randzig

Left work early, got a dollar menu hamburger, and drove to the Uptown a few weeks ago to see Rob Bell on his The Gods Aren’t Angry Tour.  Generally speaking I am a fan of his.  I don’t agree with everything he says or how he says it but on the major issues I think most Christians (including the ones that don’t like him) would have a hard time proving him wrong regarding the major causes he champions.  He came out pretty much unannounced dressed in all shades of…black.  He looked like a typical Mac user.  Matter fact I was waiting for him to announce a new product that I wouldn’t be able to live without.  He was very Steve Jobs like.  Like all good speakers he moved fluidly across the stage.  Except in this case it was so fluid that it was similar to a dance.

A few friends asked me what I thought of the $17 dollar event.  I had a hard time answering.  (If you want a decent review of what he said then go here.)  I told some of them that I had gotten more out of some of his sermons than the effort he put in going “on tour”.  Another friend said “well, i think he just came up with a long way to preach the gospel message”.  Really that statement is right on.  I know emergent hipsters (as I like to call em) think he is doing something more but so much of it is the everlasting Gospel Message.  In one aspect its almost as if some emergents are so caught up in their movement that they forget there are people that already live this way(as described by Bell) and have been doing so for decades.  And they do it on their own through their own study of Gods Word and practice there of.  I don’t want to make light of the exhortation the event likely inspired in many, so I’m not saying it wasn’t fruitful because it likely was.  I guess I tend to expect something mind blowing from an event like this.  That I can’t say that I got.  However in the review on Relevant.com his quote spurred more emotion and zeal in me than the whole evening.

My wife and I and family, we’re committed to living as simply as we can, so I—I don’t need more money or anything—I’m committed to using whatever voice I have to raise awareness for those who have no voice.

In a day when churches and christianity in general is viewed as a product to ultimately make you better than the next person many can’t imagine living this humbly as to live for others.  Even though I connect with this idea I have a difficult time with it.  Often feeling torn between the truth I know it holds and just trying to get by everyday.  I personally wish he would have taught more along this train of thought.

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