Rob Bell's Talk......

Rob Bell's tour that I went to was exciting but ultimately disappointing. The guy is a great and engaging teacher, period--better than anyone I think I've ever heard before. He spoke for almost two hours and had people attentive the entire time. Here's the basic jist of what he said, some of which I have issues with:
1. Human beings (from cave men on, people of all cultures) have formulated ideas about the divine (spirits, gods, whatever you want to call them).
2. Humans for centuries also pretty much unanimously tried to appease these gods through offerings, sacrifices, etc. The goal was to get them on "our side."
3. Bell says that this developed a "primal anxiety" in human beings in their perception of the divine--this constant wondering of whether their sacrifices were enough or whether they were working...Naturally this led to a continual raising of the stakes until people went so far as killing children and mutilating their own bodies.
4. This is the culture into which Yahweh spoke when He called out Abraham. But this God was different; He provided a sacrifice instead of having Abraham sacrifice Isaac. With this God, you could know where you stood in relation to Him through the law that He gave and the promises that He made.
5. This system became corrupted because Jewish leaders took power into their own hands. When Christ came along saying that something greater than this system had come along (namely Himself), they reacted by killing Him and eliminating the threat.
6. Christ's resurrection showed that something greater had indeed come. In His dying on the cross, we Christ as the greatest of all sacrifices, and we see the "reconciliation of all things" (Col. 1:20) to God. This was the phrase Bell kept using over and over--though he didn't really explain it.
7. Since we have been reconciled to God, we don't have to live with that same primal anxiety of wondering whether we please Him or where we stand with Him. We don't have to have a conscience that is torturing us and leading us into legalism.

Point 7 is so true and refreshing to be reminded of for me as a perfectionist. The manner in which Bell reminded me of this was very freeing. BUT, the way that he spoke about the cross was completely inadequate to me. He talked about us being "reconciled" but he didn't talk about us being separated--or being sinful at all. It was like he completely avoided the part of the gospel where we are to be convicted of our sin and repent of it....He just jumped to the peace and the freedom that we are to have.....It sounded like he believes all people are already right with God, forgiven, and at peace--that they just have to realize it. That, to me, is absurd and completely against much of the New Testament. But anyways.....The best way to sum it up is that he acted as if our greatest need as humans is to be freed from our conscience. In reality our greatest need is to be free from our guiltiness before God and the punishment we deserve for our sin. Our conscience should drive us to repentance first and then to rejoicing when we put our trust in Christ and turn from sin. The conscience isn't just to be cast off as some sort of "primal" hindrance that we can do without. I won't go on any longer....just wanted to vent a little.
I still like Rob Bell as a teacher in most things; but this was a little disturbing to me.