Rob Bell at Seeds of Compassion : Anything planted?

I was first introduced to Rob Bell through his Nooma videos, which I think are outstanding and serve as catalysts for great conversations. I’ve heard him speak at both “everything is spiritual” and his most recent “the gods aren’t angry” and I’ve read parts of Velvet Elvis.

I love that Rob Bell will challenge with questions…but fear that sometimes he waters down things down to help them go down smoother. I think sometimes he allows spirituality to take a front seat to Christ as seems to be the case at his involvement in an interspiritual panel discussion at the Seeds of Compassion conference.

While I admire his focus on showing love and compassion…I think both of those things are merely emotions without Christ. This was a great opportunity to be light in a dark world amidst many who claim to be enlightened and spiritual and yet don’t know Christ as lord.

Where is forgiveness? How do you represent the christian faith and not talk about Christ’s atonement?

I know there are some of you who are big fans and others just shake your heads…I would love to hear your point of view. Did he have an obligation to talk about Christ? Was what he did enough? Are we just picking on him because we are jealous?

I haven’t dug in too deep yet, so my verdict is still out but my initial reaction is that he simply blended in and Christ wasn’t given center stage. I think he dropped the ball. I’ve been on TV and understand the pressure in a live broadcast, I’ve forgotten to plug Holy Cow Creative, I’ve missed points and stumbled on words…but how do you miss talking about Christ in a forum like this?

Be sure to check out the other clips and you can also watch the entire event here.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 4:45 pm and is filed under ugh... . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Amanda
    I am a big Rob Bell supporter and although I am not quite sure what to think of the Seeds of Compassion conference, it is great to see a non-judgemental Christian web site.
    One thing I think breaks down the body of Christ more then anything is to constantly be putting down other people because they don't fit a certain "Christian" mold. Or they don't see things exactly the way they are supposed to see them. There are a lot of people that need love and compassion and acceptance where they are and I think Rob Bell does a fantastic job of doing that. It is not our job to judge and condemn, it's the Holy Spirit's.
  • We live in a day and age where Christianity Lite is the flavor. We have pastors who claim to present the Truth but yet water it down (or disregard it all together) to make it palatable. We also have a lot of followers who want to hear what their itchy ears want to hear.

    I don't know Rob but I have heard his theology and views and totally disagree with most of them, but I cannot and should not stand in judgment of him or others who come from the same emerging church movement. While I do believe Christians should rebuke "Christian" leaders for teaching false doctrine I think the best thing we can do personally and collectively is pray. Pray that JESUS will be preached and lived in stereo without the radio edits.

    What an opportunity missed for sure though!
  • Paul Latour
    What Rob Bell did say could be found in line with any pseudo-christian, spiritualistic and secular self help book or program available on the planet. And so, WITHOUT CHRIST!

    Anybody on that panel, including his unholiness Dalai Lama, could have offered the same kind of worldly wisdom. Frankly, I'm surprised Oprah wasn't up there with the rest of them.

    If Bell was was a true representative of true Christianity, the gospel would have found it's way from his heart and out of his mouth offering wisdom from a biblical perspective with glory going to whom it belongs, God.

    Instead, to the pleasure of the panel and audience, Bell delivered his meanderings from a worldly mind and a smooth talking tongue, minus the offense found in the name of Jesus Christ.

    "...they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3 )
  • JimmyD
    I saw the videos before they were posted on this blog and I have to say I was more upset about what the person was saying who posted the videos then what Rob Bell said. I really hope Christians don't crucify this guy, the world is watching us.

    I didn't have a chance to see the entire conference in which he spoke so I have just a very limited view of Bell's comments. Whoever did the clips was obviously trying to get their point or agenda across.

    From my recollection, he didn't say anything unscriptural. I think he did a great job contextualizing the Christian message to the present audience, maybe for us in the Bible belt we would have love to hear him name drop Christ. In Rob's defense, Christ said, "they will know us by our love (not the names we drop)."
  • You're right Renee, we certainly can't judge his body of work by one event. I was just disappointed to see him blend in like that.

    He makes some great points but unless it's based on and pointed to Christ...then what's the purpose? Like Gabe said, when you get the opportunity to proclaim the name of Christ, what would ever cause us not to?
  • Just weighing in my two cents... I enjoy Rob Bell, his books, his sermons, his insights. He does talk about forgiveness and our need for Jesus often... I only have watched these two clips also but I think it wouldn't be fair to judge him or his ministry solely based on this conference. But that said, I appreciate the discussion on this topic as he does have many fans.

    Love your blog!! Keep posting!
  • Watched a bit of the videos, and as usual, not too impressed with Rob Bell. You can talk all you want to about the warm fuzzies in religion, but when you have the chance to at least share the name of Christ ONCE.....please do so!
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