Have you ever listened to Robb Bell's bullhorn response? Here's an interesting game if you're up for it - let's compare his response to Todd Friel's response. By watching these two videos you can get a good understanding between their views on evangelism, the emergent (postmodern-influenced) Christian vs a Christian who takes the Bible as the literal, absolute truth of God. Bell holds that God is love and you'll get there when it works out but don't sweat it (Jesus is a big love teddy bear) and Way of the Master teaches that your next breath is not guaranteed so don't delay in seeking out Jesus. Interesting.
Robb Bell's Bullhorn response:
Todd Friel of Way of the Master radio's response.
Bullwhip guy: (from PerishNot Ministries) Using film footage of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple (Mark 11:15-17) as a fake Robb Bell gives his view that event.
Many churches are moving towards Bell's style of preaching. What is your church preaching? Are they ignoring difficult sections of the Bible and never mention sin or hell? If so, are you being fed?
When I came to Christ, I realized fairly quickly that many, many of my friends and family weren't saved and therefore going to hell. In 2002 I started attending a church that really wasn't into evangelism other than inviting friends to church or doing nice things for people. And what I am about to say may be a little controversial but from my experience as a believer (although not a long, long time believer but I've spent many hours watching for this), that the casual encounters with unbelievers unless really touched by God will not bring people to Christ through being nice. And if an emergent is honest, they build everything on being nice to people and doing things for people rather than sharing the gospel with people or telling them what the Bible says on different subjects. In my experience I have not seen anyone come to Christ just because I was nice to them at the grocery store (ie a random encounter with a person you meet once or twice). They don't ask what I have that was different from everyone else. Now I do believe that people you work with or see often can see the love of Christ in you in a way that can point them to Christ.
Now I want to point out that Way of Master does not endorse people who are meanspirited when preaching the gospel. That's not in love. (1 Corinthians 13:2) But to have the attitude that it's a bad thing and doing more harm than good to share the gospel to someone you meet on the street is so against what Jesus and his disciples did it's almost laughable to contend that in our modern times sharing the gospel with a stranger doesn't work anymore. What was one of the first things Jesus ever preached? In Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
I would love to challenge the emergent Christian who is reading this and not really liking what he's reading to ask him or herself are you more influenced by the Bible or by a humanistic belief that you can make the world better? And if you disagree this might be a problem, I challenge you again to dig into your Bible and ask God to reveal what he wants of your life instead of letting the Bell's and McLaren's of the world do your interpretation for you. Several years ago I know that I had to do this when I stopped reading many of the popular Christian books because I had to admit I was reading them more than the Bible!
Remember: 1 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"
