CSI and the Gospel (pt. 2)

Here are some thoughts I wrote this morning pertaining to my blog entry last night. These last 2 posts have been a break from the norm for my blog, but it is helpful for me to be articulate my thoughts. Let me know what you think. Also, Rob Bell is a popular target today in Christian circles, but I didn't set out to target his preaching. I just happened to listen to one of his sermons the other day so this was fresh on my mind. Hence, the journal entry:

I was listening to a Rob Bell "sermon" a couple days ago and a few of His thoughts really bothered me. The following quote can be found from 22:37-26:46 on his "Grasping and Giving" sermon on Philippians 2 from Sept. 7, 2008.

Sometimes what people get into is they get into this, "God wanted Jesus to die." But what kind of God needs someone to die so they can love? See, sometimes it's like, "Oh, God willed Jesus to die (emphasis his)." But you have to realize, that's not what the poem is saying. The poem is saying that Jesus became obedient to death, even death on a cross. You realize what the poem is saying? The poem is saying that Jesus decided to do the right thing, and then to do the next right thing, and then to do the next right thing, and then to do the next right thing. God didn't necessarily will his death, God willed his obedience, and his obedience had consequences. And the main consequence was his death.

...his resurrection was God's way of saying, "This way is better." It, like, vindicated Him. And it inspires us to know…your act of power in killing Jesus actually empowered the whole Christian revolution…. only God could do that.

I have big problems with anybody who says God didn't will Christ to die. Isaiah 53:6 says, "...The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (NASB)." 53:10 says, "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him (ESV)." Romans 3:25 says, speaking of Jesus, "whom God put forward as propitiation by his blood...". Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all." There are other passages that come to mind, like the one in Revelation that speaks of Jesus being the Lamb that was slain from before the foundations of the earth.

I am not attempting to quote Bell out of context or twist his words, so in addition to the actually words he says, I sense that the whole tone of what he says in this part of the message takes away the awful, bloody, glory of the cross. He has simply turned the cross into a motivational act of obedience for us to follow. The cross and the resurrection simply "inspire us"? "God willed Christ's obedience" but not his death, Bell says? This message is not Biblical but tickles peoples ears. If Christ's death is simply an example for us, the message of the gospel is lost. There is no need for wrath. No need for propitiation. Christ didn't not die because God was angry at sin, but because he was showing us "how do to the right thing. And then the next right thing." as Bell says in his message. This turns the message of the cross into a message of morality. It sounds good but still leaves people going to hell.