Rob Bell's Parting Epistle To Mars Hill

sojo.net:

Rob Bell, 41, the founding pastor of Mars Hill church in western Michigan, bid adieu to his congregation in a 5,000-word epistle about grace and peace, which he preached Sunday to thousands in the converted strip mall that has housed the "Jesus community" for a decade.

Earlier this autumn, Bell announced he would be leaving Mars Hill and moving with his family to California to pursue new creative and spiritual adventures, including a television show that is in development. Sunday (Dec. 18) Bell preached his final sermon at the 10,000-strong congregation in Grandville, Mich.

Read the whole story: sojo.net

Comments

[Mundane Egg]

09:29 AM on 01/10/2012

I really appreciate Rob Bell's books. Velvet Elvis was just what I needed when I read it. I've given that book out to many people and used his Nooma series. It's proof that one can be Christian and believe in things like love, peace and justice.

[notwaff]

08:14 PM on 12/26/2011

....

Rob Bell is like Harold Camping - they believe strongly in a message which does not exist in the Bible.
.

[Dahlia Hutton]

09:51 PM on 12/22/2011

I hope he doesn't get mixed up with Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in Tustin, California.

[csunbean]

01:37 AM on 12/21/2011

I think he is making a great move. Prime Time t.v. with episodes where God is not hidden or ridiculed but brought into daily life where most kids are growing up and most adults are relaxing: in front of the tube 24/7 is a wonderful idea. Undoubtly there will be people reached that never would of been reached before. God doesn't have to be stuck in the back door a church. PRIME TIME is where God should be.. not hidden in some cable channel nobody watches. This may be the only exposure some people will have to "GOD".

[enfant terrible]

11:13 AM on 12/21/2011

Rob Bell can fill the void left by Oprah.

[gracealone]

06:53 AM on 12/28/2011

Agreed God should be in Prime Time. Unfortunately Rob is putting a "false gospel" into prime time that will condemn and mislead many. His departing epistle was devoid of any sound Biblical foundation. Apparantly narcisistic eisegesis is what he is going to pander to the masses in prime time.

[Romans 9 16]

09:06 PM on 12/20/2011

Moving to California normally does not end well for people of faith.

[ZenSufi]

10:01 AM on 12/21/2011

Unless your Pentecostal. Los Angeles is ground zero for Pentecostalism.

[Robert Frano]

01:18 PM on 12/21/2011

Re: "...Moving to California normally does not end well for people of faith..." {Romans 9 16}...

...maybe...they should try 'Movin'-to-Montana', as uncle Frankie-Z. was wont-to-say!

[Varys]

04:51 PM on 12/20/2011

You can't blame him, he wanted to make Christianity slightly less repulsive. Who could have guessed that it would make the rest of the Christians angry?

[enfant terrible]

06:41 PM on 12/20/2011

"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." Luke 12:51

~Jesus

[OtayPanky]

07:24 PM on 12/20/2011

Let's hear it for all the divisive Bible thumping Christians!

[ZenSufi]

10:03 AM on 12/21/2011

Jesus divides. Muhammad multiplies. Krishna calculates the square root of negative one.

[researcher]

04:45 PM on 12/20/2011

there is gold to be found in those hills in california. tv gold.

it is a new kind of christian belief. much needed.

I wish him the best.

[HarleyOpenRoad]

03:58 PM on 12/20/2011

Off to make a fortune in California, where he will find favorable reception to the gospel of "be anything you want to be, believe or don't, makes no difference".

[eddy joe]

05:59 PM on 12/20/2011

Absolutely right! He doesn't need the words of God. He has his own.

[Nigel Goodnow]

03:51 PM on 12/20/2011

Halfway through the ee cummingsesque hipster prose, he freehand translates Jesus's words on the cross as, "My God, my God, why have you screwed me?" But didn't he say near the beginning, "it's important we remember that this is a distinction to be made
between diversity of form and depth, significance, and soul?" I think someone's a little confused.
The whole sermon seems an ode to form, to shape, to relevance and being revolutionary, not because you have anything new to say, but because being revolutionary is Hip and So Very Now.
(Or should I say,
It's hip
and now
and the way things will be done
when good stuff that happens
really
really
happens?)

The whole sermon says,"thanks, be nice and don't get hung up on specifics." If all Jesus came to say was, "don't judge, work hard, say yes to whatever version of me you find relevant" then what is here that you won't find at the Rotary club or even the local Humanist Association? If this is the church that Bell has been growing, the Unitarians/Universalists do it better; but I guess many of them are old and don't have cool glasses and vests. My hope that somewhere at Mars Hill is a group of believers who know a little church history, some actual theology, and have some real Biblical background that can lead this church someplace that the fallen world won't gladly lead it. Time will tell, I suppose.

[weeks]

04:15 PM on 12/22/2011

Nigel,

Here, here, I like how you put it, "If all Jesus came to do was, 'don't judge, work hard, say yes to whatever version of me you find relevant" then what is here that you won't find at a Rotary club..."

That's actually very funny and profound at the same time.

Chris

[enfant terrible]

03:32 PM on 12/23/2011

Good insight.
Rob Bell and his companion John Shore both have this Rotary club view of church.

Merry Christmas Nigel.

[andrewmook]

02:49 PM on 12/20/2011

well done. he calls people to put their trust in Jesus and shows his deeply pastoral heart.

[enfant terrible]

12:56 PM on 12/20/2011

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
Romans 1:21

Rob and John Shore - two bookends for the new and improved church.

[eddy joe]

06:00 PM on 12/20/2011

Thank you.

[enfant terrible]

12:52 PM on 12/20/2011

Ear Tickler.

[Bystander]

01:35 PM on 12/20/2011

Concise and accurate description of Bell.

[Vere15]

12:42 AM on 12/24/2011

Bell forgot more theology than Dr. James Dobson ever knew - If Dobson were Catholic, he would be incarcerated today