At every “Acquire the Fire” event that I have ever been to, the focus has been on going on mission trips. The people who lead these events use the Great Commission as the basis of their argument about why mission trips are important, however, they focus on the wrong aspect. The way they tell it, the primary verb in the GC, is “go”, however, the GC, as translated directly from the Greek says “As you are going make disciples”. “Go” is assumed, “making disciples” is the point. I’m not saying that mission trips are bad, but if you use the Great Commission to form the backbone of your argument, you miss the point. There is no way you can make disciples on a week or month long mission trip. Being a disciple of Christ is a lifelong process. You can’t expect to make a full disciple in one week, but you can plant seeds.

Why is it that when our fear is proven to be groundless, we still cling to it? Is it because fear will always be there and is more familiar than faith? Or is it because fear allows us to look at the world around us and see all of the things that we cannot do ourselves instead of looking at all God can do? The Bible says that “Nothing will be impossible with God”. Other translations say, “With God all things are possible”. Why is it so hard to let God be God? If God says that He has a plan, and that the testing of your faith produces endurance, then why are we not open to the trials that come? What if we decided to step away from the fear, and instead looked to Jesus and trusted that He will see us through no matter what? Just like He said He would.

I was looking for Nooma “Trees” on YouTube, and while I was looking, I saw several videos parodying Rob Bell. Some of them even went so far as to call Rob a heretic. Most of them were “Christian” videos. I thought about what was on the back cover of Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis, “I thank God for anybody anywhere who is pointing people to the mysteries of God”. But, if those people are hostile to other teachers also pointing people to the mysteries of God, then haven’t we missed the point?  I saw part of one video that said that Rob taught that we came from cavemen, God has forgiven everyone, and that repentance is about celebrating that God has forgiven us of all our sins. The makers thought that all of those teachings I’ve listed were heresy. It makes me wonder if we’ve missed the point. I have two problems with this video; first, the statement about the cavemen was taken out of context. Secondly, if, to quote part of a Casting Crowns song “Jesus is the only way to God, but we are not the only way to Jesus”, and if Jesus himself said that if other people teach in his name then they are for us, not against us, and yet, if we criticize other teachers proclaiming the name of Jesus, then aren’t we slowing down the process of reaching the world? What if, instead of telling the millions of people who go to YouTube that Rob Bell is a heretic, what if we said, “We don’t completely agree with Rob, but he makes some interesting points and he makes us think”. I think the entire point of the Nooma series is to get Christians thinking about their own religion, and encouraging people to take it to its natural conclusion. How about being open to new interpretations of the bible? And if Rob is a heretic, then why are the only people speaking out against him doing so on YouTube? I can’t imagine a lot of people going on YouTube looking for spiritual guidance. Why don’t the people who made the video go to Grand Rapids and ask Rob to explain his teachings? To the people who posted this video, why do you think non-Christians think we’re intolerant, hypocritical, ignorant, stubborn bigots? We can’t even accept differing opinions in our own religion, and yet we’re trying to tell other people why they are wrong? Does that remind anyone else of a quote from Jesus, the one about the speck and the plank? At Worldview Academy this year we discussed the idea that Christianity is not about “What Would Jesus DO”, it’s more about “How Would Jesus THINK”. If we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, then we will be able to find truth everywhere, because all truth is God’s truth. Rob talks about how in Turkey, people would stop construction on their house if they ran out of money because they didn’t want to go into debt. Rob makes the comment that that way of doing business is a good way to do business. He finds truth in the actions of people from a MUSLIM country. He is truly finding truth everywhere; he even uses a quote from SEAN PENN to make a valid point about God. Rob Bell never asks people to believe the same things he does. He even says, “We have to test everything […] Do that to this book. Don’t swallow it uncritically. Think about it, wrestle with it. Just because I’m a Christian and I’m trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn’t mean that I’ve got it nailed. I’m contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?” He never asks that he be taken at his word only. He asks that his readers go back to the source of all truth and ask Him. It’s not like we don’t have God’s Word to look to when we have questions, or that we have no way of communicating with God, God even says, “I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness” Isaiah 45:19. Most of the time, if not all the time, God explains himself in Scripture. If we would take everything said about God back to the Bible, I am sure that God will make Himself known. So, give Rob a break. He’s trying, which is more than I can say for other Christians I’ve met. If he’s wrong, he will stand before the same God we will. So until then, be open to new interpretations of Christianity, because we don’t have it nailed either. The very fact that we sometimes don’t practice what we preach makes us hypocrites; which is okay, because we’re pointing people to the One who DID practice what he preached. We’re not claiming to be perfect, we’re just pointing to the One who is. So the next time a non-Christian calls you a hypocrite, take it as a validation of your humanity. But, don’t call other Christian brothers heretics if they don’t agree with YOUR interpretation of Christianity. Because who knows, they may be right. Personally, I agree with Rob. I believe that we as Christians need to be open to new interpretations of our religion. If we do, we will take part in what made the Protestant Reformation so powerful. Christians were taking a hard look at the church and didn’t like what they saw. They broke off and the Catholic Church eventually recanted their policies concerning the sale of indulgences. Those reformers didn’t try to create a completely new religion, they just had dissenting opinions about what the church should be, and now most if not all of the Catholic churches hold these men in high regard although they were considered heretics in their time. Just because you call someone a heretic does not mean that they are inherently wrong just because you say so. Even though you call someone a heretic it does not automatically mean that you can completely throw out what they have to say. Just because someone might have a different opinion than yours does not mean that you don’t have to listen to them and love them. Jesus HIMSELF was considered a heretic.