Piper vs. Bell – Rumble in the Olive Press

There are too many tweets and blog posts to reference, but over the last few days a battle has emerged.

Rob Bell and John Piper are two of my favorite Christian author/thinker/communicator types.  That may sound odd, because the two are very different in their teaching, so how could I like both?  Well, I think of them as people and have not elevated them to Messiah-ship.  Therefore, they both offer thoughts that are worthy of consideration, yet not worth laying my life at an altar that has their name emblazoned in steel above it.

Rob Bell wrote a book.  It says something about hell, though no one knows for sure, because the book has not been released.  John Piper and some of his reformed “homies” did not like the promo for the book, because they have different conclusions than one could draw…from the promo alone.  So, they made some comments on Twitter and their blogs.  Their comments were premature.

Over the last two days I have read many tweets and blogs saying the reformers acted prematurely, and have other boogers hanging from their noses, like fundamentalism and close-mindedness.  Rumor also has it, they don’t wear deodorant, but that has not yet been confirmed.

My observation to this situation is that the best way to react to a wrong reaction, is by reacting wrongly.

I’m amazed that both sides depend on and exalt so much the idea of grace; They truly believe that the mercy and grace of God trumps all and transcends all.  Yet, I’ve also seen that grace, understanding, and humility towards your ideological opponent is not the identifying mark of either camp.  There are comments like, “IF I’m wrong THEN I’ll apologize.”  Or, “Your followers can be obnoxious at times, but I’ve always hoped you were above that. Sometimes you say things that make me roll my eyes.”  Neither comment drips of grace or humility, though both are actual comments coming from both sides.

Maybe grace is for the other guy to extend to me and not me to the other guy.  Not sure, I’ll have to look at the life of Jesus and think about that.

As much as Jesus and the Pharisees went round after round, calling each other out, and using phrases like “White washed tombs” they at least did those things with one another.  Emotions can run high in interpersonal communication.  But high emotions through impersonal, digital, public communication seems empty to me.

I thought the Beer Summit that President Obama hosted a couple years ago at the White House was more public and political posturing.  I think politicians do that in general.  However, he still had it right.  It’s up to the two people involved to sit down together and talk.  The rest of us are welcome to opinions, but we probably do better in silence.

I want the truth of Jesus Christ to be exalted above either of these men and their conclusions on doctrine.  And strangely enough, I really believe that’s what Piper and Bell desire too.  But those of us with Twitter, Facebook, and blog accounts don’t help the exaltation of Christ when we continually point at how wrong the other side has done it in the last few days.

I hereby declare as a third party witness, that both sides have not handled this perfectly.  So, let’s move forward with grace, humility, and a willingness to listen.   Maybe we can learn.  Even if we draw different conclusions and decide we must part ways to some extent, then at least let the world see Christians personify the grace of Jesus and not the insecurity of the Pharisees.  Jesus is not a softy by any means, but even in hard conversations, he listened.

Grace & peace,

jon