Albert Mohler has responded to the McLaren article that I noted yesterday. In his conclusion, Mohler says this: “This is…why a response to Brian McLaren is now in order. He is to be credited with taking theology seriously, with making clear arguments, and with a willingness to engage the conversation. I return his candor with my own, and I am ever more convinced of why this controversy is both inevitable and clarifying. “We are talking about two rival understandings of the Gospel here — two very different understandings of theology, Gospel, Bible, doctrine, and the totality of the Christian faith. Both sides in this controversy understand what is at stake.…
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McLaren Takes on Mohler
In a recent blog post, Brian McLaren takes issue with Albert Mohler’s review of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins. Using a baseball metaphor, McLaren argues that Mohler has made four errors in his analysis of Bell’s book. Here is my summary of McLaren’s concerns. 1st base – Mohler claims to “know” the gospel story. McLaren says that Mohler only knows his interpretation of the gospel, which shouldn’t be confused with the gospel itself.
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Post-feminist Regrets
Jennifer Moses thinks that sexual liberation did not deliver on its promise to deliver the good life. And now, the specter of past sexual exploits haunts post-feminist mothers who feel hypocritical for trying to lead their own children to practice some sexual restraint. In an OP-ED for The Wall Street Journal, she writes: It has to do with how conflicted my own generation of women is about our own past, when many of us behaved in ways that we now regret. A woman I know, with two mature daughters, said, “If I could do it again, I wouldn’t even have slept with my own husband before marriage. Sex is the…
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Rob Bell on “Morning Joe”
I thought I was done with the Rob Bell posts. But when I heard that he appeared this morning on my favorite talking-head program “Morning Joe,” I knew I had one more. The video of Bell’s appearance is above. There’s nothing new here and certainly nothing hard-hitting. The only thing new that I got from this is that apparently Mika likes what he’s selling. The others sounded like they weren’t very interested in the interview. FWIW.
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Martin Bashir Talks about Bell Interview
I wrote earlier this week about Martin Bashir’s hard-hitting interview with Rob Bell. If you’ve been under a rock this week and haven’t seen it yet, be sure to take a few minutes and watch it now. Commenters under that earlier post have been asking about Bashir’s own faith commitments. They note that some reports paint him to be an atheist while other reports indicate that he is a Christian. What’s the truth? Bashir answered that question earlier today when he was interviewed on Paul Edwards’ “God and Culture” radio program. Bashir discloses that he is a committed Christian and that he attends Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New…
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Mohler Leads Panel Discussion of “Love Wins”
Earlier today Albert Mohler moderated a discussion of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins. I was grateful to participate in the conversation along with Russell Moore and Justin Taylor. Watch above, listen below, or download audio here. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/Panels/20110317-bellpanel.mp3]
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Review of DeYoung Book
Tim Kimberley of Credo House Ministries has written a short, favorable review of Kevin DeYoung’s Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day (Crossway, 2011). I appreciated his advice about how to use this book. He writes: “If I were to start doing a study with someone. Maybe a mentor-type situation with a person in their teens, twenties or thirties this is one of possibly 3 books right now I’d consider reading with them.Â
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Martin Bashir Takes on Rob Bell
I don’t know what else to say. This interview is devastating. It exposes the inconsistency of Bell’s argument. Bell wants to be a universalist without taking the name, and Bashir won’t let him off by a facile appeal to “paradox.” Watch above or read the transcript below.
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Justin Taylor and Rob Bell on GMA
George Stephanopoulos interviewed Rob Bell today on “Good Morning America.” The segment was titled “Pastor Claims Hell Does Not Exist.” The lead-in report includes remarks from Justin Taylor, and I agree with him entirely. “Rob Bell… is obscuring God’s word. He’s teaching false doctrine. And he’s unorthodox in his beliefs.” A clip from Albert Mohler’s interview a couple of weeks ago also appears in the segment. Watch the rest of it above.
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Lisa Miller Interviews Rob Bell
Earlier this evening Lisa Miller of Newseek interviewed Rob Bell about his new book Love Wins. If you want to see where the rubber meets the road with the theology in Rob Bell’s book, then you’ll want to watch this. Miller actually does a good job of pressing Bell on some key points. I think she understands the affront of the cross, and even Rob Bell’s inclusivism is offensive to her because it still relies on Jesus as the savior of the world. Unfortunately, Bell fails to state a clear gospel message. Instead, he gives short pat answers and tells lots of stories. Interestingly, Miller calls him a universalist inspite…