We're All Wrong!

I'm taking a step away from my new American Hymnal posts for a day because something happened last week that put me on tilt, then this weekend I missed out on a christian pissing match.  That kind of stuff just gets under my skin.  Also, because poor Pastor John thinks he's done something wrong.  He has, but we'll get to that.

So, what am I talking about?  Rob Bell.  If you don't know who Rob Bell is (I may or may not have mentioned him before), he's like a Hispter Pastor from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has done a lot of videos (Nooma) books, speaking tours, and gets real deep into the teachings, and he has a new book coming out later this year, and it's already causing issues.

Fans flock to his Facebook page, his NOOMA videos have been viewed by millions, and his Sunday sermons are attended by 10,000 parishioners—with a downloadable podcast reaching 50,000 more. An electrifying, unconventional pastor whom Time magazine calls “a singular rock star in the church world,” Rob Bell is the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation. Now, in Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins.

That's from his publisher's website.  There's also a video which wouldn't play for me, at work, but I'm not interested in it, because it's a video, not the actual book.  Anywho, what we have here is Bell doing what Bell does best: talking to non-christians and christians in the same tone.  This makes people nervous, for some odd reason, but in all reality, it's what we should be doing.

I haven't read this book, so all I can do is guess what's going on by the context of what's been said.

From the book description Bell is going to be taking a non-Dante's look into Hell.  We all perceive hell differently, but how I see hell is the standard fire, brimstone, pain, anguish, that we've all been taught to fear.  I was at a church a few weeks ago where this guy was praying with the children and he actually said "God, thank you for being in my life so I won't go to hell."  We all know what hell is, it's bad.

Bell is probably going to be looking at it in a deeper light, probably still pointing out it's Bell, but in a way only Bell can do without looking like he's crazy.

Maybe.

There seems to be another camp of people already lining up to throw stones at bell for this book.  John Piper, who I seriously have no clue who he is. Seriously, the name sound familiar but I thought he was the lead singer of Blue's Travelers.  Anyway, Piper tweeted as all good Christian pastors do, about the book.  In a very offhand and smug way:

Farewell Rob Bell.

He also posted a link to his blog, ripping into Bell for being a Universalist, which is someone who believes everyone is going to heaven.  My mother-in-law thinks that.  Maybe I can get her to read this book, I know she'd love 'Drops Like Stars' and then maybe, just maybe, Velvet Elvis.

I'm not a participating tithing member of the Church of Bell, but I have seen him speak live during his 'Drops Like Stars' tour, and I have seen a lot of his Nooma videos (Shells and Breath being two personal favorites), and I understand the fascination of his stuff, because he doesn't make it boring or fire/brimestoney but I don't get why people put him on this level that everything he has to say is right OR wrong, there is no gray?

Why aren't people this pissed off when Pat Robertson goes all looney on us or when another Christian musician puts out a crappy record?  "There goes Pat, saying stuff that makes him look like an asshat, being all goofy like Pat does, but he gets to keep his card."  Bell isn't perfect, and if ONE of his views is off kilter, doesn't mean we need to throw stones and force him to resign from his position of changing lives for the better!

We accept the painfully real sorrows of our brothers and sisters who have done wrong, but since none of us have read the book in a non-partial light, we are doing nothing to shed any real light on the subject.

So, here we have this Piper guy shooting down Bell's book before he has even read it.  He has made a decision on the book before even reading it, himself.  Throw your stones Piper, you're alright in my book.

Actually, no you're not.  I don't know who you are and after this, I'm going to do my best to keep my distance.  Consider your invitation to my book release party revoked.

I have nothing to say about Piper's beliefs, or Bells, or the Westborrow Baptist Church, because I have no right to claim I am more right than the next person.  Why?

Because I am wrong.  My blog plainly states that I know nothing.

No mater how hard we try to understand God's desire for us, we'll always miss the mark on His word.  No matter how much we put into understanding Hebrew, or Greek, we're still missing the all important issue of what God wants from us.  Bell's book isn't as important as Piper's books are, because none are as important as the book God has given His people.

We can study as much as we want, but without God's holy inspiration everything we write, say and do is wrong.  None of us know what God truly wants from any of us, except to be humble servants.  Not just servants to him, but to everyone, and sometimes we get to a point where we're all just wrong.

I have recently taken a sabbatical from the service I have been apart of since its inception.  Why?  I felt it was going in the wrong direction and those who were in power to fix our direction didn't hear me.  A part of that is because I couldn't explain what was wrong, and the other part is because of my past outbursts and immature actions, on that I was judged and unheard.  I don't blame anyone for that.  I did it to myself, and I expected nothing less than to be shrugged off.  I was wrong before, and I may be wrong now, but this time I'm not thinking with my feelings, I'm thinking with God's feelings.  I'm also wrong for going away, but I felt that if I didn't, that I'd only become jaded and nasty, and no one wants a jaded nasty Christian (Piper, I'm talking to you).

I'm still wrong, though.

God wants His Church to be whole, not to be arguing over on another, over dogmatic principles, and when we stick our own personal beliefs into our prayers, our services, it's no longer a prayer for God, to God, but for ourselves, to ourselves.  I can pray to myself all day and get no where, but the moment I redirect, refocus, I take myself out of it, and put God right back in, God moves things.

Is Rob Bell wrong for saying hell is empty?  Yes. Is John Piper wrong for call Bell a false prophet? Yes.  Am I wrong for calling them both out? Yes. Is it wrong to be scared of clowns? I don't think so, mainly because I'm borderline on the topic, even after Stephen King's IT, but even being borderline is wrong.

Grace and Peace,
Jesse

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The New American Hymnal [NAH] - Post 2b

Every Wednesday I'll be posting two NAH posts.  One will be an actual post, while the second will be a secular  song that I heard on the radio that would gives proof to my theory that all music belongs to God.

Today's selection, Wonderwall by Oasis.

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The New American Hymnal [NAH] - Post 2

Music is a weapon.  It can move people to do what the the song writer and singer wants the listener to do.  Rage Against the Machine comes to mind, in this context.  "No mater how hard you try, you can't stop us now!" Rage was one of those call to arms bands.  They wanted their music to make a change in people to stand up against those things that could be changed.

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The New American Hymnal [NAH] - Post 1

Let me be clear, first off, about my New American Hymnal posts.

I'm not a musician.  My hands inability to move in normal ways makes it very difficult to play anything.  I had two years of piano lessons through middle school, because I had a nice enough music teacher, but it's been too long and everything I had learned has gone away.  I can read music, some what, and remember which notes on a piano are what, but being able to play is something I'm no good at.  The same goes with guitar.  I self taught myself through the beginnings of a rather well written book, but my hands just don't work like I want them to, so I can't hold down strings hard enough or move finger quick enough.  On top of that, I can't play over a Medium setting in Guitar Hero.

That blue button is murder.

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there is a season...

I had lunch with someone I dearly respect in my Church, and even though they may or may not read this, it did get me to thinking: seasons.

We talked about some things that hadn't worked so well, including this previous years' Advent series: Advent Conspiracy.  If you've never head of Advent Conspiracy, do yourself a favor and check it out.  It's a great thing, believe me, because it really made me rethink Advent when my then-awesome small group did the small group stuff the year before.

The one thing I said then, while doing the small group study, was "this would be SO powerful as a late September, early October series."  mainly because it builds you up for the preparation of Advent, then you could roll it over into a very deep Advent series that could really bring back the focus to Christ.  Doing a series about not buying a lot, using the saved money to build water pumps in third world countries is awesome, when you have't already blown the money on Littlest Petshop and My Little Ponies.

Can I get an Amen?

The same goes for the Lent season, but I got a late start on the idea. However, this year I'll be blogging daily (the first few posts from Boston) through Lent, and focusing on a churchwide experiment we did a few years ago called the 40 Days of Nothing.  I mentioned the concept before: doing nothing, to do more.  Instead of just giving up one thing, do something else in place.  Instead of just quitting smoking, use the money you would spend and donate it to an AA group, or the church's food kitchen.  The first post will be a retelling of the crucifixion.  I don't like focusing on the bloodiness of the endgame of Easter, but we seem to forget that Christ didn't just shed blood and die for us, that he suffered for our sins.  Suffered on the cross, for us.

Ever year, in preparation for Lent, I read this article.  When I first read it, I was just a baby Christian, that had been set on fire by the Holy Spirit, and when I first read it I cried in shame.  I won't spoil the article, but it's titled "The Science of the Crucifixion".  I think it's something every Christian should read, at least once, to really grasp the reality that was Christ's suffering.

The second post begins the concept of giving something worldly in the desire to give something to God unworldly.  I think that makes sense, right?  Then I'll just let the spirit guide me.

Grace and Peace,
Jesse

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The New American Hymnal [NAH] - Post 0

There's been a lot on my mind lately, about what God is doing in my life, and how He's directing me now more than ever.  A lot has been building u to this, but the other night, I jokingly started thinking about writing a Hymnal for the 21st century, and then I was like "Meh, hymnals, whatever..."

Then it hit me that we're in need of a return to our basics, while still moving forward.  So many churches focus on one thing and loose touch with who they are, who they should be serving, and the type of people that are missing out on God's glory because this church is too involved with their own self interests.

So, I am going to find me a Hymnal (probably a United Methodist one, I have easier access to those) and break it apart and look at what makes a hymnal, and then start piecing a new one back together.  I'm not trying to say "Hey, we need new hymnals" I'm trying to say "Hey, sometimes change is needed, and sometimes options are too."

This thought also comes from the annoyance I have about christian worship music royalties.  Churches have to pay for a license to legally use worship music.  Yeah, surprises the hell out of me, so I'm proposing that the New American Hymnal©®™ to be Creative Commons.

The New American Hymnal by Jesse Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This is the beginning of a whole new adventure for me.  It's going to be a blast!

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School System of a Down

I was going to be a teacher, because I believed that every child had the right to the best education they worked for.  However, after really looking into things, I learned that the system wasn't built for teacher/student relationships, but for the school to create unrealistic goals for students, while the teachers were caught in the crossfire.

This morning only addressed this issue even more.  One of my co-workers came to me and asked about a laptop they were going to get to replace their desktop computer.  It's a genius idea, but they were looking at a 10" net book for $200.  She then asked me about "Power Point" for her kids' homework.  I looked at her, confused, and made her rethink the question.  She was 99% sure her kids were using Power Point for their homework.

Holy cow, they're already teaching kids how to incorrectly use presentation software.  I died a little on the inside and told her that Office was a suite of tools, that couldn't be bought separately.  She was a little annoyed that her kids had to have this $200 package that'll only be outdated in a year.  Again, I agreed, but on different terms that when undiscussed.

I understand that Microsoft gave away Office with every new computer for a while, and when the government cracked down, they had to remove it, but at the same time the damage had already been done.  Gates is a genius, and knowing that if he could get his stuff out only to have to take it away after a while, his product was already out there, and people were already using it, so now they'd have to pay to continue using it.  He got us hooked on his product, for free, then the government made him charge for it.  The dealer had legal rights to get us addicted.  It was genius!

Now the education system is trying to catch up with computer technology, and trying to stay with the pace of how often technology moves, so they implement new ways of teaching, doing homework, etc.  I'm taking two online classes this semester, both use an online service that my two lecture classes uses as well.  It works.  I don't have to buy new software, and since my Office key no longer works on my laptop, then I have to use Open Office, which works just fine.  However, the school system says "You have to use Power Point because we are sheep of the great Gates, and... baaah....  and we will follow aimlessly because we've been taught to do so!"

It reminds me of the iconic Apple commercial from the 80's.  The woman runs in, while the sheep follow instructions, then throws  hammer through the screen.  This is the example needing to be taken in today's world: be a hammer thrower!  Stop following aimlessly, it's not helping anyone.

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