God Wins (Part 2)

Popular Christianity seems have moved closer to ambiguity lately.  Questions, doubt and unknowns seem to have replaced truth, certainty and answers.  Doubt has become the new truth.  The growing opinion is that certainty=pride.

I have certainly known my share of arrogant theologians.  Blind certainty is no virtue.  None of us are comfortable with an unyielding debater who wants us to agree with him "because I said so."  But, does uncertainty really fix the problem?  I could be arrogantly walk off a cliff because I can't see it and refuse to believe it is there.  Or, I could stumble around in ignorance until I fall off the cliff I still didn't know was there.  The results are the same, regardless of my level of pride.  

The truth is certainty can be humble, because humility acknowledges the truth.  In this way, only the humble can be justifiably certain, because they submit themselves to the Truth rather than place themselves at the center of knowledge.  From the beginning of creation, man has wrestled with this fundamental question of surrender.  Have you ever thought about the fact that in Genesis, the Serpent begins his deception with the question: Has God really said...?

The Enemy's first step in bringing every sin, every death, every atrocity into this world was to make uncertain what God had made certain.  

He didn't stop there.  He followed his question with a statement: "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."  Satan invited Eve to jettison her certainty in God's revelation, so she could make herself the center of knowledge.  The lie that ushered sin into the world was that we could choose what is right for ourselves.  the Serpent says, "God's Word is uncertain. You must choose for yourself what is right and wrong."  Have you ever thought about what the world would be like if we didn't try to make unclear what God has made clear?

I am not so naive as to believe that everything is clear, that we should never  be uncertain.  The fact is there are a myriad of issues we cannot know with certainty.  There is no imperative to make certain what is uncertain.  It really doesn't matter that much if Adam and Eve had bellybuttons or if the army from the east in Revelation is China or Russia or some other unknown country.  What matters is a few fundamental and clearly revealed truths about God and our relationship with Him. 

Put simply, what matters is Jesus Christ and everything that is necessary to know Him.  These are the things that are quite clear in Scripture.  A face value reading with no re-interpretation of parables or poetry, with no effort to translate Greek words outside the context they were written in will give you the basic fundamentals of the faith (The Deity of Christ, His Resurrection, the Truth of Scripture, etc.).  The existence of Hell is one of those clear principles.  God says there is eternal punishment for those who don't know Christ (Matthew 25:46).  If we ignore this, we allow people to think that they will be okay even though they reject Christ.  It is a serious offense to let a man on his way to an eternity in Hell think that he is safe.  

The same can be said of the exclusivity of salvation in Christ.  Jesus said, "No man comes to the father except through me" (John 14:6).  It's a clear statement, one with eternal consequences.  There is no room for blurry lines here.  Gandhi did some good things, but if he never surrendered his life to Christ, he went to Hell.  Nice guys who love their families but don't know Christ still go to Hell.  Our good works get us nowhere (Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:8).  God is clear about this.  

Certainty blurred to uncertainty has eternal consequences in this regard.  

Having read Love Wins, I can confidently say that Rob Bell never takes a universalist stance.  The reason I can say this with confidence is that Rob Bell does not take a confident stance on much of anything.  I could say that "Rob Bell strongly hints at poetic imagery that probably suggests that universalism is probably a better story that really, really seems to probably be what Rob Bell thinks he might probably believe."

On the one hand, I appreciate that he seems somewhat open on the topic.  On the other hand, if he wasn't going to say anything, he could have saved me $11 and not written the book in the first place.

Uncertainty is no virtue.

In a recent interview Martin Bashir confronts Rob Bell with some hard questions, uncomfortable, unpopular questions about God and human suffering.  (You can watch the video by clicking here.)  Some have argued  that Bashir was a little bit hostile in the interview.   I'm not sure it matters.  The world never guarantees us easy questions or comfortable settings.  In fact the hard questions almost always come with a bite, because the questioner is hurting and needs an answer, a certain one.  Rob Bell didn't have a certain answer for Martin Bashir.

My intention is not to attack Bell or to state all the things he should have said.  The fact is, interviews are difficult.  You usually finish thinking about all the things you wished you'd said.  Don't judge him for not being quick with words under pressure.  It's not easy to take on the biggest apologetic question in history on national television.

The point here is not Bell's mistake.  The point is that a certain answer would have been a lot better than an uncertain one.

Bashir wanted an answer.  The viewers wanted an answer.  The world wants an answer. I think even Bell wanted an answer.

Certainty has its place.  It is evidenced in our disappointment when we can't think of the right thing to say.  It is evidenced in the poignant questions of reporters.  It is evidenced when the bomb squad technician says "green wire."

We want answers.  We need the truth.  

We embrace uncertainty when we lose our source of truth and place ourselves at the center of knowledge.  We are afraid to have to defend our opinion, because we can't back it up.  So, we keep saying "I'm not sure about this" in one way or another.  It's not an effective way to handle a debate, and it's not an effective way to speak the gospel to a desperate world.  

There is some good news.  God never puts us in a situation to have to defend our opinion.  Our role as believers is to simply point to what He says, and let His Word stand.  It really is that simple.  I don't have to go in circles.  I can speak the Word of God with certainty, knowing it is true.  God said it.  I can certainly show my evidence for why I believe it is His word, but I don't have to defend it with explanations.  I don't have to prove God according to a limited, human definition of love.  I simply speak His Word and let His truth stand.  

God doesn't want us to be uncertain.  He wants us to be humble.  Humility, in the context of truth means putting God (not one's self) at the center of knowledge.

If you are interested in digging into this topic of revelation at an academic level, have a look at Has God Said? by John Douglas Morrison.  Great book on the topic!

God Wins (Part 1)

A lot of people are calling out Rob Bell for his new book Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.  Many of them are calling him a universalist and a heretic.  Plenty of other people are calling out the people calling out Rob Bell, calling them pharisees and slanderers.  It's a calling out fest that has turned into a calling out calling out fest.  Let's hope it doesn't go any further.   It will be like when they came out with radar detector detector detectors (no joke).

Very few of them have read the new book.
I have.

 Now that I've read it and have an educated response, I'm in a difficult position.  The climate is hostile.  There are pre-concieved notions.

If I so much as compliment the cover art, there is a whole camp of theological snipers waiting to label me an emergent heretic.  "Ge the matches and the lighter fluid!"  On the other hand, if I so much as hint that I have concerns about Bell's theological method, there is another camp waiting to label me intolerant and narrow-minded fundamentalist.  "Bring your latest Brian McLaren book.  It's time for a Generous Beat Down!"

What has happened to the theological climate of the Church when we are known by out alignment or disagreement with a popular Christian author?  Half of us have created a climate that lashes out at the most insignificant theological miss-step.  The other half labels as unloving all legitimate attempts at biblical correction.

We have lost our way.  We have no more True North, no more standard.  We don't know Christ's palm Sunday transportation from a hole in the ground.

What if we approached this topic from a whole new (or very old) direction?

What if we actually formulated our opinion on a theological matter based on God's redemptive self-revelation in Scripture?  What if we actually started there?

I'm issuing a challenge on the comments board.
Answer this question: Will people suffer eternal punishment in Hell?

Here are the rules:

• You can't call a friend to ask their opinion.
• You can't reading a popular author on the topic. (no Rob Bell, no John MacArthur, no Ronald H. Nash--scholarly lexicons and translation tools are acceptable)
• No statement can be made without a reference to an contextually applicable biblical reference.  
• Make a genuine effort to put aside your pre-conceived notions about the topic. 

So, will people suffer eternal punishment in hell?  Tell us what the Word says.

Born this Way

Ever since Lady Ga Ga arrived at the Grammy Awards in a giant womb, propelling her single, "Born this Way" into the Pop Billboard Stratosphere, the internet has been ablaze with enough gay conversation to make Elton John look tame enough to sing with Jerry Falwell Ministries.  Given that a lot of people ask me what I think on the issue (Homosexuality, not Elton John singing for Thomas Road Baptist Church), I thought it was time to start a discussion here.

Growing up in a conservative Christian home meant the issue of homosexuality was something abstract, something that existed only as a political or religious (not a personal) issue.  I didn't know any homosexuals, and the only person I knew who knew one was a woman whose husband left her and her 3 kids to pursue a extramarital homosexual affair.  I can't say that I hated homosexuals, but seeing my friend hurt didn't help me like them.  All I knew was what I had heard the Bible said about homosexuality and the few bad experiences my friends and family had endured.  The issue of homosexuality was easy to either ignore or take a radical stance on, because I had no personal connection to it.

That was going to change.  Will (not real name) served with me in a young men's ministry several years ago.  It's hard to explain how I could tell, but I was pretty sure that Will was gay.  It wasn't that he fit into a lot of the stereotypes, though he had a few of them.  He liked dance and paid attention to style, but a lot of us were into style.  It was the dawn of the "metrosexual" and we were all trying to look nice for the girls.  It wasn't a stereotype thing that gave Will away.  There was something else about him.  It was like being a man didn't come naturally to him.  It wasn't that he didn't fit in.  He just didn't seem comfortable being a guy in the way the rest of us were.  While we all liked him, I think all of us knew he was different.

Regardless of the signs, in a conservative Christian ministry everyone assumes that everyone is straight.  So, everyone assumed Will was straight, no questions asked.  From a social perspective, Will fit in almost perfectly.  In fact, he and I had a lot of good conversations about spiritual matters.  We even had a talk about a hot girl once (This was before I met my wife who is hott with two t's, trumping all others in my eyes).  I remember the conversation about the girl, because it was the one thing that made me think Will might be straight.  The fact that I had to look to find one thing should have told me something.  Over time, it became clearer that Will was struggling, but I don't think everyone noticed.  Not knowing Will's struggle, a well-meaning friend hoping to give a well-meaning jab to what he thought was a heterosexual friend said something like, "Will is like having a woman around."  I think he was talking about Will's caring manner.  He might have even meant it as a compliment (in a tough guy joking kind of way), but I think it cut Will pretty bad.  Time passed and Will pulled away from the group, not because people didn't want him around but because (I believe) he was afraid to tell us what he was going through.  I watched Will dissolve or distance his relationships over the course of a few years before coming out a year or so after he left the ministry.  I still wish I'd sat down with him one day and just said, "Will, I love you no matter what.  What's going on, brother?"  I didn't, and I wish I did. (As soon as I typed this paragraph, I sent a message to will saying this very thing.  Will said that it meant a lot to him.)

Watching a person deal with homosexuality doesn't necessarily change your view of an issue.  It makes the issue less important than the person.  I look back on my friendship with Will and my heart fills with compassion.  Here was a man with plenty of friends who loved him, but was afraid to tell them what was going on.  He struggled alone.  Sometimes I wonder how we would have responded if he told us he was gay. Would we have tried to start him on some program to change?  Would we have freaked out and treated him differently?  Would we have just loved him?  Would we have been at a complete loss?  I think the fact that we all loved him already would have kept anyone from having any extreme reaction, but we would have had no idea how to react.  We probably would have still cared for him, but would have felt awkward and had no idea what to do.

I think as believers, and brothers and sisters in Christ we should know what to do.  We should know how to react when any person opens up to us about something they have been afraid to tell us, especially if it has some social stigma attached to it.

Maybe God had that in mind when He brought me to Open Door.  I remember hosting in our Ralph Neighbour Service when we first started.  A man came up to me and I could almost instantly tell he was gay.  He asked to talk to me and shared the struggle he was in.  I don't know that I was any practical help, but I was able to affirm that God loved him and so did this church.  Somehow, the memory of my friend Will, the love I had for him filled me up and made it easy to love this hurting man who needed to know that God loved him. I had a small ministry to a hurting man, a ministry God had equipped me for years before.

A few weeks later I got a card from him saying thanks for the prayers.  "That was one of those rare ministry moments," I thought "probably won't run into many other homosexuals while in ministry."  Ministry naiveté is a funny thing.  Since that day, God has continually brought homosexuals across my path looking for the love of God and spiritual support.  I even hear of word getting around to "Dorothy" that Pastor Dan is the guy to talk to if you have questions about God and homosexuality.

I have to say that I have grown to love the outcasts of our society more than I ever imagined I would.  It is a joy to live Christ's love to people who (often) don't expect to get it from the church.

Now, I can guess what many of you are thinking right now: Does Pastor Dan ever call out their sin?  Has he become so accepting that he doesn't care about what the Word of God says about homosexuality?  

If you know me well, you know that I care deeply about the revealed truth of God in Scripture.  And, all of my homosexual friends know where I stand on the issue.  Here is how the conversation usually goes:

• They ask me what I think.  (Strangely, I don't ever bring it up.  They often want to know where I stand or what the Bible says about the issue.  I see this as God opening the door to conversation.)  
• I tell them that God loves them and I love them, and that is the most important thing they need to know.  Really, the rest is details.  
• I clarify some important points.  Most importantly, I differentiate between their same-sex desire and the action of homosexual sex.  I learned from my gay friends that they aren't bluffing when they say they were "born this way."  Like the rest of us, they see their sexual orientation as a part of their identity.  It is a dangerous thing to say "God hates homosexuality" when a gay man really believes God created him gay.  What he hears is "God hates you."  There needs to be a defining of terms.  
• Specifically, I point to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 which refers to homosexuality as a sin.  In fact, it get's pretty serious and says that homosexuals (among others) will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  That's a scary thing for a gay man to hear when he sees his homosexuality as a part of who he is.  I dig into the passage and talk about how it is referring to continuing in the action, not the orientation.  In other words, having same sex desires is not a sin.  You are not disqualified from heaven because of your desires.  However, God takes it seriously when anyone continues in sin unrepentant, having no concern for how God feels about it.  (This is also the point where I tell them that if I am somehow misinterpreting the passage, I'd love to know.  They know I mean it.) 
• I usually reiterate that this is referring to continuing (unrepentant) in sin.  The idea seems to be that it is a choice to continue in the action that is a problem, not the fact that you sometimes sin or continue to be tempted.  
• I also remind them that homosexuality is not some kind of uber-sin that somehow is worse than all the others.  I often use this as my opportunity to apologize on behalf of a lot of us Christians.  For some reason we all got really upset about this one.  I don't know why.  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 also calls out adultery, greed and slander (among others) and seems to consider them just as bad as homosexuality.  I think I would wager that slander (gossip) is far more prevalent and causes far more damage than homosexuality.  If we scared gossipers enough to stay "in the closet" about that sin, American churches could evangelize the entire continent of Asia with all the extra energy not spent on dealing with church conflicts.  I seriously hate gossip.  
• I often mention that my goal is not to make them straight.  My goal is to see them become like Christ.  I know of some who saw God change their desires.  I know of others that continued to have same-sex attractions.  Orientation change has nothing to do with my goals as a pastor.  My goal is to see people become like Christ.  If their homosexual desires leave them, great.  Their life just got easier.  If not, great.  God is going to use their struggle to make them more like Him.  Either way, it is for their good and His glory (Romans 8:28-30).  I know this is easy for me to say, but it is true.  
• By the way, communicating to a gay man or lesbian woman that God is asking them to surrender their sex life to Him is essentially like asking them to commit to a life of celibacy.  God doesn't promise to change their sexual desires.  He might, but He might not.  I usually point to the fact that we can't overcome sin on our own.  We have to trust the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.  It is an interesting thing.  We can't not sin (regardless of what our personal sin is).  However, we have to act on faith to obey God.  When we do, the Spirit of God empowers us to obey and we don't sin.  It is a terrifying, exciting, wonderful, and painful experience.  This is why we call it an adventure.  
• I also affirm that regardless of how they live their life, they are welcome in this church and will be loved.  
• Usually, they thank me for my openness and stick around the church.  We have a growing number of gay men and women attending regularly.  
• The Holy Spirit continues to do His work.  I avoid doing His work for Him.  

Here's where things get tricky.  Gay men and women love our church!  I think this is great.  However, it puts me in a position to make a hard decision.  What does a person do when they love their church?  They want to serve.  Homosexuals are no different.  Many of them have not repented of homosexuality, but may be working through other sins.  They love God and the church and want to serve.

So, what should I do?  If I allow them to serve, am I condoning their life choices?  Are there certain things I should allow them to do and certain things I shouldn't?  If I tell them "no" do I need to go about asking gossipers and adulterers to step down? (By the way, historically we have done that.  We don't allow gossip to continue unrepentant without being dealt with.)   What do I do about the new Christian or pre-Christian who is in a heterosexual relationship outside the bonds of marriage and wants to serve?  The reality is that God doesn't deal with all of our sin at once.  He seems to convict us of just a few at a time.  What do I do about the person who continues to repent of sin and grow, but God hasn't dealt with their gossip or homosexuality yet?  They are moving toward God, should I tell them they have to wait until they are fully clear before they can serve?  Serving is how many of us grow and are convicted of sins in the first place?  Should I let gossipers and thieves serve in hopes God will use their service to convict them?  There is a lot to figure out here.

Here is my open invitation to anyone who feels like an outcast from the Church:  I love you, and you are welcome at my church.  There is a lot to untangle here, and I'm sure we will have plenty of misunderstandings and offenses.  But, let's walk through this together.  We are an imperfect church that is here to love imperfect people as we all become like Christ together.

Heaven, Hell and Rob Bell

The internet is buzzing with controversy as Rob Bell (prominent pastor and writer) has released a teaser video to promote his new book, Love Wins.  As is usually the case with Christian controversy, trenches have been dug.  Some are writing off Bell and doing everything short of preparing kindling at the base of a stake.  Others are vehemently attacking any brother or sister who so much as gently questions Bell's theology.

At the center of the debate, Bell's questions about sin, salvation and eternal punishment.  As believers, we can't deny the importance of the issues in question.  Regardless of where Bell lands on the issues, he isn't talking about worship styles or the use of certain gifts.  These are not fringe issues.  Bell is addressing the central doctrines of the Christian faith.  Have a look at the teaser, which by the way is very creative:



Since the book isn't available until the end of March, I don't know what Bell is going to say about heaven and hell.  It certainly seems that by questioning the love of a God that condemns people to hell, he is implying that (because God is loving) He will not ultimately send everyone to hell.  Bell is known for implications.  Is he teaching universalism (everyone will go to heaven) or inclusivism (everyone who believes in something will go to heaven) or just sparking controversy to sell books?  Until I read his book (and knowing Bell probably even then) I can't speak with certainty about his belief on the subject.

However, in the teaser video Bell models a prominent theological method that I'd like to bring into question today.

Bell is right to say that our view of heaven and hell reflects our view of God, and our view of God is absolutely central to our faith.  I would argue that there is another "question behind the question" namely, "How do we know God?"  Historically, there have been two methods: 

1. We define Him according to our own understanding.
2. We know Him as He reveals Himself to us.

With brevity, let's have a look at each method.  

According to our Own Understanding:

Bell's question: "How can that God be good?" reflects a theological method that puts the knowing subject at the center of knowledge.  Since the Garden of Eden, humanity has defined or judged God according to our own perception of what is good.  During the enlightenment, theologians applied Rene Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" principle, which puts oneself at the center of knowledge, to the the study of God.  The epistemological (study of knowledge) method of the Enlightenment and Liberal theology was to reject all authoritative truth claims, except ones that come from one's own questioning.  In other words, I am the only person who can know anything about anything, and I know things because I question.  I trust no one and no thing to give me answers.  This means ruling out God's own revelation about Himself in favor of human reason.  

As He Reveals Himself:

In contrast to human tendency, enlightenment philosophy and liberal theology of the Schleiermachrian ilk, stands God's redemptive self-revelation.  Each of us have the choice to make our own speculations about God and His nature or trust His revelation of himself.  This is not to say we suspend rational thought.  It does mean putting God at the center of truth about Himself as opposed to ourselves.  

Our Choice:

There is one vital reality to know as we consider our theological method: God is not of this world.  He is infinitely beyond it.  Human knowledge is inherently tied to four-dimensional space-time.  Our logic is limited and bound to it.  Consider this: God created space and time.  He is not limited to it.  He is outside it, and therefore outside the limits of human knowledge and reason.  The only way we can know anything about Him is if He reveals Himself in our space-time universe.  This is why Christ came (Matthew 11:27, John 1:18).  It is why the Word of God was written (Luke 1:1-4, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 John 5:13).  We only know God as He reveals Himself.  Everything else is just an earth-bound guess.  

Don't believe me?  Try making a statement about God absent of any of His revelation: no Christ, no Bible, no universe.  I would say that you would only be left with yourself and your guesses, but since you are created in the image of God that rules you out too.  Without God's revelation, we have nothing.  

God's self-revelation does not always align with our limited views of love and justice.  The question is: What trumps?  Does God's revelation top my mortal opinion, or do I think I know love and justice better than God? Let's have a look at some of Bell's questions in light of God's revelation:

• Will only a few select people make it into heaven? Yes. (Matthew 7:13-14, 
• Will billions burn in hell forever? Yes. (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:15, Luke 16:22-28) 
• How do you become one of the few? Surrender to Christ. (John 14:6, Romans 10:9-10, Acts 4:12)
• What is God like? Loving, wrathful, grace-filled, just, merciful, forgiving, powerful, wise, etc. (See Genesis 1:1-Revelation 22:21)

What makes this hard is that our perception seldom lines up with God's revelation.  This is the crux of the matter.  I readily admit that it doesn't seem loving that Ghandi might be in hell despite all his good works, because he didn't surrender his life to Christ (Isaiah 46:6, John 14:6) .  However, the reality is that my view of love is broken and His is perfect.  

We are really dealing with two issues here: 1) Heaven and Hell and 2) How we know God.  So, I recommend we give Rob Bell a chance and read his book.  But, first let's answer the question behind the question.  If you are ready to address the issue of truth, have a look at Has God Said by John Douglas Morrison. 

Questions for the Week:

Where do you get your truth about God?  Is there something about His revelation of Himself that makes you uncomfortable?  What do you find hard to believe about God, and how do you reconcile that with what seems true? Let's discuss this.