Monday, September 05, 2011
Sponge On Bell
Is that a great title or what?
Sponge-Headed Scienceman has a post about Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. After my initial comments during the Piper controversy, I have not weighed in on Bell, and won't until we have discussed it at our Bible study, which has met for over thirty years and contains reliable individuals, including Sponge and his wife. I was initially irritated with Bell, wondering "what's new here, exactly?" until I heard a longtime (but perhaps not thoughtful) Christian complaining about Bell's book for what I felt were ridiculous reasons. Hearing that, I wondered if Bell's questions were new to enough people in our day that it was worth bringing them up again.
So, if I understand Sponge-headed Scienceman right...
ReplyDeleteBell was either unable or unwilling to state his argument plainly.
If unable, then I propose that someone should take Bell aside and teach him something about developing a discussion. (And that the church, in general, should ignore him and listen to Christ's warnings about salvation and damnation.)
If unwilling, then I suspect that there is an unstated assumption underneath the argument that doesn't look plausible when stated plainly.
In that case, I may pity him the more, also despising the attempt to foist an implausible assumption on the reader.