Jesus Wants to Save Christians 1.3- Babylon

In my last post, I went over the philosophy of the new Exodus. Prior to that, we looked at Solomon, and the reason that Bell claims he and the nation is punished through exile:

BABYLON
Because of their sin, the Jewish people were attacked by foreign empires and were taken as exiles to Babylon. In Babylon, they were again oppressed by a foreign empire. While they were exiled in Babylon, the Jewish people started to imagine, “What would it be like if we could be given all our wealth and influence back? What if we actually used our priviledge to bless others as God intended? What if we could get it right?” They repented of their sin, and soon afterward they were given the chance to return to Israel. They returned to Israel and immediately went to work rebuilding the temple; however, they were still under the rule of foreign empires. During this time, their hopes began to center around a messiah who would lead a New Exodus, re-establishing their kindgom.

HT Mars Hill Narrative Theology

My friends, I understand Rob Bell is not trying here to place the whole of the history of Israel into a little 218 page book. But his history, philosophy, and hermeneutic is exposed as he jumps from Solomon’s reign to the exile in Babylon (about 450 years of Kings). As a bit of a history buff, I was put off by this oversight. As a theology buff, I knew there was much more involved than the misuse of Solomon’s wealth:

Solomon’s reign 971–931
Divided Monarchy to Exile (931–586)
Kingdom divided 931
Syro-Ephraimite war 740–732
Pekah (Israel) and Rezin (Samaria) pressure Jotham and Ahaz (Judah) to join their opposition to Tiglath-pileser III (Assyria)
Fall of Samaria (Israel) 722
Shalmaneser V (727–722) and Sargon II (722–705) of Assyria
Josiah’s reforms 628
Battle of Carchemish 605
Daniel and three friends exiled to Babylon
Jerusalem attacked 597
Nebuchadnezzar II takes exiles to Babylon including Jehoiachin and Ezekiel
Fall of Jerusalem (Judah) 586
Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon

I do not have the opportunity of writing the whole of Israel’s history here either, but Rob Bell and Dan Golden seriously underplay the role of sin; first modeled by the leadership of Israel and Judah, then imitated by the people. This oversight makes me think that they have an agenda focussed on the social gospel. But this oversight (amazingly to me) also discounts God’s amazing grace and mercy, which seems to be something Bell and Golden like to emphasize! God should have immediately judged Israel (and later Judah) for the multiple sins of the kings and the people. The sin was a direct breaking of the moral law of God, found in the Ten Commandments. We read of a laundry list of kings, often one worse then the next (though, there were some like Josiah who tried to reform). These included all of the commands of God, for there was:

lack of worship of God alone (multiple gods)

worship of foreign idols (including money, power)

blasphemy of the name of God (not giving his name or presence due honor)

not honoring the Sabbath or keeping it holy

not honoring Father and Mother (seen by the Kings as they depart from the Davidic example)

and all the others- these kings were thieves, murderers, adulterers, covetous, and liars continuously- It was only by God’s grace and mercy that they were allowed to live and to rule for as long as they did.

And many will say that I am being nitpicky, but throughout the transition and until the end of the chapter the focus is again on war, building up of the military to protect wealth, wealth that is not being fairly re-distributed in Rob Bell’s view.

There’s a word for this, a word for what happens when you still have the power and the wealth and the influence, and yet in some profound way, you’ve blown it because you have forgotten why you were given it in the first place…the word is exile …

exile is when you forget your story

exile isn’t just about location;exile is about the state of your soul

exile is when you fail to convert your blessings into blessings for others

exile is when you find yourself a stranger to the purposes of God.

(44-45)

I get the word picture here, I am not obtuse. This is true, spiritual exile can be described as being a stranger to the will of God, the state of your soul, forgetting your ’story’. But the emphasis is all about misuse of wealth for the protection of wealth:

…God sees their military bases, chariots, and warhorses for what they are; unacceptable costs of empire (46)

And the very title of the book warns us; for the subtitle is a manifesto for the church in exile. It could be well retitled A Manifesto for Christian Socialism and Syncretism. Live at peace by redistribution of wealth, then there will be no need for the weapons of war to protect wealth.

The point of the exile is lost; for exile is all about discipline, for who the Lord loves He disciplines. Ultimately, this surprises me as well, for God not only disciplines those He loves, but it is for their benefit to make them look more like God!

Rob Bell also says that God suffers as a result of people not responding to Him. There is no scriptural reference here, only a quote from a Rabbi. That this discipline, this exile, makes God suffer. Actually, I would argue that God makes his people whole through discipline-more like Him if you will. I have already stated that becoming more human is not the goal of God, either through the law or the prophets or the coming of Christ. The goal, as Romans chapter 8 states, is that we would be made into the image of Christ. I hope that is what I will read in this text in the coming weeks!

**God answers prayer! I just met a Zondervan Rep in this little coffee shop in the middle of podunksville USA. He saw my book, and asked what I thought of it. I told him what I was doing, and my thoughts on Rob Bell, also how I prayed as I wrote before and after for Rob Bell that God would teach him, and me. He noted how Rob Bell wept as he was accused of not believing the Bible as the result of some of his interviews. I continue to pray for Rob Bell, that God will be faithful to teach Him and guide Him in all truth. I selfishly pray this for myself and all 3 of my readers also..