GLEE

            Have you ever seen the TV show GLEE? Well, I would not recommend it. There is too much in there that, as you would clearly see, I disagree with. However, I recognize that this show is extremely popular with high school kids. I realize this show is somewhat popular with college students.

            Millions paid attention when Chevrolet paid millions of dollars to produce and run a commercial with the cast of GLEE during the Super Bowl. Moreover, I take notice when a TV show takes the songs of my youth and makes them popular with my children's generation.

            GLEE is about misfits in high school who initially cannot find their place. Other students are mean to them–even cruel to them. And they somehow find themselves banding together in a singing club. Under the direction of a gifted director, these misfits use their talents to make beautiful music.

            GLEE asks a very important spiritual question, or better yet, expresses a very important spiritual wish. Wouldn't it be great if there were some way for misfits to join together and offer their abilities and skills to make beautiful music for the world to hear? And wouldn’t it be great if, through this process, despite their diverse backgrounds, somehow this group of misfits could find unity and, yes, even love?

            Guess what? God has the same dream too. He calls it--the church.

            The church is the place where God calls misfits from all over the world and empowers them to use their gifts to create beautiful music for the world to hear—to bless the world with the beauty of God’s love.

            I prefer to think of GLEE in this way:

G–God's

L–love

E–expressed

E–everywhere

           (This painting was done for a sermon by one of our college students, Calep Gonzalez. My iPhone photo does not know do Calep's work justice.)           

           Let the apostle John illustrate this in John 4. You have this woman at a well. She is an outcast. Jesus is with—what the Jews called—a sinner. She is a misfit. She comes to the well alone—even her Samaritan town has ostracized her.

            Jesus sits down with her. He begins talking with her. During this conversation, she begins to sense that this man is different. There is an insight that this man is real.

            When Jesus asks about her husband, she hedges a little bit. He responds with the truth: she has had six husbands, and the man she is now living is not her husband.           

            Now, she gets a glimpse of who Jesus is—God. As a result, she sees her own sin. Something is wrong here. She becomes very self-conscious. All she can think of is the need to sacrifice for her sins. Ultimately, Jesus points toward himself as the ultimate source of forgiveness for sins.

            At last, she begins to realize: "Here is a man, the Messiah, who sees me as I really am, and he still loves me."

            People yearn for that.

            So she goes and she expresses that she has found what everyone is looking for. Read John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

            People hear her message. Misfits from her village come to Jesus. And they ask Jesus to stay with them. They tell him, in essence, “Now we know the love of God, and we have a relationship with him.” It’s as if they are saying, “Stay. Be our director. Let us form a group using our gifts to provide beautiful music to the world.”

            Ultimately, they do. Jesus leaves, but, even though they're not fully Gentiles (they have Jewish blood in them too), they are, in part, our ancestors. It is because of groups like this that we have the church today. Today, we descendants are making beautiful music.

            Technically, none of us “fit” into God’s Kingdom. We are placed into this Kingdom by this same Messiah, who sat at the well. If you trust Him, he will transform you, little by little, to fit into His eternal Kingdom forever.

         God will gift you to sing your part—and direct you (along with the rest of us) to make beautiful music forever. We will bless the King, and we will bless the world, with our music.

         Just the thought of this gives me great glee.

        

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. What a blessing it was to see my daughter, Haleigh, at Harding University last week. It was neat too seeing many of our kids from Shiloh out there. I always enjoy visiting with college students. I would like to think that it keeps me young.

2. I really appreciate getting to stay with my old Argentine teammates, Bill and Holly Richardson, last week. Part of the fun of Lectureship is seeing old friends.

3. I want the Longhorns to beat OU this weekend. I expect OU to win, though.

4. Texas Rangers—nice run your on the last 17 ball games.

5. Haleigh took me to see MONEYBALL last week. It was a very good movie; so compelling that I went out and bought the book. I would like to find a stat nerd to compile the variables on the tens of thousands of unchurched people in Tyler. If we could exegete our culture well, we could reach more people by going where the fields are white unto harvest.

My Opinion: LOVE WINS by Rob Bell

(I had to edit this post--again! I could not live with myself without doing so. 

Sorry: April 20, 2011)

             I tell you—I want to believe it. I think millions of Christians DO believe it.

            “It” is what Rob Bell has written in his latest book, LOVE WINS. If you watch news shows like GOOD MORNING AMERICA or watch news channels such as MSNBC, you may have seen Bell interviewed the past month.

            Rob Bell, in case you don’t know, is a very popular preacher out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the creator of the NOOMA videos, which are extremely popular in mainstream Christianity. Bell has also written some bestseller books. SEX GOD is one of the best treatments of the subject of sexuality I have ever read.

            If Rob Bell had stopped after the first 93 pages of LOVE Wins, I have a feeling there would be no fuss. Most of those pages are things he has already said, and he makes some very good points. For example: the way Christians, and I am using the term loosely, often come across so negatively to nonbelievers, is lamentable. Research continues to bear this out.

             In chapters two and three, Bell does an excellent job of channeling great thinkers such as C. S. Lewis and N. T. Wright, in explaining how heaven and hell don’t begin in the life to come—they begin today.

            My one negative critique of chapter three is, Bell invested an enormous amount of stock in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, seeing it as an indicator of what life will be like in the age to come. I, personally, believe that parable is more of an explanation of Jesus’ attitude toward the poor. To be fair, many others join Bell in using the parable in this way.

            Bell accurately points out how little the word “hell” is used in Scripture. This can be misleading. The concept of judgment is found throughout the Bible, culminating in the book of Revelation. I join the majority of Christendom as seeing these references as signs pointing to an ultimate eternal separation from God for many.

             In Bell’s weakest moments, he pulls a number of judgment passages out of context, seemingly having them argue that God will offer mercy, redemption, and restoration to those recipients of judgment in scripture. He seizes upon the parts of Scripture that are ambiguous about the afterlife and combines them into a view that God will save everyone, or almost everyone, ultimately. To put it succinctly, God's love will change, virtually, everyone on the other side of death into a follower of Jesus.

            I need to be careful here. I follow where Bell is going with some of the Old Testament examples. I get his point that God’s earthly judgment, for example, with the Israelites, does mean they will be banished to hell forever. Nevertheless, I see it as going beyond the scope of biblical revelation to say this is the prototype for how God will relate to every human in the after life.

            Again I say, if God so chooses—great! Who am I to judge? (I’m sorry… that last sentence made me crack up. J) However, this does not seem to square with the way God seeks to portray himself in scripture. It is almost like Bell is saying—I know this is what the Bible says about the character of God, but I want you to know, he does not mean it.

            I've got to admit; it sounds awfully good. But here is the problem: the overwhelming essence of Scripture attests to a coming judgment, where some will be saved and many will be lost. The character of God revealed in Scripture seems to support this understanding as well.

            Herein lies part of the problem with Bell in this book. Bell, like many of this age, has focused on love of God—to the extreme. God's holiness, God's justice, and God's anger take second place. He is more balance in this book than I thought he would be, but this is faint praise. I found something that Tim Archer, of HERALD OF TRUTH, wrote last week, which applies well here, “More often than not, we choose not to believe in God or some aspect of God’s nature because of our own wishes and desires, the way we wish things were.”

            I saw LOVE WINS coming a few years ago, when I saw Bell’s video THE GOD’S AREN’T ANGRY. That video was another masterful work, but it also put God in a box. It connected the concept of God's wrath to the needs of ancient peoples, who visualized their deities as angry, wrathful, and demanding of appeasement.

            Bell converted the wrath of God into a metaphor designed to address the fears and beliefs of ancient peoples. It was almost as if he was saying, “We’re past that now. Civilization has grown up.” Again, his is not the only voice that says this. Many in Christianity feel the same way. Bell has simply articulated these views to a new generation, in a powerful and engaging way.

            Frankly, it’s not fun to disagree with Bell. To do so, sometimes, comes across as the equivalent of stereotypical old man, sitting in a lawn chair wearing shorts, dark socks, and dress shoes shouting, “You kids get off my lawn!”

            I read LOVE WINS with the impression, he was seeking to find a way to package the Gospel, to make it more palatable for unchurched people. This I can understand, because so many unchurched people hate Christians. Consequently, I see Bell's message here “selling” well.

            Not everyone in the secular world seems to be buying it though. Journalist Martin Bashir zeroed in on Bell in a recent interview on MSNBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjAdRJZib3Q Bashir pointedly and repeatedly asked, if what Bell wrote is true, was not Jesus irrelevant?

            I saw the interview, before I read the book, and thought Bashir was sharp and perceptive. After reading the book, I found Bashir’s “questioning” to be unfair and inaccurate. Frankly, I wondered if he had read the book, or if he was instead relying on reading summaries provided by his staff.

            Bell very much comes across as supporting the idea, Jesus is the only way. In LOVE WINS, it is Christ's work and love, which ultimately point to salvation. Any Hindu, Muslim, Jew, unchurched person, or anyone else, will find salvation only through Jesus. What Bell does is offer them the hope of finding salvation after death.

            At some point, Bell believes, even the hardest of hard-hearted sinners will turn to God—because of God's relentless love. To put it in a sound bite, Bell is saying you can surrender to Jesus now—or surrender to him later, but you WILL ultimately surrender to him.

            The idea conveyed is, in the afterlife, lots and lots of people are going to be enjoying life with God. Those who continue to reject Jesus, will be on the outside looking in—a self-imposed exile. Sooner or later, they are going to give it up and join the party.

            At the end of the book, Bell writes, if the reader wants more on hell, to consult C. S. Lewis’ THE GREAT DIVORCE. Having been a few years since I read that book, I did consult it.

            I found a number of passages I had underlined in Lewis’ book. The more I skimmed it, the more I realized Bell’s view of hell in the eternity sounded similar to Lewis’ view. Lewis did not get into near as much trouble, perhaps, because he expressed his thoughts in the form of a fictional story.

            Bell offers a scriptural Jesus, the Son of God in skin, who happened to also live the perfect human life. And if, you choose to love Jesus now, you'll enjoy the abundant life of knowing Him now. God’s reign, “heaven”, is expanded a little more on earth.

            I’m reading where some Christian leaders are wanting to disfellowship Rob Bell. (Of course, they don’t want to disfellowship C. S. Lewis. Maybe it’s because years ago, Chuck Colson said C. S. Lewis was okay with him.)

            Beware. If they do, they are going to have to disfellowship half of Christendom. The dirty little secret is a lot of people in the pews believe the same thing as Rob Bell—God is going to save most, if not all, people. 

            I suggest they not worry so much about Rob Bell. He has a high view of Jesus and of sharing good news about Jesus. He affirms the saving work of the cross and the glory of the resurrection. A lot of people in our pews don’t believe, on an emotional level, even that. Perhaps, that is what we first address.

            Obviously, I don’t have all of the answers on hell. I gave it my best shot for my church yesterday morning in a sermon I called—not jokes please—“Why Hell?” (I just finished an overview of the book of Revelation; I thought I could relax by taking on a popular subject.  J) All modesty aside, I am grateful that the sermon was well received, and you are welcome to listen to it by clicking on this link: http://srmp3.kentdavis.com/04-03-11am.mp3 Meanwhile, I’ll keep attempting to grow.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Two good games in the men’s Final Four on Saturday. I’m sticking with my prediction of Connecticut to win the National Championship tonight.

2. Two fantastic girls’ games last night. Way to go A & M! I’m picking the Aggies on Tuesday night.

3. Way to go Texas Rangers—way to sweep the Red Sox!

4. I think GLEE is channeling humanity’s deep, instinctive desire for community, love, and acceptance. It offers a watered down imitation of the experience church should offer.

5. I’m finishing up the book MOON SHOT by former Mercury Astronauts Alan Shepherd and Deke Slayton.  A great read about the NASA space program—through Apollo. I saw the documentary years ago in Argentina; it was good too.

Where Would I Be If I Had Gotten To Where I was Going?

            For anyone who knows me, it is no secret that I grew up wanting to be the starting quarterback of the world champion, Dallas Cowboys. In case you have not heard, I did not make it.

            I am now attaining an age where, I hope, I have some perspective. With that in mind, I relate to you that I have been observing quarterbacks, who have done well, and are between my age and older.

         These guys are getting old. I do not mean necessarily chronologically, what I mean is physically. The game of football has taken an incredible toll on many of them.

            John Elway has had one knee replaced. He is my age.

            Joe Montana is four years older than me; he is severely limited physically because of a terrible back.

            I remember reading that Johnny Unitas lived out the remaining years of his life with basically a dysfunctional right arm and hand–the consequence of arm damage sustained during his legendary football career.

            These are just brief examples of men who have sustained physical trauma. While I did not enjoy the career they did, I can today get down on the floor with my eight-year-old son and wrestle with him. I can play full-court basketball with high school students and older, and I can climb mountains with my two teenage daughters on wilderness trek.

            No, I never led a team to the Super Bowl and became famous. However, were I to take one of the books I read as a child that inspired me–GREAT QUARTERBACKS OFF THE NFL–to the high school Bible class I teach, I would be shocked to discover one student, who could identify even two of the ten quarterbacks profiled in that book. (The book includes quarterbacks such as Sammy Baugh, John Unitas, and Bart Starr.)

           Joe Montana is a nebulous figure to this year's high school graduates. He won his fourth Super Bowl three years before they were born.

           The longer I live, the more quarterbacks are added to the list of all time greats. That means the list of forgotten, great quarterbacks grows longer and longer.

            All this to say, if I had fulfilled my dream, what would it have gotten me now? Perhaps, a body offering chronic pain, and a memory for fans fading faster than that photograph in the first BACK TO THE FUTURE movie. (I wonder how many people have forgotten that movie–or, are too young to have seen it?)

            Maybe things worked out better after all.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Dare I pick Green Bay in the Super Bowl? Yes, I dare.

2. I have not heard one person say something positive about yesterday’s NFL Pro Bowl. I thought, at last, it would be put out of its misery. Then, I heard today that it boasted its highest TV rating in 11 years. So much for eliminating the Pro Bowl.

3. I have heard so much about FOX’s series—GLEE—that I decided to check it out from the public library. So far, I have only seen the pilot. Here’s what I think from the viewpoint of theological reflection:

            Wouldn’t it be great if someone could take a conglomeration of misfits and, in the presence of the cool, the beautiful, and the powerful, produce beautiful music? One did.

            God did. And the conglomeration of misfits is called the church.

            Maybe a group of college Christians could band together and watch an episode each week to theologically reflect upon.

            They could call it—Glee Club.

4. I bargained with my two oldest to get THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER from NETFLIX. We watched it Saturday. It was the third time I've seen it, and it has been years since I last watched it.

            Haleigh and Abby were not thrilled—at first. Rather quickly, though, they warmed up to the movie.

            Made in 1974, THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER boasts a stellar cast, and recounts the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. William Devane does the best job of any actor portraying JFK. 34-year-old Martin Sheen portrays Robert Kennedy.

            The film intriguingly presents the crisis from both the Soviet and the U. S. points of view. Even though, we intuitively realized the planet is still here, my girls and I could not help but feel tension as the crisis persisted.

            This is a great movie to watch with your teenagers.

5. Good for you, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I read the article about your fifteen years together and your continuing commitment to your marriage and family. May you enjoy decades more of happiness.