A Fresh Perspective

On Friday, June 19, Dylann Roof, charged with nine counts of murder in the shooting deaths that occurred at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, appeared before a bond hearing court. Family members and friends were permitted to speak to the suspect. Roof could hear them, but he couldn’t see them. Anger was clearly expressed, but in redemptive, not destructive ways. Felicia Sanders, mother of Tywanza Sanders said, We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautiful people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts … and I’ll never be the same. Tywanza was my son … my hero … may God have mercy on you. Bethane Middleton-Brown, representing the family of the Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor acknowledged her hurt and anger but then said, We have no room for hate. We have to forgive. I pray God for your soul. Alana Simmons, granddaughter of Daniel Simmons said, Although my gran...

Nearly every weekend for six years, church groups have passed out free biscuits and coffee to the homeless at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh , led by an organization called, “Love Wins.” On Saturday, August 24, when the volunteers showed up to pass out the biscuits and coffee, police officers met them on the side walk and threatened to arrest them if they passed out the food. They cited a city ordinance that banned food distribution in the park. Because of that ordinance, the Love Wins volunteers had always set up on the sidewalk along the edge of the park. Soup kitchens do not operate in the county or city on the weekends, and so the Love Wins breakfast is one of the only ways the homeless can have a free, warm breakfast on the weekends. More than 70 people had already lined up for the free breakfast when the police issued the threat. Jerry Jones, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, has noted that some cities are trying to cut off homeless ...

Luke 12:1-12; 1 Corinthians 15:19-28 On the first day of the week, at early dawn, (the very timing of it has theological significance), the women arrive at the tomb bringing spices to anoint the body of Jesus. They come looking for the body of Jesus, but they do not find the body of Jesus. The stone that sealed the tomb is rolled away and the body is absent. Their first reaction is bewilderment. They stand there “perplexed” Luke says. Just then, while they are standing there perplexed, not knowing what to do, what to say, where to go, two men in dazzling clothes appear beside them, and ask them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Fred Craddock tells about the time he was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta , Martin Luther King, Jr.’s. Pastor Joe Roberts had invited him. The time had come in the service for Fred to preach. He walked up to the pulpit, opened his Bible, and was about ready to read his text. But before he could get started, the Past...

In a recent interview by Kim Lawton of PBS Religion and Ethics , author and columnist Lisa Miller, Pastor Rob Bell, author of Love Wins , and Mary Vanden Berg, Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, raise some important issues about where Rob Bell stands in relation to evangelical Christianity. Miller notes that what upset people most about Rob Bell was that he calls himself a conservative evangelical Christian. If he called himself an Episcopalian, she observes, nobody would have batted an eye. Miller, of course, is right. This is what sent Bell’s book, Love Wins , ringing throughout the land (pun intended). As Miller comments, Bell’s position on heaven, hell, and the possible salvation of every person, “is a radical upheaval of that entire worldview.” This is why popular conservative pastor, John Piper, tweeted, “So long Bell,” when he first heard of Bell’s position (even before he read the book). He was talking about Bell’s departure from t...

In chapter 5, "Dying" to Live," Bell writes about the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is important in any serious discussion and exposition of the good news to expound the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ. The first disciples very early in the development of the Jesus movement interpreted the death and resurrection of Jesus in a redemptive way. Even though the powers that be crucified Jesus, the early disciples believed that God was at work in and through the cross, using it as a means of redemption. But the crucial question: In what sense is Jesus’ death redemptive? How does Jesus’ death have saving efficacy? How does it work? I was disappointed that Bell did not offer an explanation. Bell rightly acknowledges that there are different metaphors and images employed in the New Testament to speak of Christ’s death. Bells writes: “Is the cross about the end of the sacrificial system or a broken relationship that’s been reconciled or a guilty defend...

Bell begins his discussion by noting that there is no “hell” in the Old Testament. There is a sheol —“a dark, mysterious, murky place people go when they die” (p. 65)—but nothing equivalent to hell. Beliefs about the afterlife in Hebrew culture were not “very articulated or defined” (p. 67). Bell notes that the word translated “hell” in the New Testament is actually gehenna , referring originally to an actual valley on the west side of Jerusalem used as a garbage dumb; a place where the fire was burning constantly to consume the trash. Bell emphasizes the metaphorical use of this word in the sayings of Jesus. The “volatile mixture of images, pictures, and metaphors” that Jesus uses “describe the very real experiences and consequences of rejecting our God-given goodness and humanity” (p.73). I agree with Bell that Jesus employed the term in hyperbole and symbol. What Bell does not tell the reader, however, is that one metaphorical meaning of “hell” during the time of Jesus was tha...