Smashing Brickworld - Part 2 responses...
wayne...@gmail.com
Part 2...
"Let's not allow the pendulum to swing completely and lose our longing
to be with Jesus in eternity."
Even cautiously applying some of the "let's bring heaven here"
theology would be a HUGE step for a lot of people and churches. I'm
not pointing fingers here, but I think it's a bit sad when
collectively joining efforts to end poverty, disease, hunger,
ecological destruction are looked at with as much skepticism as I've
seen recently. The church should be leaders in these issues naturally
and evangelical to boot.
..."but through us he wants to renew our relationships and our
culture as well. " - I think Bell would make a minor correction and
say "world" rather than culture. In "all things," culture is implied,
but the earth, culture, economies, ecologies, etc seem all to be
covered in the expansive language Paul is using.
"what goes in Grand Rapids may not be what is needed
everywhere." I grew up near Grand Rapids, lived in St. Louis and now
in NYC. The nomenclature of evangelicalism seems pretty much broken
everywhere I've lived and visited. This is definitely, in large part,
due to political co-opting. I really think people have a sense that
there's something real in Jesus' teaching and are looking out for
people really exemplifiying it.
G.K.Chesterson said, "The object of opening the mind, as of
opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." - I don't
intend to shut my mind at any point and find it frustrating when I run
into people who have. Chesterton is often a good resource, but this
quote makes him sound like a dogmatic pain in the keester.
I've never heard or seen an example of Rob or Mars Hill replacing what
is generally considered orthodoxy of the Christian faith. The spring
metaphor seems more intent on having us do a little more thinking and
researching and stretching - rather than opening our mouths for the
spoon feeding.
"...imbuing with mystery that which is no longer mysterious is
simply a gateway to untethered mysticism." I hope I don't ever start
feeling like God and His gospel and His world are not mysterious. The
more I study and learn (about anything, but particularly about God)
the more I find things to be fuzzier than I expected.
"So why plant the idea that the gospels might be peppered with
pagan mythology..." I don't think Bell actually does this in the
book. I think not researching, not being open about translations and
interpretations can and has lead to complacency in the church. To me,
the quote seemed to be a way of addressing the huge number of
discussions around the Davinci Code and its questioning of the faith.
Does it help us to question? It helps me. I think I have a fear of
asking tough questions of my faith because I won't like the answer I
get. I haven't ever been let down by searching and questioning
assumptions in the Bible.
"Our actions, then, aren't designed to eliminate, but to
alleviate." At this point, (to use my own metaphor) the church's
action on "AIDS/poverty/loneliness" issues seems like using butter for
sunscreen. 1) I don't see the church doing enough to even lift an
eyebrow at its excessive action to eliminate aids or poverty. "Hey
guys, we're stopping to many starving babies from dying." 2) I don't
see action to eliminate poverty or disease (which shouldn't
necessarily be included, by extension, to Jesus' statement about the
poor always being around) as being antithetical to evangelism or the
gospel. On the contrary, I see them as evidence of the gospel in our
lives - which is as much evangelism as I can hope to do.
"He seems eager to examine and rethink but not to come to any
conclusions." Amen. Hopefully, people will keep arguing about these
issues and maybe a few will decide to so something about them - like
help someone out or love someone instead of hating them, or _______
(fill in the blank).
This sums up what I thought when reading this post. Thanks for
posting it. It's worth discussing. I would encourage you to keep the
responses on the blog, as I don't think my comments reflect the
general tenor of them and it would be nice to have multiple sides
represented in your discussion/post.
Maybe I'll get to Part 3 soon.
-W