Taylor’s response to Rob Bell’s book has received a quarter of a million hits since Saturday, according to a report on CNN’s religion blog. Obviously, this is an unusually enormous response to a blog post. I think it speaks both to the influence of Taylor’s own blog, but also to the wide following that Rob Bell has—which is all the more reason that a pastoral response like Justin’s was needed.
No one should relish controversy for controversy’s sake. But that is not what is happening here. On that note, if you haven’t done so yet, you need to read Kevin DeYoung’s follow-up piece on the Rob Bell brouhaha. He argues that this was not a Matthew 18 moment and that Bell’s ad deserved a public response. He also argues that public critiques of the Bell video are in order even in advance of the book’s release. I agree with him on both counts. Be sure to read this one.
