I wish I could say that the Christian community is above such behavior. However, in the last couple of weeks, we have seen ugliness there as well. Rob Bell has written a book that has yet to be released. A couple of promotional blurbs is all that has been made available to the public. Yet, there are prominent Christian leaders who have already labeled Bell a "universalist."
The few people who have received advanced copies of the book, including someone from Christianity Today magazine, have said that they do not see how the accusation that Bell is a universalist can be reached from what he has written. How can you go public with an accusation of a fellow believer when you haven't even yet read what he said?
It appears to me that the accusers tend to be strong Calvinists. Perhaps they are attacking Bell because he doesn't fit their mold. I don't know for sure if that is the reason why, but it is ugly. It surely doesn't seem to be Christlike. But I have seen a lot of ugliness through the years that is masqueraded as "defending the faith."
All of this makes my heart ache for the day when God again makes everything right.
2 comments:
I'm longing for things to be set right as well.
I realize there is a good chance I'm riding the pendulum too far to the other side when I say this but at this moment I've giving up labeling and debating things that I cannot state with reasonable certainty.
While I feel as if I've walked the edge of hell at times, I can't say I've been to the actual place so I don't really know if it exists or not. I can't work up the energy to defend my belief of whether it is real or not when I keep meeting people who aren't sure God can love them, who are losing their families, jobs and think they are being punished in the here and now and who need people to model Jesus' love and compassion in their life.
I suppose it's a good thing there are people in a place with the Lord that defending the things that don't mean much to me right now are what they have time for. For now, I'll stay off their bandwagon and try to work where the Lord is making his path known in my life.
I, like you, hope their arguing will somehow build up the kingdom and not tear it down anymore than so many self-proclaimed Christians have done before.
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