Nooma 003- Trees

So here we are in Part 2 of the reviewing of Rob Bell's Nooma Videos. In case you are interested, you can search them on YouTube and watch them there. That is how I am doing it. The parts in quotes below are statements Bell made during this video.

"God never ever forces himself on anybody". This is one of many Rob Bell borderline statements that could go different directions. My concern would be that if God doesn't force himself on me, I stay dead. Romans 3 describes humanity as people who don't see after God. If God doesn't force himself on a dead person, they don't become alive. The way Rob gets away with saying this is that the term 'force' seems inconsiderate in this context. But no matter which word you chose, we must understand that God must use some sort of force to wake us out of our deadly, unregenerate view of Him.

Bell also says, "It's as if God says it's your choice". Again, lets read the verse below and see what choice we would make if the ball was left in our court. Here is the passage from Romans 3:

"None is righteous, no, not one; 11no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good,
not even one." 13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips." 14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16in their paths are ruin and misery,17and the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Maybe the greatest truth of Adam and Eve is not that it happened, but that it happens". No Rob, the greatest truth is that it happened. Don't try to pass the creation story off as if it is an allegory about your existence. Statements like this is what characterize Bell to me. Safe enough that he can say, "Well I'm not saying it didn't happen...", but tricky enough that anybody can interpret it their own way, and get excited that their warped view of God is being validated by this popular "Bible Teacher". That is a main reason why he is dangerous.
From another part of the video, he makes a few statements about wanting a God like this... , but not wanting a God who would be like that...BUT I don't care what you want God to be like, God is who He is, and if you don't like it, that's your problem! He sounds like a whiny 7 year old that wants this and that, and isn't satisfied unless they get their own way. This may be a surprise to you Rob, but everything isn't about how you want it.
"His finger prints (referring to God) are all over our world. Or maybe it's his world and they're our finger prints" This is one of the strangest things I have heard in a while. I am still, no doubt, baffled by this statement as you are reading this now. OR maybe I'm reading this now, and you are baffled? Ah hah! Now I think I am getting this make people confused and call it theology stuff!
On the plus side, he does say that we are a blip on the radar screen off all eternity and that God always has existed and always will exist. I appreciate that.
I think this video might be the best microcosm of Rob Bell in my opinion. A hint of weirdness, some wacky theology, a few fluffy statements that you can interpret as you please, and some good thoughts.

Reviewing Nooma

SO my interest has been rekindled in Rob Bell recently, so I have decided to watch some of the Nooma videos and then review them on here.

I watched 002 tonight, which is the "flame" episode. It wasn't heretical, by any stretch of the imagination. His main point was that there are 3 different Hebrew words for the English word love. I won't remember the Hebrew, but they were basically friendship, committed "soul mates"/deep friendship, and the erotic love. And only when a marriage relationship has all three, does it really work.

I can respect that. But he probably spends a bunch of money on all the logs that he burns at the end, and it want that powerful of a point.

Testing

I found out that I can blog on my new Microsoft Word 2007 and it translates it to my blog. I am trying it out here.

Also, Noah is 3.5 weeks old now and things are becoming real. He will always be around. Looking back, I would say that it is near impossible to prepare for your first child. You just have to experience it. The joys of holding your own son, your own flesh and blood. The struggles of watching him cry and not knowing why. Your sinful nature inside you causes you to become frustrated, but you don't want to be (see Romans 7).

But all in all, it is such a privilege and a pleasure!

Noah...and sports!

So as you all now know, I am a dad now. Crazy.
Today i had a classic Jamie moment. I was sitting in front of the computer, with Noah on my lap, listening to the Manchester United-Arsenal game on the online radio, and there was about 5 mins left in the game when Noah started crying. What do I do now?!?! "noah, settle down now, daddy wants to hear the end of the game. There is only a few minutes left, buddy." Luckily for me, his soother was an arms reach away so i plunked it in his mouth and it worked like a charm. Phew!

On another sports/Noah related note, the leafs are now 2-0 on Hockey Night in Canada with Noah watching with his daddy!

Finally a post not about sports!

A couple weeks ago Vanessa wrote a post on her blog about being torn. Torn that is between being on campus full-time, and being at home full-time as a mom.
I am currently going through maybe a similar feeling, although i think the work "in limbo" would better describe it.
For me, besides a week off that I will take immediately after the baby is born, I will remain on campus full-time. Where the "in limbo" part comes in is that I don't know when I will take that week. It could be today, tomorrow, or 3 weeks from now. But at some point in the next little while, i will leave my full-time job to be at home to help with our child and be gone for a week. What makes it even harder is that a week and a half from now, we have our major outreach of the year, probably besides Frosh week, our craziest week. I don't know if i will be there for some, none, or all of it. It is hard to volunteer to do stuff when you cant be sure that you are going to be there. Also, my first year guys Bible study is just getting started, an engineering Bible study just started, amongst other things.
Now don't get me wrong. I will be thrilled once our son is born to take the week off. It is just now knowing when that is which is the hard part. To borrow a term from poker, it is hard to be "all in" on campus, knowing i will be pulling off at anytime.