Written and Directed by Justin Snyder
A blog.

Asking Questions

If I were to have a problem with Rob Bell it would be that trying to figure out what exactly he believes is like trying to figure out Inception.

But that’s what we love about him, right? He provokes us, makes us think.

I had a philosophy teacher like this.

I’m currently reading Velvet Elvis. It is a fantastic book. He asks questions, just like he does in this video, that I’ve never thought of before. Questions that confound. Questions we’re afraid to ask. Questions that make you wonder whether or not you should be asking them. The funny thing is, he never clearly states his theological position in orthodox terms. He even has a section in the book about labels and how they can be misleading.

A friend of mine calls him the Steve Jobs of Christianity.

A lot of people seem to think Bell has gone off the deep end with this video. The word “heresy” has been thrown around. I don’t think this is warranted, for two reasons. First, he hasn’t made his position clear. The only propositional statement he has made is that love wins. But we have to buy his book to find out what exactly that means.

Secondly, asking a provocative question in a provocative manner is not heresy. It is a method of teaching that is used throughout the Bible.

I’m going to say something very controversial here. I think people are afraid of Bell the same way people were afraid of Jesus.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying Bell is more like Jesus than Piper or Driscoll or Justin Taylor. I’m also not saying that people are afraid that Rob Bell might be Jesus. What I’m saying is that he is using a teaching method that is more similar to Jesus. He is asking thoughtful questions that provoke us to explore our faith in a deeper way, instead of just accepting simple, facile answers.

Why does it matter to us what Rob Bell believes? Because we think we want the truth, but we don’t really. We want answers that make sense to our way of thinking.

We are afraid of what we don’t understand. We don’t like it when we can’t wrap our mind around something, so we look for labels that allow us to fit a person’s teaching into our box. We want to know exactly what Rob Bell believes so that we we will be comfortable with him, so that we can believe what he says without having to worry about asking questions that challenge us.

It’s the same thing the Pharisees did to Jesus.

“Teacher, is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” In other words, what is your stance on taxes? What is your political position? Are you conservative, Jesus?

He calls them out, because they were trying to trap him and get him to say something incriminating. Then he answers their question with another question.

“Whose image is on the coin?”

“Caesar’s”, they reply.

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s”.

And the Gospel of Matthew says they went away amazed. Because he had evaded their trap. And here is what I LOVE about this answer. It is left open to any interpretation. The Roman nationalist would walk away going, good, Jesus is conservative, or whatever. But only the true seeker – only the wise – would understand what Jesus was actually saying.

What is God’s?

Everything.

Everything belongs to God!

Even Caesar’s coins.

So Jesus asks questions that can be answered in different ways, but that makes the truth accessible to those that are truly seeking.

That’s what Rob Bell is doing.

He’s letting us discuss things among ourselves.

And truth still marches on.