vagueness

So I kinda had a brain dump in ideas this morning as I was sitting on the couch talking to God. It was one of those times where there was a constant stream of "I wonder if..." thoughts started flowing, and before I could really start processing that idea, the next was coming. So I threw em down on a sticky note to remember... and then left the sticky note in the car somewhere. So I'm running off memory now...

Discussing Rob Bell's new book Sex God last night with some friends left the impression that he was too vague on certain key points. Was he watering down truth to appeal to a seeker sensitive crowd? Was he trying to provide a first step to get people thinking about those points that they maybe had never considered before? What was his agenda?

After visiting Mars Hill in January (Isn't She Beautiful conference) I don't doubt his motives are pure. He has a high opinion of the Bible and truly wants to find out what Jesus was trying to say. And then the goal is to wrap your life around those ideas- not wrap the Bible around the ideas we already have.

And I think that is where the vagueness comes in. It's actually a trademark of the whole postmodern/emergent/deconstruction approach. The goal is not so much to instruct. The goal is to ask questions.

So when Rob Bell is discussing an idea or passage, he presents what the ideas might have meant considering who said it, who they said it to, and what was going on in their world (to the best of our knowledge). And then he stops. He purposefully leaves it vague. He wants the tension. He wants you to ask "So what does this mean?". The interpretation is up to you. Is this dangerous? Of course. People are rather creative, and you never know what wacky idea someone could come up with. But is it any more dangerous than telling someone what to think? Is it less?

There is always danger when people start to think. But there is probably more danger when they don't. If you are really serious about this topic, you will wrestle with it, study it, think about it, and let God speak to you. You won't get an easy answer, but some things don't have easy answers. Sometimes you have to work out your faith with fear and trembling.