Two Web Events May be of Interest to Adventist Today Readers
by Adventist Today News Team
Meetings, lectures and discussions that once were available only if you spent time and money on travel or had access to expensive and complicated satellite networks are increasingly being made available to anyone who has a computer that can connect with the Web. Two such occasions are scheduled in the next week which may be of interested to Adventist Today readers because of previous coverage related to the issues being discussed.
Rob Bell, the Evangelical megachurch pastor who caused a stir last year when he took the Adventist position on hell and the state of the dead, will be launching his latest book. In an unrelated event an Adventist layman will present a new concept for strengthening and preserving Christian education, and there will be opportunity for you to ask questions and interact with the speaker.
Pastor Bell will speak on Tuesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. Eastern time from New York City. His new book from Harper is entitled What We Talk About When We Talk About God. This book is likely to be as controversial as the previous book. The publisher’s news release says, “He shows how traditional ideas have grown stale and dysfunctional and how to return vitality and vibrancy to lives of faith today. Using his characteristic evocative storytelling to challenge everything we think we know about God, Bell tackles misconceptions about God, showing how God is not being left behind but is actually ahead of us, pulling us all forward into lives of greater fullness and vitality. God is both with us and for us, and these truths can change the entire course of our lives.”
You will be able to see and hear the live event here: www.robbelllive.com
And you can see a brief, introductory promotion video here: https://youtu.be/rG1CDec4qkg
Webinar on Adventist Schools
The Adventist education system is facing new and challenging conditions that threaten real schools in real cities and towns. Dennis Nooner will present an innovative, and bold, short-term strategy to “stem the flow of blood and save the life” of individual schools that are in trouble until more long-term and permanent methods can be implemented. Nooner proposes forming local units/teams of successful and committed individuals who can accurately diagnose problems and quickly, flexibly, and decisively apply corrective strategies expressly customized for specific local schools. In his presentation he will outline how to put together these teams as well as include examples of changes in Christian and private schools where this approach has worked.
Nooner is an entrepreneur, general manager of Homeplace LLC and Mosaic Healthcare Technologies. He has a degree in healthcare management from Southern Adventist University and has been active in a variety of educational activities including alumni leadership positions at Ozark Academy and the chair of the strategic growth committee of the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 13, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
To participate, you must pre-register at: https://crae.webex.com/crae/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=665470759
Click "Register" and on the registration form, enter your information and then click "Submit." Once your registration is complete, you will receive a confirmation email message from the Center for Research on Adventist Education, CRAE(messenger@webex.com) with a link to join the event.
Important Notice: This WebEx service includes a feature that allows audio and any documents and other materials exchanged or viewed during the session to be recorded. By joining this session, you automatically consent to such recordings. If you do not consent to the recording, discuss your concerns with the meeting host prior to the start of the recording or do not join the session. Please note that any such recordings may be subject to discovery in the event of litigation.
I haven't read Rob Bell's book, 'Love Wins' but I believe that his stance is a universalist position and not a conditionalist one. Also I have not heard that he embraces the SDA view of the state of the dead. Could you give sources to support this information?
I have read Bell's book as a welcome cool glass of water. Whether he has a stated position on the dead (what difference does it make?) but many Bible texts supporting his position that eventually everyone will be saved. Certainly more comforting than the SDA position (which has also changed through the years).
Some excerpts:
"Jesus died for the sins of the world, saying "God forgive them for they know not what they do."
"Millions have been taught they if they don't believe, if they don't accept in the right way, and they were hit by a car and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them in that moment of death…..If there was an earthly father who ws like that, we would call the authorities…..Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die?…..Many people, especially Christians don't love God. They can't, because the God they've been presented with and taught about can't be loved. That God is terrifying.
"If something is wrong with your God. If your God will punish people for all of eternity for sins committed in a few short years, no amount of clever marketing or compelling language or good music will be able to disguise that one, true, glaring, untenable, unacceptable, awful reality.
"Hell is refusing to trust, and refusing to trust is often rooted in a distorted view of God. There is a sense that the God lurking behind Jesus isn't safe, loving or good. It doesn't make sense, it can't be teconciled, and so they say no."
In 2 Cor. 5: "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them."
2 Tim. 1: "God….has aved us….not becfause of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace."
Rom. 5: "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
Titus 3: "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous thing we had done, but because of his mercy."