Well, Rob Bell’s at it again. You might recall that a couple of years ago Rob Bell caused quite a stir when he published Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. At that time Bell moved away from the historic Christian doctrines concerning the afterlife, and embraced a sort of universalism that he claimed wasn’t really universalism.
Love Wins made him a truckload of money, but it cost him his pastorate. Not even his own “emergent” congregation could countenance this departure from the faith. If you’re interested in the last days of Rob Bell at Mars Hill, then check out this article from the New Yorker.
Now, he’s releasing a new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, which I’m sure will make him another truckload of money. His publisher posted the trailer for the new book (I still don’t understand why books need trailers) on YouTube earlier this week. He seems to have learned his lesson from the Love Wins fiasco. The trailer for that book, actually hinted at the book’s theme, bringing instant condemnation from pastors across America.
This new trailer, on the other hand, hides the theme of the book. What’s the book about? Well, Rob had a notebook full of questions about God and the cosmos and everything. These questions include an Italian monkey. Enlightening. So he had to do a bunch of “research” on God. “See! I read books!” Somehow I doubt the Bible was in that drawer of books. And then he had to make notecards, with insightful themes like, “boom box, snail, volume, further, closer.”
Am I the only one who finds this trailer to be self-indulgent? He’s trying too hard to maintain that mysterious hipness. Italian monkeys and boom box snails. He wants us to think that he’s so deep. Actually, he’s just confused, but many consumers can’t tell the difference between depth and confusion. The crowd that he’s appealing to doesn’t want truth; they merely want the appearance that they are seeking it.
The first hint of what the book is about comes at the end. “God is not behind us, dragging us backwards into some primitive regressive state. God has always been ahead of us, pulling us forward into greater and greater peace and integration, wholeness, and love.” Here Bell disparages the “faith once delivered unto all the saints.” Bell will tell us new things that the prophets and apostles didn’t understand.
He’s a new prophet. He speaks words of peace. He speaks words of integration. He speaks the words of an Italian monkey.
UPDATE: Here are my thoughts on his latest trailer.
Reblogged this on COLLIN GARBARINO.
Hahaha. Oh Rob! I think this is incredibly self-indulgent, and though I really like book trailers, this one kind of made me want to punch something.
I hope you didn’t want to punch an Italian monkey!
It’s so sad to see someone who had so much good stuff get deceived like this! Goes to show how the bigger your influence you have, the bigger the target for the devil is.
Side note: this is the first time I’ve noticed Rob Bell’s similarities to the secret agent/paper salesman/Dad from Heroes. http://images.zap2it.com/images/celeb-344/jack-coleman-2.jpg
I’ve never seen the show. Does the character talk in riddles too?
Thanks for your post. I hope the new book does not have the influence the last one did. Lets pray the truth spreads to counteract this error.
Amen!
Those poor Italian monkeys. They really don’t need the bad press.
I know, right? I wonder if he even asked the monkeys if they wanted to embody cosmic truth.
Well, I’m thinking Elvis is featured in the book. Always, a great marketing tool.
But Collin don’t disparage the monkey. He knows the truth. Even a rock would cry out if it could. Man is the only creation smart enough to invent continuing revelation and dumb enough to believe it. Seriously, very sad case of false prophet.
Wise words. Thanks for the comment.
I just read the New Yorker article. Then I remembered why I stopped reading New Yorker articles–they are very lengthy. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised that the author of the article seemed to understand many of the confusing nuances of the modern “evangelical” church. I’ve read articles that casually interchanged ‘evangelical’ and ‘evangelistic’ as though they were synonymns. Anyway, I only know about Mr. Bell from the controversy two years ago. I never read the hell book and I don’t intend to. Not because I’m scared it will offend me, but because I try not to jump on bandwagons, as a general rule. I did want to point out something that I don’t think anyone has mentioned. I think that many of these Bell-like guys (all of them my age) aren’t claiming new answers to old questions. They are, instead, exalting the questioning itself, and making that the highest goal. That if we are sincere in our questions of what church should look like and who God is (or, as might be more appropriate, who God might or might not be) THEN we have attained some measure of fullness in our humanity. It does seem a little lazy, I’ll admit, to never conclude much of anything. And, if we are honest, a touch galling that they are making so much money from the notoriety. Although I wouldn’t mind very much learning to surf while I got paid to hang out with “Lost” guys. It doesn’t really count as persecution.
Patti, I think you’re absolutely right about “exalting the questioning.” I also think you’re right that New Yorker articles are too long.
Great article! I loved this:
“The crowd that he’s appealing to doesn’t want truth; they merely want the appearance that they are seeking it.”
So true. It’s not hip to claim to “have” the truth. That’s why they need to always be seeking, but never finding. Very sad. 😦
Pingback: Even More from Rob Bell (le sigh part deux) « Reflection and Choice
Pingback: Rob Bell Would Make a Great Mormon « Reflection and Choice