NOOMA Bullhorn 009 Rob Bell - Trailer

[downtoawhisper]

Jesus loves us exactly as we are? What does repent or perish mean to you, Rob Bell?

He's right that the defining mark of being a Christian is love...but it's too bad that he doesn't understand love. It's not loving to encourage people in their sin and not care if they go to Hell when they die. True love is warning people of the wrath to come if they don't repent and trust in Christ! True love is showing people their transgressions and teaching them the way of the Lord so they can be saved!

[mrsam1324]

I mean Jesus does love us as we are ("while we were sinners, christ died for us" Rom 5) I mean God obviously hates evil and we still do it, but I guess it goes back to what defines "us?" Are we as humans defined by our sin? Or does God view us differently? I know plenty of passionate believers who aren't perfect, but God still has grace for them. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast."

[mrsam1324]

@downtoawhisper If salvation is only about avoiding hell, then I think it diminishes the way that God change our life now and it downplays absolutely incredible nature of God's love and how joyous and fulfilling it will be when we get to go to heaven!! I am no saint though, I am not good at portraying this love to people and that's why I believe that pray and asking for God's help is crucial in trying to tell people. Hey God loves you, He doesn't love your sin, but He offers grace to you

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

I never said that salvation is only about avoiding Hell. I agree that if people only follow Jesus because they are afraid of the punishment (Hell), then they aren't following Him out of love. But there still needs to be an awareness of the fact that we all deserve Hell for our sins....and when we realize that Jesus died so that we could be saved, then we should repent from our sins out of love for Jesus, trust in Him and follow Him the rest of our lives. This is the heart of.....

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

...of the Gospel. When someone can understand this, then they can understand the true grace of the Lord....and they can really appreciate it....knowing that they never deserved it, but the Lord still gave them grace time and time again. I know this is true for me.

But in order to really appreciate the remedy (Jesus) to the sickness (sin), you must understand first that you were sick and headed for death. Otherwise, the remedy (Jesus) doesn't mean as much.

[SeekYeFirst1]

Okay. So knowing someone is lost and doomed to die, you should "love" them by being tolerant and accepting of their lostness? You shouldn't dare to point them in the right direction?

Yes that sure sounds like love. Just like the love of God. Of course he never called people to repent or turn from their wicked ways. Because that's not loving at all!

[mrsam1324]

@SeekYeFirst1 I don't think that's what he's saying, Jesus wants people to turn away from their sins, but one of the fruits of the spirit is in fact gentleness. I believe there is a way to in fact present to someone that Jesus can heal their brokenness, and using threats of eternal punishment is not gentle at all and it doesn't illustrate the most amazing part of the Christian faith, God's grace for all who turn to him

[mrsam1324]

I admit that often fear & insecurity do keep me from presenting Jesus as a solution to the person's brokenness that is something I need to work on but Jesus also condemns the pride & self-righteousness of the pharisees on many occasions so the only true way to preach effectively is to be motivated by compassion for that person, & that kind of true compassion only comes from an effective relationship with christ So I agree telling people about christ is loving but it can also be self-righteouss

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

It's not self righteous to tell people about Christ. It's extremely selfless. I share the good news with many people, and most hate my message (as Jesus said they would). I get mocked, laughed at, yelled at and so on..but I care more about the salvation of others than I do whether or not they like me. So I die to my own will every day for the gospel, not because I am self righteous and want MY light to shine, but because I love Jesus and my neighbor, and I want Jesus' light to shine!

[mrsam1324]

@downtoawhisper I agree with you in a lot of ways! You're right! it is selfless to tell people about Christ most of the time, but to say that telling the gospel can never self-righteouss is just not true. I think that what you're doing is incredible, and again it all comes down to motivation. Your motivation is pure and out of love and compassion; it is exactly as Christ would want it to be! I hope you continue your good work and that someday I might gain that kind of deep compassion for others

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

Amen! All the glory be to God! My friend, you can have this deep compassion and love for your neighbor, too! If you seek Jesus wholeheartedly, He will provide you with a new heart that loves with purity and passion...the kind that you never thought you could ever understand! Also, the more you speak with people about their eternity, and the more you talk about Hell, the more you'll understand why people need to be warned to repent and trust in Christ so that they don't go there!

[mrsam1324]

@downtoawhisper yeah and I see what you're saying completely about talking about hell and such; it is a real place that we definitely don't want anybody to go to, but I guess I just feel like God's love gets left out of the equation so often in evangelism. And hell while it is a reality, talk of it often invokes either a response of fearful conversion or just flat out repulsion toward God, and fearful conversion isn't always authentic like even in 1 John 4 it says "perfect love drives out fear"

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

Well, sure, we can't only talk about Hell, but we can't only talk about the love of God either. We must preach the FULL counsel of God....But if you truly understand the Gospel, you won't have to worry about preaching too much on Hell or too much on God's love. There is a balance in the true Gospel....that we all deserve Hell for our sins, but Jesus loved us so much that He died to save us, and if we would repent and put our trust in Jesus, we could be saved from Hell. .......

[mrsam1324]

@downtoawhisper Why can't we only talk about God's love? Isn't that what he is? If God didn't love us when we sin then why did Jesus die for us? I've been reading some good books lately and they talk about how there's this kind of false thing about God that he punishes/hates us when we sin, but it's not true. God hates evil sure and he hates sin, but he never hates people. He loves every single person he created. I think if people knew that God, nobody could reject him

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

God's love only makes sense in light of His wrath. If people don't understand that they are headed for Hell before they have repented, then God's mercy, grace and love won't mean as much to them. It's kind of like this...you know someone has cancer...the person is unaware of their sickness and thinks they are perfectly healthy. So you walk up to them, and say, "Hey...take these pills. They will make you better." Do you think they will say, "Well, thanks, you're very kind!" ......

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

....or is the person going to look at you with a perplexed look, and say, "They will make me better? But I'm not sick? I'm fine."

Without you explaining to the person that they have cancer first, the pills make no sense. This is why the FULL counsel of God must be preached. We are sick with sin, and we need a remedy (Jesus) to heal us and make us born again. If we refuse this remedy, we are under God's wrath (John 3:18 says if we don't believe we are condemned already).

[downtoawhisper]

@mrsam1324

....And please be careful reading other books....The most important book to read is the Bible. You must study it first and match everything else up with it. If it doesn't match up with Scripture, toss it...it's no good. The books that you are reading sound like they do not match up with Scripture. Psalms 7:11 says, "God is angry with the wicked every day." Please study the Bible more in depth, and then you can read other books...but ALWAYS compare them with Scripture.

[SeekYeFirst1]

@mrsam1324 I do agree that we need to present the word with gentleness. "Bullhorn guy" can have a harsh and self-righteous spirit, which is not pleasing to God. On the other hand, we need to proclaim the truth with boldness and passion, warning people about the coming judgment. Remember there are two ways of witnessing as in Jude 22-23: "And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

[unclaimed430days]

you do not understand what rob bell is saying? please pray for wisdom.

[deliriousgeek]

Nice straw-man argument, Rob Ding-Dong.

[sinimabeats]

A.W. Tozer was saved by a mere sentence uttered by a street preacher and he's written more than 40 books, 2 of which are Christian Classics; only God knows how much fruit that man bore that night.

[TheTrueTopHatter]

@baptist1611

I don't think that you understand. There is quite a difference between warning people of what lays ahead and bombarding someone with claims that they are going to hell and intimidating them. That's what the bullhorn guy is doing. Instead of trying to explain god's love to people, he tells people that they are bad and sinful. Who is really going to listen to the guy telling them that they're bad people? I don't think that you'll find many people who would.

[baptist1611]

You'll be able to recognise the bullhorn guy on judgment day by all the crowns he has.

You'll be able to recognise rob bell by the screams as he gets thrown into the fire with the words from Christ, "I never knew you!"

[gilbert4321]

@baptist1611 Yelling in peoples face telling them their going to hell doesn't show God's love to people.

[baptist1611]

@gilbert4321

If you saw a blind man about to unwittingly walk off a cliff, would you not YELL at him, warning him of what lay ahead? I guess that wouldn't be very LOVING.

If your idea of LOVE is to refuse to warn people of the wrath to come while they tumble off the cliff into eternal judgment, you can keep it, because it is nothing like the love of God.

[droptozro]

@gilbert4321

You would hate the OT prophets and Jesus and the apostles too. Read Acts, and read all the times the prophets were proclaiming in the city streets of Israel and jailed, beaten, and eventually killed... God loved Israel so much He sent prophets to warn them of the coming judgment if they didn't repent... just like all Christians should do today. If you don't warn people, you don't love people. You're like a doctor who won't tell sick people the cure, nor that they're sick.

[gilbert4321]

@droptozro what did i originally say? its been deleted i'm confused lol. I was one of those people who thought i was Christian in the past but my faith was blind and not real and i never read the bible at all so what i said was probably very wrong. My eyes have been opened since

[droptozro]

@gilbert4321

Praise God! If only every person claiming to know Christ would actually PICK UP the Bible and see what Jesus had to say, to apply it to their lives! Praise God you had your eyes opened! I was the same way, following this Seeker-Sensitive trash creating false converts--then after a year of calling myself a Christian I finally picked up the Scriptures to read them on my own and realized the man made religious entertainment is false--and Jesus is true--I had been a liar. God Bless

[kimintacoma]

I used to have this video and loaned it out, and never got it back. So I consider that a seed for someone. I will buy it again. It amazes me that there are people whos entire ministry is built around tearing down the ministry of others. I love R.B I don't take everything he says as gospel, but I love his perspective his thoughts and I can appreciate his delivery. "God has already spoken, the rest is just commentary" R. Bell

[StretchArmSteve]

The Bible does say in the book of John, chapter 13 verse 35, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another."

[jrpj1983]

Christ didn't say that our manifestation of love needs to "appear very loving".

[fluffyheadbubbaboy]

i love this video. seriously get the video and watch it. its good