Wonderful words of wisdom and insight. A childlike faith, a fresh look at ourselves, as newborn in Christ...gay and straight...rich and poor...black and white. Oh, so refreshing! Jesus, let Your light shine!
Rob is ahead of his time and more in tune with the original Orthodox Biblical interpretations than the Medieval ones we often hold to... through future historical research and challenge more people will understand what the original audience in Israel and the Middle East understood too.
Very reminiscent of the early Nooma videos from the early 2000s. Great video. Jesus can transform us into his likeness through his death on the cross. What an inspirational invitation to make Jesus the center of our lives.
To all the hate mail - This man has been blessed with knowledge and everything he says makes so much sense, do you even read your Bible? Yes? then why are you judging him? Atleast he is trying to do something to lead people back to Christ and i don't see any of his video's saying something negative or false about the Bible it's actually motivational and its helping people across the world =) so i salute him
Really? Are the fundamentalist so bad? Are the heretics really so noble? Do you glorious heretics have any fundamentals? I suppose I’ll take my chances with the old school fundamentalists.
This video is very similar to Love Wins, and most of Bell's work. Taken out of context - it appears whacked. Watched, contemplated, and studied with the Bible, and it all makes an amazing sense. Glad you liked it - so did I.
Every generation finds a new light on understanding the scriptures, a new understanding of what is literal and what is figurative. Carlton Pearson and Rob Bell, even Joel Osteen, are some of those that I know have received this light
We are wonderful. And we are in one another and this man has enlightens my being and I carry these soul moments forward and yet I go back to the books as. A sense of comfort. Love you. Bell..
I have ready Love Wins. In fact, I've read all of Rob's books, heard two of his speaking tours, and once visited Mars Hill Bible Church where I met Rob Bell. I wasn't saying Rob Bell is a universalist, I said IF he is, then my faith is not shaken and Rob is still my brother in Christ. My question to everyone bashing Rob Bell is why are THEY so shaken over the possibility that people can repent in the afterlife!? Why is that thought such a bad thing? It sounds great to me! I hope it is true.
Rob I am over joyed to find that my message and what I feel and know is found in your heart as well. I KNOW THAT JESUS WANTED US TO LOVE THY NEIGHBOR! NOT ARGUE AND ANALYSE DETAILS OF THE BIBLE THAT HAVE NO SPIRITUAL BENEFITS FOR OUR LIVES. Your amazing..God bless! Your sister through Jesus Christ Jamie
EXTREMELY WELL DONE VIDEO!!! I love the way Rob emphasizes his points by creeping in parts of this video and then boldly striding in other parts! Man I am so thankful for these videos! Thank you and God bless you Harper One for posting them on your channel! I really needed them!
Faith is difficult for many people. They usually fall into the category of wonder and awe or doubt, which are the two sides of the same coin. Children naturally gravitate to wonder and awe because they are not scarred by life, as Rob Bell so creatively illustrates. If you can allow yourself to wonder and be filled with awe for just a moment your heart will begin responding to Truth.
Someone to be known and loved. All other things I mentioned flow out of knowing God! I John is an excellent example of this in action. John starts of by saying they have encountered God, and then the teaching, philosophy, and lifestyle is expounded upon based on that experience and from that we get that God is love, if you hate, you're not a follower of Jesus, no matter what Christian stuff you do. From what I am able to see, Rob Bell knows God and is a man of His! Yours and others obejctions
wow. this video was very meaningful to me. i personally love blue plastic shovels and it is fascinating to associate it with Christianity. wonderful job, i hope your daughter enjoys her new blue plastic shovel.
Your "here and not yet" is a undefined doctrine. Yet the Bible defines it for us. The wonder for true Christians now is to enter into the labor and suffering and joy of the Lord Jesus. To be the laborers in His harvest by sharing the gospel of salvation. To enter into His suffering by walking after the spirit and not the flesh, and the joy is to do His work filled with His spirit and to love the bretheren and the lost for God's glory. No where are we told to dump doctrine for this short time.
Wow, and we call ourselves Christians. Though I don't agree with Rob Bell on everything I agree even less with the main stream Christians hatefulness. I feel Jesus crying over these conversations. I love Jesus but I don't want to be called a Christian right now. So much shame is brought to the church by our ridicules postings and judgmental attitudes.
I totally agree with you! :) I'm fascinated 'bout the love and freedom in the message of Jesus Christ, but I have met so much of hate, selfrighteusness, and judgemental attiudes among "so called" christians, so I don't want call myself christian today and it's heartaching :/
I believe the Bible mentions about people who profess to be "Christians" (paraphrase) but they are not. There are A LOT of Pharisees roaming the earth today, I even know some of them and if possible like the viper they would spit venom. The Pharisees all think they are the only people that know how to get God right, they have God in THEIR box and you must listen to THEM to see God. Hm? To me God in a Box is a small God and I don't think that is the God of the Bible. For 40 years I've used God in a Box as my own way to defend myself from the modern day Pharisee. There are even quite a few modern day Sadducees walking among us, priestly in their walk and ready to take you as a sacrifice. If you never test your faith, how is your faith to grow muscles, to grow stronger? Have you ever even considered that God is the same in the west as he is in the east. The difference to a Christian is Jesus. So when that man in the west calls out to God....hey guess what ---- it is the same God of the Bible. Or......do you have God in a Box stored neatly in your corner of the world? Now here is one for you. Go and find someone that knows languages, have them read the Hebrew Torah and try to find the word we all know of as Hell. Good luck on that one but you will have fun. You know the Torah right? The five books of the Hebrew Bible more commonly known as the "Old Testament" that were given by God to Moses. Ok...now go and do your search in that original language and try to find the cartoon like description of Hell.
Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will “continue to be even more irrelevant.” Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality. “One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Bell said. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.” Bell notes that Christianity is evolving and that many Christians have already opened their hearts to the idea that two people of the same sex would choose to journey together. In fact, he says the church’s acceptance of gay marriage is “inevitable.” “I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life,” he said. Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in western Michigan. He raised eyebrows in 2011 with his book “Love Wins,” which questioned the existence of hell. Since then, he’s slowly drifted away from his evangelical roots. He’s now a spiritual adviser for Oprah Winfrey, appearing on the “Rob Bell Show” on Winfrey’s OWN television network. His delves into his new ideas about love in a book he co-wrote with his wife, “The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage.” But conservative Christian critics aren’t happy with Bell’s message. Author Michael Brown accused Bell of trashing the Bible as an outdated text. “The bad news is that many professing Christians are capitulating to culture and abandoning the holy and wholesome ways of the Lord,” Brown wrote on Charisma News. Matt Moore, an ex-gay Christian blogger, pledged to pray for the Bells.
Johan Gildenhuys Examples would be nice. New age? DOes that mean you are old age? In 1572 would you have been leading the charge against those pesky new age thinking Protestants. There is a very long list of people who considered new thought to be heresy and the people burned. Johan I think you may have a problem but that is between you and the Lord. I bet you even think Jesus was a Jew. Ah to know the history of word/term Jew' is a dangerous thing and best to keep your head in the sand.
Ah I see so God isn't really a one deity situation. There is our God and then another God someplace. I've never read that one and thought that Jesus separates the others that pray to God. Homosexuality? Your Bible must be different from mine because "your" Bible has a hierarchy of sins. Is stealing below or above homosexuality. Now a little lesson on the Greek language. I do suggest you look up the word arsenokoitai. That is the word that has been translated in places like Corinthians. Now a bit of history. Do you like history. What Paul was talking to in Corinthians was the practice of taking young boys by force, into the temple and forcing sex upon them. It had not one jot or dot to do about relationships. It was about rape. Is homosexuality unnatural. I would say so because it doesn't abide with expansion of our species. Is it a sin. I believe it probably is but I don't believe it is a greater sin than other sins. So riddle me this, who can a true hermaphrodite have sex with or does the Bible someplace say they can never have sex? I do like in Deuteronomy where it says "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD." Have you ever heard of the Enuma Elish? It is a story that has intricate comparisons to one that is in our Bible. Try Genesis. The waters are joined and then later a womans corpse is used to build the world. In Gensis you have the water and then you have the bit of Adams rib. Someday we will all stand before the Throne and for me, I don't want to stand there as someone who hated my fellow man or condemned them. I am quite certain God has only given us a tiny, imperceptible glimpse into the other side.
No problem with wide-eyed is probably because you're 19! Great comment as well... loved this video. Like the Resurrection video - worth watching over, and over, and over again. Rob's videos have a way of teaching you something new even after the 17th viewing, and beyond.
words for what do you understand what he transmits ..doooo you sense...do you feeeellll....do we?This Human belongs to a all new generation of mankind...the begining has begun...so it is writen!
"And the truth shall set you free".God wants us to search for the truth, not to be stuck in doctrine. For some years I was stuck in typical Christian doctrine, and I was in pain, swearing to become an atheist.I could not.Instead, I did chose to reject God from my life.I'm born into somewhat of an academic family, so to ask questions about anything is in my nature. God knew that.I do not agree in everything Mr Bell comes up with, but if it was not to some of his lectures, I would still hate God.
Fellow, who is orthodox? Greek Orthodox? Russian Orthodox? No one is forcing you to enjoy listening to Rob Bell. No one is forced to listen to you either. You don't have the answers any more than anyone else. All we can do is seek. And with God's grace, perhaps we shall find. At least a small part of the whole story. How about this: when I die I'll come back and tell you all how we all misinterpreted Jesus. Or didn't. Will you do the same for me? Until then, let's lay off the superiority, okay?
Sometimes, things that seem to "tickle our ears" are actually speaking to our hearts. There have always been those that believe "Truth" can only be found in Holy books or scriptures. Back in Jesus' day those people were referred to as the Pharisees. It is wise to ask one's self, "Where is my Christ?...in a book?...or in my heart? There is a "Deeper Jesus" that transcends the written word.
So how does that actually work? Are we then just supposed to believe everything that tickles our ears? you know there is a specific warning in the bible on that exact subject. Jesus can of course transcend the bible (whatever that even means) but the bible has been given to us so that we can measure what people say. To abandon your bible is to abandon your faith. You are actually asking us to abandon the very thing that guarantees Absolut truth to be at the whim of whatever tickles our ears? Plz mate I don’t hate u in any way, but you gotta understand that what your saying is not at all good. Excuse my grammar (second language)
O MOVING FORM OF DUST! I desire communion with thee, but thou wouldst put no trust in Me. The sword of thy rebellion hath felled the tree of thy hope. At all times I am near unto thee, but thou art ever far from Me. Imperishable glory I have chosen for thee, yet boundless shame thou hast chosen for thyself. While there is yet time, return, and lose not thy chance.
I am a former Christian who found new light on the religion. I defend Bell and Osteen because I agree with their position and approach, You have way too much dependence on a 2000 year old book you mistakenly call the word of god, instead of the living spirit.
If Bell believes that hell is empty and that God’s love is always successful then the message of the gospel is compromised. He is not saying that everyone will be saved but they cease to exist if they are not saved. That is to say that they don’t go to hell, they just go away. Bell is teaching that hell is empty (how does he know this?) and that God’s love wins even with a rejection of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes lies seem more credible than the truth, if we check out our society we find cynicism is rampant. This guy even though he lives in such a society, he continues to live for, the only relationship that is worth pursuing. Especially in light of our example Jesus....
great video. refreshing after so much dogma from christians. I think disciples should serve and love and enjoy Gods wonders.. trying to be right all the time gets one nowhere. nice job.
However, I will not base my life in Christ on speculation, and I'm confident Rob would not encourage such either. If you believe [trust] in Jesus, you're saved, and that's the TRUTH I want the world to know and so does Rob!
"My question to everyone bashing Rob Bell is why are THEY so shaken over the possibility that people can repent in the afterlife!? Why is that thought such a bad thing? It sounds great to me! I hope it is true." Because the Bible clearly states one cannot repent in the afterlife. In your rationale, one can lead any life here, be as wicked as they want, despise Christ's sacrifice, but then they'll somehow repent AFTER they're dead. It doesn't work that way.
Rev 20 does say torment, but a bigger question is the place of hell. Jesus refers to hell as gehenna, a reference to a nearby place where many people were killed and burnt. Every time Jesus mentions gehenna, he talks about the fire of hell being everlasting, but not the punishment. Most biblical scholars now understand that hell is not a destination of eternal torment, but the term to convey the meaning of an everlasting punishment. Jesus is central to this argument - study what he says.
This is the catty kind of reply I normally get from "christians". IF you want your balances to be correct then read the entire verse. It says not to associate with the "sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler". In short, if you judge homosexuals as "sexually immoral" then you are going to have to judge cheaters, divorcees, masturbators; plus people who get drunk, get excited about celebraties/movies/culture. Have fun with that! And marriage isn't immoral
Who are you to judge him? if we are just judging people because of the way he chooses to view the end time...what kinda Christians are we...does Rob asking the question "would a God that loves turn his back on some in hell if they asked for forgiveness?" really give us a reason to lash out at him? I personally enjoy hearing other peoples opinions and respect his even though i dont agree, the question i ask myself is, are our opinions on what happens after death going to matter when we are judged
stefan harman yes! And the truth is, we will never know what happens after we die. It's actually none of our business if Jesus decides to give nonbelievers another chance right? Our business is about loving Jesus with all of our hearts minds and spirits and loving others as ourselves, now, on earth. Bell very clearly states in Love Wins that those who want and love Jesus will have Him, and those who don't, won't. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that life without Jesus is pure hell.
So, if Franklin Graham is naming Mr. Bell as a false teacher, perhaps Mr. Graham should examine his own heart. Certainly, I examine mine every time I come upon such accusatory language as yours, for my humanity is sinful enough to want to judge those who judge others. I pray to have the heart of Christ Jesus.
Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will “continue to be even more irrelevant.” Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality. “One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Bell said. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.” Bell notes that Christianity is evolving and that many Christians have already opened their hearts to the idea that two people of the same sex would choose to journey together. In fact, he says the church’s acceptance of gay marriage is “inevitable.” “I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life,” he said. Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in western Michigan. He raised eyebrows in 2011 with his book “Love Wins,” which questioned the existence of hell. Since then, he’s slowly drifted away from his evangelical roots. He’s now a spiritual adviser for Oprah Winfrey, appearing on the “Rob Bell Show” on Winfrey’s OWN television network. His delves into his new ideas about love in a book he co-wrote with his wife, “The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage.” But conservative Christian critics aren’t happy with Bell’s message. Author Michael Brown accused Bell of trashing the Bible as an outdated text. “The bad news is that many professing Christians are capitulating to culture and abandoning the holy and wholesome ways of the Lord,” Brown wrote on Charisma News. Matt Moore, an ex-gay Christian blogger, pledged to pray for the Bells.
Answers to your questions in order: 1) Yes (clearly shocked Jesus didn't baptize him) 2) But paganism isn't the good fruit, that comes from the Kingdom of God (the new think God is doing as Rob Bell puts it) 3) Both, there isn't a clear distinction. It's a new heaven and new earth and a new Jerusalem (here and now and not yet) 4) Yes, Timothy was filled with wonder. If you look to Jesus and what he did (here *and* then) & aren't filled with wonder, you haven't understood it on a basic level.
Hey...just an alley maybe but I liked what I THOUGHT were the connections between parts of the alley and what was being talked about...the stain on the road, the two sides, the garbage cans...and then the obvious graffiti at the end. Nice.
There r Christians that work for Time Magazine lol- and I don't think he's promoting his own truth, but rather saying the truth was meant to be enjoyed, not simply debated and fought about for centuries
No my friend, not everlasting punishment. Jesus never says that, so your understanding is found wanting. Jesus refers to gehenna every time he talks about hell - a place where there is death, not life. Where there is smoke - the after effect of that death. Even though you have this so basically wrong - that's fine. As Rob says in this video, Jesus never said "Blessed are those who are more right than everyone else". Watch the video again - it's very good :)
I listened to Marshill for well over 2 or 3 years, at least 60/70 messages from Bell himself, and have read Love Wins. My view is simple: of all I heard Bell Jesus is the centre of all his messages. Those who set their mind, heart and soul to follow Christ should find very comfortable and encouraged by his messages, and find that the God that he described is bigger than anything in the world. I know many who worship doctrines, sorry Bell is a disappointment to them.
"Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Rom. 1:19-21) This is about you. Neat isn't it?
It's like what Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matt. 23, the likes of John Piper and others hold C.S. Lewis on a very high pedastal but in reality he was a Rob Bell in his day. If Piper and others were around then, they would have treated C.S. the same way they're treating Rob Bell and worse. I've spoken my peace, I think this needs to end now as it has gone on long enough. Aren't we supposed to be out ministering, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising the dead.
We wouldn't believe or know anything about God's unmatched gift and love for sinners were it not because of the revelation of God through his prophets. If the It is written is not en vogue any longer it is because we learned to substitute the revelations of God by our own twisted sense of 'knowing'. Ultimately "if they don't speak according to this Word, there is no light in them" Is8. Jesus overcame with the it is written on his mouth. We are in danger the moment we question God's word!
Wonderful words of wisdom and insight. A childlike faith, a fresh look at ourselves, as newborn in Christ...gay and straight...rich and poor...black and white. Oh, so refreshing! Jesus, let Your light shine!
Why would anyone want to hate this guy?? The message he has is the most compelling that God exists, that I've ever encountered.
im atheist 😽
Rob is ahead of his time and more in tune with the original Orthodox Biblical interpretations than the Medieval ones we often hold to... through future historical research and challenge more people will understand what the original audience in Israel and the Middle East understood too.
Jump off the Rob Bell hating band wagon and just listen to the message God speaks through this humble guy!!
I agree. Heavens forbid Rob Bell helps us admire the unending beauty of God's eternal love...
Very reminiscent of the early Nooma videos from the early 2000s. Great video. Jesus can transform us into his likeness through his death on the cross. What an inspirational invitation to make Jesus the center of our lives.
Thank God there are evangelists breaking out of the fundamentalist mode!
Pointing people to Jesus is always a good thing. Thanks Rob.
To all the hate mail - This man has been blessed with knowledge and everything he says makes so much sense, do you even read your Bible? Yes? then why are you judging him? Atleast he is trying to do something to lead people back to Christ and i don't see any of his video's saying something negative or false about the Bible it's actually motivational and its helping people across the world =) so i salute him
I think people who judge him read their bibles. The Bible is full of judgement. Are the judgements correct?
Thank you Rob Bell! The labels that the fundamentalists give us: heretic, apostate, etc. are all badges of honor!
Really? Are the fundamentalist so bad? Are the heretics really so noble? Do you glorious heretics have any fundamentals? I suppose I’ll take my chances with the old school fundamentalists.
This video is very similar to Love Wins, and most of Bell's work. Taken out of context - it appears whacked. Watched, contemplated, and studied with the Bible, and it all makes an amazing sense. Glad you liked it - so did I.
Every generation finds a new light on understanding the scriptures, a new understanding of what is literal and what is figurative. Carlton Pearson and Rob Bell, even Joel Osteen, are some of those that I know have received this light
We are wonderful. And we are in one another and this man has enlightens my being and I carry these soul moments forward and yet I go back to the books as. A sense of comfort. Love you. Bell..
I have ready Love Wins. In fact, I've read all of Rob's books, heard two of his speaking tours, and once visited Mars Hill Bible Church where I met Rob Bell. I wasn't saying Rob Bell is a universalist, I said IF he is, then my faith is not shaken and Rob is still my brother in Christ. My question to everyone bashing Rob Bell is why are THEY so shaken over the possibility that people can repent in the afterlife!? Why is that thought such a bad thing? It sounds great to me! I hope it is true.
Rob I am over joyed to find that my message and what I feel and know is found in your heart as well. I KNOW THAT JESUS WANTED US TO LOVE THY NEIGHBOR! NOT ARGUE AND ANALYSE DETAILS OF THE BIBLE THAT HAVE NO SPIRITUAL BENEFITS FOR OUR LIVES. Your amazing..God bless!
Your sister through Jesus Christ
Jamie
Love! Love! Love! So good. Rob Bell is awesome.
EXTREMELY WELL DONE VIDEO!!! I love the way Rob emphasizes his points by creeping in parts of this video and then boldly striding in other parts! Man I am so thankful for these videos! Thank you and God bless you Harper One for posting them on your channel! I really needed them!
This is so refreshing and nice. Thank you
I just love this guy. Man !
Faith is difficult for many people. They usually fall into the category of wonder and awe or doubt, which are the two sides of the same coin. Children naturally gravitate to wonder and awe because they are not scarred by life, as Rob Bell so creatively illustrates. If you can allow yourself to wonder and be filled with awe for just a moment your heart will begin responding to Truth.
In rob we trust
welcome back, Rob Bell! You have been missed! The criticism you receive on here from some only further affirms the trit
Love you! Rob Bell
Lately, I have been thinking about how can I develop a sense of wonder. Thank you Rob for posting this video some great ideas to ponder!
Rob Bell! Thank you, thank you, Bless you!
Blessings brother. See you in the age to come!
Rob, I'm so glad that you are back to work. I look forward to continuing to learn from you and with you.
We missed you Rob.
Thank you.
Rob Bell I love the videos
This is TRUTH !
Cool video. God is big and we can see God in the world around us if we will look and expect.
I need this right now
WONDER-ful
truth of what you say. Angry, jaded, and bitter reactions fron latter day Pharisees who see you as a threat to their status quo. Welcome back, brother
Someone to be known and loved. All other things I mentioned flow out of knowing God! I John is an excellent example of this in action. John starts of by saying they have encountered God, and then the teaching, philosophy, and lifestyle is expounded upon based on that experience and from that we get that God is love, if you hate, you're not a follower of Jesus, no matter what Christian stuff you do. From what I am able to see, Rob Bell knows God and is a man of His! Yours and others obejctions
Simply excellent.
wow. this video was very meaningful to me. i personally love blue plastic shovels and it is fascinating to associate it with Christianity. wonderful job, i hope your daughter enjoys her new blue plastic shovel.
WONDERFUL!!!
Very good video
Your "here and not yet" is a undefined doctrine. Yet the Bible defines it for us.
The wonder for true Christians now is to enter into the labor and suffering and joy of the Lord Jesus. To be the laborers in His harvest by sharing the gospel of salvation. To enter into His suffering by walking after the spirit and not the flesh, and the joy is to do His work filled with His spirit and to love the bretheren and the lost for God's glory. No where are we told to dump doctrine for this short time.
Wow, and we call ourselves Christians. Though I don't agree with Rob Bell on everything I agree even less with the main stream Christians hatefulness. I feel Jesus crying over these conversations. I love Jesus but I don't want to be called a Christian right now. So much shame is brought to the church by our ridicules postings and judgmental attitudes.
I totally agree with you! :) I'm fascinated 'bout the love and freedom in the message of Jesus Christ, but I have met so much of hate, selfrighteusness, and judgemental attiudes among "so called" christians, so I don't want call myself christian today and it's heartaching :/
I believe the Bible mentions about people who profess to be "Christians" (paraphrase) but they are not. There are A LOT of Pharisees roaming the earth today, I even know some of them and if possible like the viper they would spit venom. The Pharisees all think they are the only people that know how to get God right, they have God in THEIR box and you must listen to THEM to see God. Hm? To me God in a Box is a small God and I don't think that is the God of the Bible. For 40 years I've used God in a Box as my own way to defend myself from the modern day Pharisee. There are even quite a few modern day Sadducees walking among us, priestly in their walk and ready to take you as a sacrifice.
If you never test your faith, how is your faith to grow muscles, to grow stronger? Have you ever even considered that God is the same in the west as he is in the east. The difference to a Christian is Jesus. So when that man in the west calls out to God....hey guess what ---- it is the same God of the Bible. Or......do you have God in a Box stored neatly in your corner of the world?
Now here is one for you. Go and find someone that knows languages, have them read the Hebrew Torah and try to find the word we all know of as Hell. Good luck on that one but you will have fun. You know the Torah right? The five books of the Hebrew Bible more commonly known as the "Old Testament" that were given by God to Moses. Ok...now go and do your search in that original language and try to find the cartoon like description of Hell.
Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will “continue to be even more irrelevant.” Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality. “One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Bell said. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.” Bell notes that Christianity is evolving and that many Christians have already opened their hearts to the idea that two people of the same sex would choose to journey together. In fact, he says the church’s acceptance of gay marriage is “inevitable.” “I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life,” he said. Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in western Michigan. He raised eyebrows in 2011 with his book “Love Wins,” which questioned the existence of hell. Since then, he’s slowly drifted away from his evangelical roots. He’s now a spiritual adviser for Oprah Winfrey, appearing on the “Rob Bell Show” on Winfrey’s OWN television network. His delves into his new ideas about love in a book he co-wrote with his wife, “The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage.” But conservative Christian critics aren’t happy with Bell’s message. Author Michael Brown accused Bell of trashing the Bible as an outdated text. “The bad news is that many professing Christians are capitulating to culture and abandoning the holy and wholesome ways of the Lord,” Brown wrote on Charisma News. Matt Moore, an ex-gay Christian blogger, pledged to pray for the Bells.
Johan Gildenhuys
Examples would be nice. New age? DOes that mean you are old age? In 1572 would you have been leading the charge against those pesky new age thinking Protestants. There is a very long list of people who considered new thought to be heresy and the people burned.
Johan I think you may have a problem but that is between you and the Lord. I bet you even think Jesus was a Jew. Ah to know the history of word/term Jew' is a dangerous thing and best to keep your head in the sand.
Ah I see so God isn't really a one deity situation. There is our God and then another God someplace. I've never read that one and thought that Jesus separates the others that pray to God.
Homosexuality? Your Bible must be different from mine because "your" Bible has a hierarchy of sins. Is stealing below or above homosexuality.
Now a little lesson on the Greek language. I do suggest you look up the word arsenokoitai. That is the word that has been translated in places like Corinthians. Now a bit of history. Do you like history. What Paul was talking to in Corinthians was the practice of taking young boys by force, into the temple and forcing sex upon them. It had not one jot or dot to do about relationships. It was about rape.
Is homosexuality unnatural. I would say so because it doesn't abide with expansion of our species. Is it a sin. I believe it probably is but I don't believe it is a greater sin than other sins.
So riddle me this, who can a true hermaphrodite have sex with or does the Bible someplace say they can never have sex?
I do like in Deuteronomy where it says "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD."
Have you ever heard of the Enuma Elish? It is a story that has intricate comparisons to one that is in our Bible. Try Genesis. The waters are joined and then later a womans corpse is used to build the world. In Gensis you have the water and then you have the bit of Adams rib.
Someday we will all stand before the Throne and for me, I don't want to stand there as someone who hated my fellow man or condemned them. I am quite certain God has only given us a tiny, imperceptible glimpse into the other side.
No problem with wide-eyed is probably because you're 19! Great comment as well... loved this video. Like the Resurrection video - worth watching over, and over, and over again. Rob's videos have a way of teaching you something new even after the 17th viewing, and beyond.
Rob, thanks very much. I needed this bad.
Thanks Rob. I resonate with you buddy! From a neighbor in OH....God Bless!
TRUTH shall set us free. Following after what tickles our ears is equivalent to dragging those just having escaped back down to hell. Yes, hell.
I read the book, and yes he IS a universalist. That's if words mean what they mean.
I don't agree with most of what Rob Bell believes, but I do think he makes sense about a couple of his topics in this video.
Missing you at Mars...needed this!
words for what do you understand what he transmits ..doooo you sense...do you feeeellll....do we?This Human belongs to a all new generation of mankind...the begining has begun...so it is writen!
Sometimes we need to miss something to see the aww, or have someone bring it to our attention ;-)
"And the truth shall set you free".God wants us to search for the truth, not to be stuck in doctrine. For some years I was stuck in typical Christian doctrine, and I was in pain, swearing to become an atheist.I could not.Instead, I did chose to reject God from my life.I'm born into somewhat of an academic family, so to ask questions about anything is in my nature. God knew that.I do not agree in everything Mr Bell comes up with, but if it was not to some of his lectures, I would still hate God.
Fellow, who is orthodox? Greek Orthodox? Russian Orthodox?
No one is forcing you to enjoy listening to Rob Bell. No one is forced to listen to you either.
You don't have the answers any more than anyone else.
All we can do is seek. And with God's grace, perhaps we shall find. At least a small part of the whole story.
How about this: when I die I'll come back and tell you all how we all misinterpreted Jesus. Or didn't.
Will you do the same for me? Until then, let's lay off the superiority, okay?
Sometimes, things that seem to "tickle our ears" are actually speaking to our hearts. There have always been those that believe "Truth" can only be found in Holy books or scriptures. Back in Jesus' day those people were referred to as the Pharisees. It is wise to ask one's self, "Where is my Christ?...in a book?...or in my heart? There is a "Deeper Jesus" that transcends the written word.
So how does that actually work? Are we then just supposed to believe everything that tickles our ears? you know there is a specific warning in the bible on that exact subject. Jesus can of course transcend the bible (whatever that even means) but the bible has been given to us so that we can measure what people say. To abandon your bible is to abandon your faith. You are actually asking us to abandon the very thing that guarantees Absolut truth to be at the whim of whatever tickles our ears? Plz mate I don’t hate u in any way, but you gotta understand that what your saying is not at all good. Excuse my grammar (second language)
Exactly!
Amen.
Ever gets old
yes!!!
Great Insight
If only he reads comments on the internet ;)
You had a Daughter Rob! , Congratulations, She has got a really good dad :)
O MOVING FORM OF DUST! I desire communion with thee, but thou wouldst put no trust in Me. The sword of thy rebellion hath felled the tree of thy hope. At all times I am near unto thee, but thou art ever far from Me. Imperishable glory I have chosen for thee, yet boundless shame thou hast chosen for thyself. While there is yet time, return, and lose not thy chance.
Rob Bell is a free thinker, and a follower of Jesus. Get over it and get on with your own work
Rob Bell is a cool cat! I wish I had his voice. And his shoes. Nice shoes, man.
I love this heretic.
I am a former Christian who found new light on the religion. I defend Bell and Osteen because I agree with their position and approach, You have way too much dependence on a 2000 year old book you mistakenly call the word of god, instead of the living spirit.
hahaha...thinking the exact same thing. those pauses, just long enough to break the awkward barrier...:)
If Bell believes that hell is empty and that God’s love is always successful then the message of the gospel is compromised. He is not saying that everyone will be saved but they cease to exist if they are not saved. That is to say that they don’t go to hell, they just go away. Bell is teaching that hell is empty (how does he know this?) and that God’s love wins even with a rejection of Jesus Christ.
Neo-Nooma! LOL AWESOME!!!
Sometimes lies seem more credible than the truth, if we check out our society we find cynicism is rampant. This guy even though he lives in such a society, he continues to live for, the only relationship that is worth pursuing. Especially in light of our example Jesus....
great video. refreshing after so much dogma from christians. I think disciples should serve and love and enjoy Gods wonders.. trying to be right all the time gets one nowhere. nice job.
Wondering what the haters will find wrong with this? Rob Bell fared well.
Daniel 12:2 NKJV
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Too bad you missed the verse that says we MUST judge those who call themselves brothers 1 Cor 5.
However, I will not base my life in Christ on speculation, and I'm confident Rob would not encourage such either. If you believe [trust] in Jesus, you're saved, and that's the TRUTH I want the world to know and so does Rob!
I read the book, and he's definitely not. But who cares - this video is very, very good.
Thumbs up if you took a nap to this.
I'm pretty sure a "hunger and thirst for righteousness" is mentioned in Matthew 5:6.
You were cooler with the glasses, Rob.
"My question to everyone bashing Rob Bell is why are THEY so shaken over the possibility that people can repent in the afterlife!? Why is that thought such a bad thing? It sounds great to me! I hope it is true." Because the Bible clearly states one cannot repent in the afterlife. In your rationale, one can lead any life here, be as wicked as they want, despise Christ's sacrifice, but then they'll somehow repent AFTER they're dead. It doesn't work that way.
Nice :)
Does anyone know the piece of music at end (starts at like 6:10)? I know it but can't place it. Thanks!
Eternal in effect, or punishment? Meaning a literal hell of torture, or a momentary and lasting destruction of evil?
Rev 20 does say torment, but a bigger question is the place of hell. Jesus refers to hell as gehenna, a reference to a nearby place where many people were killed and burnt. Every time Jesus mentions gehenna, he talks about the fire of hell being everlasting, but not the punishment. Most biblical scholars now understand that hell is not a destination of eternal torment, but the term to convey the meaning of an everlasting punishment. Jesus is central to this argument - study what he says.
This is the catty kind of reply I normally get from "christians". IF you want your balances to be correct then read the entire verse. It says not to associate with the "sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler". In short, if you judge homosexuals as "sexually immoral" then you are going to have to judge cheaters, divorcees, masturbators; plus people who get drunk, get excited about celebraties/movies/culture. Have fun with that! And marriage isn't immoral
Who are you to judge him? if we are just judging people because of the way he chooses to view the end time...what kinda Christians are we...does Rob asking the question "would a God that loves turn his back on some in hell if they asked for forgiveness?" really give us a reason to lash out at him? I personally enjoy hearing other peoples opinions and respect his even though i dont agree, the question i ask myself is, are our opinions on what happens after death going to matter when we are judged
stefan harman yes! And the truth is, we will never know what happens after we die. It's actually none of our business if Jesus decides to give nonbelievers another chance right? Our business is about loving Jesus with all of our hearts minds and spirits and loving others as ourselves, now, on earth. Bell very clearly states in Love Wins that those who want and love Jesus will have Him, and those who don't, won't. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that life without Jesus is pure hell.
So, if Franklin Graham is naming Mr. Bell as a false teacher, perhaps Mr. Graham should examine his own heart. Certainly, I examine mine every time I come upon such accusatory language as yours, for my humanity is sinful enough to want to judge those who judge others. I pray to have the heart of Christ Jesus.
Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will “continue to be even more irrelevant.” Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality. “One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Bell said. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.” Bell notes that Christianity is evolving and that many Christians have already opened their hearts to the idea that two people of the same sex would choose to journey together. In fact, he says the church’s acceptance of gay marriage is “inevitable.” “I think culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense, when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life,” he said. Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in western Michigan. He raised eyebrows in 2011 with his book “Love Wins,” which questioned the existence of hell. Since then, he’s slowly drifted away from his evangelical roots. He’s now a spiritual adviser for Oprah Winfrey, appearing on the “Rob Bell Show” on Winfrey’s OWN television network. His delves into his new ideas about love in a book he co-wrote with his wife, “The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage.” But conservative Christian critics aren’t happy with Bell’s message. Author Michael Brown accused Bell of trashing the Bible as an outdated text. “The bad news is that many professing Christians are capitulating to culture and abandoning the holy and wholesome ways of the Lord,” Brown wrote on Charisma News. Matt Moore, an ex-gay Christian blogger, pledged to pray for the Bells.
I was thinking the same thing about his walking. Kinda wish he would have just stood still.... Distracting / awkward!
Answers to your questions in order:
1) Yes (clearly shocked Jesus didn't baptize him)
2) But paganism isn't the good fruit, that comes from the Kingdom of God (the new think God is doing as Rob Bell puts it)
3) Both, there isn't a clear distinction. It's a new heaven and new earth and a new Jerusalem (here and now and not yet)
4) Yes, Timothy was filled with wonder.
If you look to Jesus and what he did (here *and* then) & aren't filled with wonder, you haven't understood it on a basic level.
Hey...just an alley maybe but I liked what I THOUGHT were the connections between parts of the alley and what was being talked about...the stain on the road, the two sides, the garbage cans...and then the obvious graffiti at the end. Nice.
There r Christians that work for Time Magazine lol- and I don't think he's promoting his own truth, but rather saying the truth was meant to be enjoyed, not simply debated and fought about for centuries
No my friend, not everlasting punishment. Jesus never says that, so your understanding is found wanting. Jesus refers to gehenna every time he talks about hell - a place where there is death, not life. Where there is smoke - the after effect of that death.
Even though you have this so basically wrong - that's fine. As Rob says in this video, Jesus never said "Blessed are those who are more right than everyone else". Watch the video again - it's very good :)
I listened to Marshill for well over 2 or 3 years, at least 60/70 messages from Bell himself, and have read Love Wins. My view is simple: of all I heard Bell Jesus is the centre of all his messages. Those who set their mind, heart and soul to follow Christ should find very comfortable and encouraged by his messages, and find that the God that he described is bigger than anything in the world. I know many who worship doctrines, sorry Bell is a disappointment to them.
Rob. Why are you walking down the road like there are landlines.
"Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Rom. 1:19-21) This is about you. Neat isn't it?
It's like what Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matt. 23, the likes of John Piper and others hold C.S. Lewis on a very high pedastal but in reality he was a Rob Bell in his day. If Piper and others were around then, they would have treated C.S. the same way they're treating Rob Bell and worse.
I've spoken my peace, I think this needs to end now as it has gone on long enough. Aren't we supposed to be out ministering, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising the dead.
2:45 Prowler alert! haha - I do like this video though. Awesome stuff
Is this the first from him since the Love Wins drama? Loved the video.
We wouldn't believe or know anything about God's unmatched gift and love for sinners were it not because of the revelation of God through his prophets. If the It is written is not en vogue any longer it is because we learned to substitute the revelations of God by our own twisted sense of 'knowing'. Ultimately "if they don't speak according to this Word, there is no light in them" Is8. Jesus overcame with the it is written on his mouth. We are in danger the moment we question God's word!
what do you call a nooma that isn't a nooma? since this is shorter than your typical nooma, perhaps we can call it a "noomette!"