly. A significant percentage of LCMS pastors hate gays and lesbians. Don't believe me? Look at the evidence for yourself.
I challenge you to go onto the blogs of some of the most popular LCMS pastors' blogs and do a topic search on "homosexuality". Read the articles, but more importantly, read the comments below the articles. In the comment section, you will find some of the most vile, vicious, anti-gay hate speech, most often written by the pastor's gay-bashing, gay-hating, God-fearing conservative Christian readers---such as the infamous "Carl Vehse", otherwise known (without his white robe and hood) as Richard Strickert of Austin, Texas---all written without any censoring or rebuke from the LCMS pastor/blog owner/moderator...and... sometimes you will even catch one of these Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod "men of God" spewing this vitriolic hate speech himself. Conclusion: A significant percentage of pastors in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are gay-bashing Peddlers of Hate, and for this reason the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod must be placed on the Hate Watch lists of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, and every other human rights organization in the United States---until the leadership/hierarchy of this Christian denomination finally puts an end to this hateful, un-American, disgraceful behavior.
Post a Comment