Rob Bell -Mars Hill, Grand Rapids, MI -Homosexuality is with GOD

Here are some bulleted excerpts from Witherington's blog about Bell's answers:

First of all, Rob made the blanket statement that you have no moral authority to speak on this issue unless you have gay friends and understand their struggle.

Secondly, Rob then makes an argument from silence which is in fact misleading. The argument is this -- "Jesus never said anything about homosexuality".

Rob then raises the issue of hypocrisy.... that all sexual sin should be taken equally ...

Rob then raises the point that the Bible says nothing about sexual orientation.

Dr. Witherington's dissection of Bell's views on homosexuality is too long to copy here but worth reading.

He ends with these words of advice speaking on matters as confusing as sexual identity in today's culture:

It is thus wiser to err on the side of caution when talking about such volatile and controversial issues, especially if you are unsure what God actually says about a subject.

Sex God.....Incredible Concepts....Simple Yet Complex

If you were to go through your garage or storage shelves or sock drawer, Iguarantee we could find the strangest things. I have a trophy from when I was fourteen. The little manon the top fell off sometime in the '90's, the lettering that says what it's for has faded, and the years have revealed that, shockingly, that isn't real marble. But I've kept it. I haven't thrown it away because it's more than a trophy to me. That trophy is the first time I actually won something on my own. It represents a certain period of my life and the struggles of being fourteen and finding my identity and wondering if i'd ever be good at anything.

It's a trophi but it's more than a trophy.

Jewelry, pictures, sculptures made by children, antiques that have been in the family for years, art projects, souveniers, velvet paintings - we hold on to them because they point beyond themselves. If w were to ask you about a certain picture and why you have it displayed in such a prominent place in your home or office or why you carry it in your purse or wallet everywhere you go, you'd probably respond by talking about the people in the picture, where it was taken, when it was taken. But that would only be the start. The relationships and the place and that time are all about something else, thomething more. If kept exploring, you'd probably end up using words like trust and love and belonging and commitment and celebration.

So it's a picture , but it's more than a picture.

This physical thing - this picture, trophy, artifact, gift - is actually about that relationship, that truth, that reality, the at moment in time.

This is actually about that.

Whether it's what we do with our energies

or how we feel about our bodies

or wanting to have the control in our relationships

or trying to recover from heartbreak

or dealing with our ferocious appetites

or the difficulty of communicating clearly with those we love

or longing for something or someone better,

much of life is in some way connected with our sexuality.

And where we begin to sort through all of the issues surrounding our sexuality, we quickly end up in the spiritual,

because this

is always about that!

1. Bell, Rob. Sex God. 2007, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.