Rob Bell - Everything is Spiritual 2015 Tour, Podcasts, & Films

Over the years I have been writing here at Relevancy22 how we might reach out to both believers and non-believers alike who have been turned off by the church. Recently, Jeff Cook's new book on the non-churched "nones" and the formerly church-involved "dones" was published describing what it means to be "none" or "done" in the world of church refugees. In a word, we have a spiritual responsibility to both the "nones" and the "dones" to think how we, as the church, might reach out in missional witness or pastoral care to a turned off, skeptical crowd composed of both disbelieving skeptics and jaded Christian believers.

And this is what Rob Bell does best as he lifts up Jesus to the masses and not to the "somes" who espouse church dogmas over God's outreaching love having nothing to learn from discussions like these except to feel irritated and upset as if someone had raided the kitchen refrigerator and left nothing to eat. (Don't believe it? Just listen to contemporary media reports, the preachers on the airwaves speaking up against Rob's tour, or even postings on Facebook.)

Unfortunately we get too caught up about perceptions and labels when we should be concentrating on minding the open message of Jesus to the "nones and dones" of his generation against the "somes" of the temple refusing not only Jesus' destestable message but even Jesus Himself eventuating in His unjust judgment by the councils of man and incongruous death by crucifixion as God's unblemished Lamb.

And yet, unfortunately, this categorical description of the church's "gate keepers," however sincerely believed and followed by its congregants, is how many outside of today's churches perceive Christian assemblies - not as welcoming and embracing fellowships but as an insiders club requiring qualifying mindsets and approving actions.

However there are movements afoot working to break down this public perception by learning to discern and place good biblical doctrine outside of bad church dogmatics. "What's the difference," you ask? Dogma always leads out with legalistic judgment coupled with personal bias whereas doctrine leads out with loving judgment against personal bias. There is a difference. One is a closed system, the other open. One has a closed bible, the other has an open one. One sees self, the other sees Jesus.

So then, when we talk of everything being spiritual... it is. Not some things are spiritual. Nor those things I select because of my religious preferences. Or because of my religious feelings or beliefs. But all things are spiritual. Everything. To know that we are a part of a larger fellowship. A fellowship that spans the entire cosmos of the universe as well as our own very human assemblies here on this earth.

We are not alone. We are together as a brotherhood. And that brotherhood starts with those next to us who need to see God through Jesus and not through our closed-minded church beliefs however desperately we wish to cling to them as unnecessary anchors to the gospel of Christ.

Peace,

R.E. Slater

June 15, 2015

For more information go to Rob's website -

http://robbell.com/portfolio/tour/

Everything is Spiritual Tour 2015 [1.27 min]

Everything is Spiritual [78 min]

With new discoveries right and left, more and more people are asking bigger and bigger questions about just what kind of world we’re living in and what that means for our hearts, our souls, and our spirits.

On the Everything Is Spiritual tour, Rob Bell does what he does best, making surprising connections between the universe you’re living in and the life you’re living, showing us how science and spirituality are long lost dance partners.

Wherever you’re coming from and whatever you’re wrestling with, let the Everything Is Spiritual tour experience inspire, provoke, challenge, and give you hope as we together explore and enjoy this beautiful, mysterious, and endlessly fascinating world we call home.


Everything is Spiritual 2015 Tour Schedule

6/24 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent TICKETS

6/25 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent TICKETS

7/6 San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park TICKETS

7/7 Phoenix, AZ – Orpheum Theatre TICKETS

7/9 Tulsa, OK – Brady Theatre TICKETS

7/10 Austin, TX – Paramount Theatre TICKETS

7/11 Dallas, TX – Majestic Theatre TICKETS

7/12 Houston, TX – Cullen Performance Hall TICKETS

7/14 New Orleans, LA – Civic Theatre TICKETS

7/15 Nashville, TN – Rocketown TICKETS

7/16 Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle TICKETS

7/17 Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore at Miami Beach TICKETS

7/18 Jacksonville, FL – Terry Theatre at Times-Union TICKETS

7/20 Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre TICKETS

7/21 Richmond, VA – The National TICKETS

7/22 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring TICKETS

7/24 New York, NY – Town Hall TICKETS

7/25 Boston, MA – House of Blues TICKETS

7/27 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory TICKETS

7/28 Cleveland, OH – Masonic Auditorium TICKETS

7/29 Grand Rapids, MI – Intersection TICKETS

7/30 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre TICKETS

7/31 Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre TICKETS

8/1 St. Louis, MO – Pageant TICKETS

8/2 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall TICKETS

8/4 Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre TICKETS

8/5 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex TICKETS

8/6 Boise, ID – The Egyptian Theatre TICKETS

8/7 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory – Spokane TICKETS

8/9 Reno, NV – Knitting Factory – Reno TICKETS

8/10 San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom TICKETS

The RobCast

The RobCast is a weekly podcast hosted by Rob Bell.

Subscribe to the RobCast through iTunes.

You can also listen to the RobCast at Podbean.

The RobCast RSS feed: http://robbell.podbean.com/feed/

Past Episodes

Episode 23 | The Cellular Exodus

Episode 22 | Light Heavy Light

Episode 21 | Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert

Episode 20 | The QUADRATOS Interview with Alexander Shaia

Episode 19 | The Zimzum Is Strong With These Two – The Wretched Desert Interview

Episode 18 | It Comes In Waves

Episode 17 | What To Do With The Waste

Episode 16 | 19 Letters!

Episode 15 | The Minimalists

Episode 14 | You Are Always With Me And Everything I Have Is Yours

Episode 13 | Zimzum with Kristen Bell

Episode 12 | The Morning After The Morning After

Episode 11 | Truth and Triglycerides

Episode 10 | Making Room for the Immensities

Episode 9 | The Good Gift

Episode 8 | The Enduring Relevance, Astonishing Power, and Unexpected Brilliance of the Bible

Episode 7 | Changing the Tapes

Episode 6 | Listener Questions

Episode 5 | Atoms and Interiors

Episode 4 | Zimzum with Kristen Bell

Episode 3 | Receipts

Episode 2 | The River, The Mountain, And You

Episode 1 | One Thing

Films by Rob Bell

Short Films

Rediscovering Wonder

The Cross

Resurrection

Tour Films

Drops Like Stars

The Gods Aren’t Angry

Everything is Spiritual (2006)

Poets/Prophets/Preachers Film Series

NOOMA Film Series

Jeff Cook - How Unlike the Eucharist, Parts 1 & 2

The Celebration of the Christ of the Eucharist

Less for Tech (by Jeff Cook)

Dec 10, 2014 @ 0:05 by Scot McKnight 11 Comments

Jeff Cook lectures on philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado and he is the author of Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes(Zondervan 2008) and Everything New (Subversive 2012). He helps pastors Atlas Church in Greeley, Colorado. You can connect with him atwww.everythingnew.org and @jeffvcook

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Spend Less on Tech, More on Wine (by Jeff Cook)

A wedding at taco bell is clever but lacks some of the holy.

I was baptized in a hot tub. I’m still bummed I didn’t wait for a more celebratory time and space.

I am aware there isn’t a secular/sacred divide (“for the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”). But as churches across our country spend countless dollars hiring speakers, purchasing the best tech, paying for upgrades to the building and new carpet for the floor–Don’t you think it’s time to move past cheap crackers and plastic thimbles in order to enjoy and receive the body of Christ broken for you?

Intimacy with your spouse ought to be elevated.

“Quality time” with your children deserves first consideration—so too, the sacramental: the physical events, times and symbols God tells us uniquely unveil his nature, love and character.

The quality of the elements churches purchase and offer speak to us all of how highly we view the meal, especially when compared to other events in our gatherings.

It’s no secret that many of us tend to idolize the sermon, to idolize our tradition, idolize the music, idolize the community itself. We have a tendency to idolize our buildings and our programming. If you are a church worker like me responsible for creating a weekly gathering, you will be tempted to spend vastly more time thinking on such things, than on how your community enjoys the Lord’s Supper, how it will be experienced, unpacked and enjoyed.

But “This is Christ’s body broken for you.” And for all your guests, family and enemies. And it should be elevated.

Those who love Jesus, may have come to hear a speaker or lift up their hands to music, but these are secondary, and need to be viewed as secondary by service creators. Is not the experience of Jesus, and that alone, worthy of your community gathering regularly? Are not all other centering events and experiences mere idols in comparison? Should we not embrace the perspective of the Baptist, who, when many came out to him, said: “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven … [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less”?

How can churches elevate communion in their gatherings? How can we transform large church auditoriums with theater seating to showcase the table? What are the most meaningful qualities to your communion experience?

* * * * * * * * * *

Lord’s Supper: Who is Unworthy? (Jeff Cook)

Dec 15, 2014 @ 4:56 by Scot McKnight 48 Comments

Who is Unworthy to Celebrate in Church? (by Jeff Cook)

I went to a large wedding a few years back in which the clergy invited only those who had jumped through the right hoops to come forward and receive the body and blood of Jesus. The leader then asked those of us who had not jumped through their hoops to “pray for the unity of all believers.” Of course, I sat there thinking, “The only thing keeping us disunified are your silly hoops.”

Unfortunately many choose to use the Lord’s Supper to display the in-crowd versus "everyone else". In such “celebrations” the power of the Lord’s Supper is actually inverted—showcasing the division of humanity and unveiling a God whose displays of affection and grace are conditional.

How unlike Jesus.

Christ didn’t give those who came to him a theological quiz before he fed them. Levi didn’t have his theology all lined out when he rose to eat with Jesus. The 5,000 were basically a mob. Some who received the first Lord’s Supper rejected the cross (Matthew 16.21-23)—and still Jesus invited them to the table and said: “This is my body broken for you.” In fact, the Gospel writers go out of their way to call Jesus’ dining companions “the sinners” (Mark 2.16, et al).

For some, communion was where clarity started.

In my previous post, I critiqued churches that have too low a view of Communion. In the next two posts I’d like to critique those who have elevated the Lord’s Supper so high It loses its primary function—the tangible display of God’s grace extend to all.

I would challenge those who reject an open table to answer the following: Where is the boundary marker clearly displayed in the Bible for who may eat the meal Jesus offers? And has God really made it our job to judge who can and cannot commune with the Church?

In a previous conversation, some immediately turned to 1 Corinthians to argue that exclusivity at the table is Biblically required, that if the table were open to everyone some would receive the Eucharist in “an unworthy manner” (1 Cor 11.27). Those arguing this position apparently believed they (or their church) had the authority to tell the rest of us who is unworthy (something lacking in 1 Corinthians 11) and which hoops the guests they exclude have failed to jump through (something also lacking in 1 Corinthians).

Ironically, the purpose of 1 Corinthians 11 is to rebuke those who have excluded others (namely the poor) when gathering for the Eucharist (11.17-22). In response Paul teaches how to receive the elements, not who has the qualifications for feasting. Paul said, “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (v. 28). And again, “If we learn how to judge ourselves, we will not incur judgment” (v.31).

Paul does not say, “Pastors and overseers, ensure that only [enter the description of worthy folks] come to the table.” No. The only person Paul says you have the authority to deem unworthy is yourself.

By making the table exclusive, some churches are ironically telling those they believe most need a transformative encounter with Jesus not to come forward and have a transformative encounter with Jesus. How unlike Christ.

Next time we will push into this and discuss how Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners was prototypical and sets the standard for our practice today.

Star War's Sense of Mission in the Bible: "May the Force Be With You"

 

The Star Wars Reboot and the Bible

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/08/15/jeff-cook-could-believing-in-god-harm-your-soul/

 

by Jeff Cook

Oct 14, 2013

Comments

 

Nerd out with me, and watch the video posted below. I resonated with these observations and found that all four apply well to why we love the Bible and how we should read it.

 

Rule #1: The setting is the frontier.

 

Star Wars doesn’t happen in the city. It doesn’t happen in parliament, or in the library. It happens out here away from civilization amidst smugglers and bounty hunters. Star Wars is a western and it’s set in the frontier.

 

So too, the Bible is written in times of hardship–not at a seminary, monastery or a common church building.

 

Most of the Bible was edited and composed by those in distress after the symbol of their faith–the Temple–had been torn apart (either in 587 BC for the Old Testament or 70 AD for the New). The writers picture both the desolation as well as a whole new world arriving. The setting is the frontier and there is deep anticipation of God’s future.

 

Rule # 2: The future is old.

 

Star Wars beauty isn’t clean. It isn’t new. It’s dirty, gritty, a second hand world. The beauty of the frontier.

 

So too, We discover new and progressive truths in the ancient when we read the scriptures. The soul-moving beauties presented by God are often wrapped in disease, politics and blood. In order to love the Bible, I must get my mind covered in muck and my heart aware of God’s voice in the alleyways and truck stops.

 

The Bible is not clean! it is graphic literature that uses foul imagery to display the grand and abiding grace of God.

 

Rule 3: The Force is mysterious.

 

We don’t always need an explanation. The greatest power of the Force is it’s sense of magic. That comes from the unknown.

 

Christians–especially those who do work like I do–consistently fall victim to this trap (and yes “it’s a trap”).

 

The Author of reality doesn’t explain everything in neat little package (thankfully). One of the primary attributes of the real God is that He so often hides, speaking through donkeys and storms and flaming bushes in seemingly random, brief encounters. The God of the Bible allows tension and longing and hopes finally realized. This is true not only in the text but in the lives of the faithful today.

 

As such, we lose the real God when we make God’s work and priorities systematic and obvious–the result of mere deduction. The real God is like the wind, said Jesus, blowing where he wishes–sometimes cooling our brows, sometimes igniting small sparks into a wildfire.

 

If we make following Jesus about Jedi “midi-chlorian levels” we lose huge and no one will care.

 

Rule 4: Star Wars isn’t cute.

 

Walk into the wrong bar, lose your arm. Don’t pay your debts, end up in carbonite. The frontier is a dangerous place. It’s never cute or silly. It’s not child proofed. It’s freakin’ Star Wars – and Han always shoots first.

 

What world do you think we live in?!?

 

The common portrait of life on earth in the Bible is a spiritual war zone, overrun with villains, troubles and a soul-infecting disease unleashed on humanity that will crush everything we care for if God does not act.

 

Jesus’ charge–perhaps the words he said more than any others– was “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” In other words, we live in enemy occupied territory, a revolution is underway, and we are invited to flip the world right side up again through an ancient and decisive force: we are to embrace this force at every turn; we are to lean in to it because this force never fails.

 

Resurrecting, cruciform love is the power of the living God–the force that binds the galaxy together. Christ’s love has been unleashed into our world, and in the end everything will be transformed by its power and scope.

 

The Bible isn’t cute. Its a subversive manifesto in the midst of a dangerous world inviting us to throw off every chain of the present regime for the easy yoke offered by the world’s true heir.

 

 

Jeff Cook pastors Atlas Church in Greeley Colorado. He teaches philosophy at UNC and is the author of Everything New: One Philosopher’s Search for a God Worth Believing In. @jeffvcook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Atheism Wins Out Over Christianity's Argument for God: No Love. No Deeds. Just Altruistic Debate.

Re-Run: Jeff Cook and Desire and God
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/12/27/re-run-jeff-cook-and-desire-and-god/

by Scot McKnight
Dec 27, 2012
Comments

This post is by our friend Jeff Cook…

 

They Don’t Believe Because Your God Isn’t Desirable

 

I watched the recent debate between William Lane Craig, a Christian, and Sam Harris an Atheist. The debate (seen Here) was over the foundations of morality. The Christian addressed the philosophical question at hand with skill and insight. By the midway point the atheist struck me as seriously outmatched and overpowered.

 

Yet then things changed. Sam Harris began putting forth a set of arguments that had nothing to do with the topic at hand: the problem of religious diversity, the problem of pain, reflections on the character of God in the Bible. By the end I thought the Atheist won—not because he actually addressed the question at hand—on that front I thought he failed. But because I don’t recall anything the Christian said that made me want to believe in his God, yet I had a worthy list of things the Atheist said that made me think the Christian God distasteful.

Is the debate about what is rational or about desire? What do you think of Jeff Cook’s notion that desire needs to be addressed more in apologetics?

Such experiences are not uncommon. Despite solid, rational rebuttals from philosophers across the board, despite the fact that the “new atheist” clan seems hopelessly naïve about ethics and epistemology—their arguments continue to gain ground because they know something Christian apologist apparently don’t.

 

The debate about God in our culture is not about what’s rational.

 

Bill Maher, Christopher Hitchens, Penn Jillette, Richard Dawkins, etc, specialize—not in philosophical thought—but in ridicule. And that means the new atheists excel on the only evangelistically-effective playing field that matters—that of human emotion and desire. Most Christian apologists conversely seem content to surrender that ground in their preference for mere rationality. This is a tragic mistake and it’s the primary reason Christian belief is diminishing, marginalized and an easy target for nighttime comedians.

 

Blaise Pascal said, “Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true. The cure for this is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. Next make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is” (Pensees 12).

 

All too often (especially online) those of us who like arguing for Christian Theism jump to the end of Pascal’s list. We think we have wiz-bang arguments to offer. Unfortunately, we don’t have a worthy foundation for showcasing such arguments. We have not established that Christianity should be revered, nor that it is attractive, nor that it is worthy of affection. We prefer to pull out our five proofs for its “truth” and argue our misguided interlocutors into the Kingdom cold. This is a mistake, for most of our audience see such arguments as power plays, as manipulation, as simply another advertisement out there trying to entice them to buy something.

 

1 - Conversely, those arguing against Christian theism today have followed Pascal’s formula well. They begin by showing their audience that your God is blood-thirsty, arbitrary, and gains pleasure from the eternal conscious torment of large swaths of humanity to bring himself “glory”.

 

2 - Second, they have shown that Christian Theism is not attractive for it makes human beings into well-documented lunatics who start wars in the name of their god, who are irrational and condemnatory, and whose political preferences will destroy human freedom.

 

3 - And finally they put forth bland, non-curious, easily refutable arguments for the truth of Materialism (because unfortunately for them, those are the only kinds of arguments available for Materialism)—but by this point such arguments seem worthy and are easily swallowed.

 

Because, again, the debate about God today is not about what’s reasonable—it is almost entirely about preferences and desire.

 

One must want God to exist in order to become a follower of Jesus, and as such, it is time for a radical rethinking of apologetics that begins where nearly all of Jesus’ pitches for the Kingdom began—with human longing (consider, for example, the Beatitudes).

 

Let us begin with this preliminary set of questions:

 

Has desire been overlooked by apologists? Have the intellectual battles been won at the expense of enticing seekers toward the risen Christ? Where do you see Christians effectively showcasing the desirability of God?

 

 

Jeff Cook lectures on philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado. He is the author of Everything New: One Philosopher’s Search for a God Worth Believing in (Subversive 2012). You can see his work at www.everythingnew.org

 

 

 

What is Heaven? The Kingdom of God Come NOW to Earth...

Let's give Jeff Cook 3 "atta-boys" on his remarkable perception of tying in what we know about the Kingdom of God with that of our future expectation of God's renewal of all things to Himself. When writers, pastors and preachers come along and actually "get it" and then tell us how they "get it" it makes for easy work for those theologians amongst us that have time-and-again beat the pulpit (or lectern) patiently describing to students and practitioners of God's Word how, and in every way, Jesus has renewed all things on Earth here amongst us.

The Christian expectation is not to die and to run from this wicked world of sin and decay. But to fly into the arms of the Spirit and claim resurrection and renewal to this wicked world around us! To stay put and demand that God resurrect and make new their life spiritually... their family spiritually... their friendships spiritually... their hopes and dreams spiritually... their present ministries and avocations spiritually.... That in every way, and in every possible realization, that God be found within this world of ours using us, and in concerted effort with His people the Church, remaking this world into one filled with hope and love and peace and goodwill and reconciliation and heaven-sent destiny!

Consequently, AMEN my brother! Preach it! Live it! Tell it! Demand it! Use it! Want it! Declare it! Expect it! Shout it! Show it! Make it!! (Yes, I said make it!). For we, as Jesus born, Spirit indwelt, disciples of God are the tools of God by His Spirit that He will use to hammer and chisel, break down, and rebuild, smooth and transform, this wicked world of sin into the new creation that He envisions, wants, wills and demands. Be the tool. Be the sword. Be the plow and shield for the Kingdom of God, now! Be all that you can be in the Spirit of God until He comes and redeems this world from sin and death. Amen.

R.E. Slater

June 26, 2012

Reimagining Heaven

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/24307-reimagining-heaven

By Jeff Cook
February 3, 2011

If heaven is more than harps, and halos ... what is it?

Often when we think of heaven, what comes to mind is escape. According to Medieval art and modern cartoons, “heaven” is about leaving. Heaven is about getting as far away from what we and others have broken as possible. Perhaps we think this world is too base, painful and irreparably shattered to fix, so our only hope is to leave. As such, “salvation” isn’t about a new life, a transformed character or a brilliant new experience of God. Salvation is about departure. Salvation is about “going to heaven,” being rescued from this dysfunctional world and entering a new home that is trash bag-free.

There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to suffer anymore, or wanting to be with God (which are some of the things that come to my mind when thinking of heaven). But when Jesus taught about heaven, He never spoke of it as a distant land of clouds, bath robes and harp music waiting for the souls of the dead (which sounds a bit more like hell to me). Instead, Jesus spoke of “the kingdom of heaven.” It is arguably His favorite topic. Jesus refers to this kingdom more than 100 times—more than He speaks of love, peace and money combined. Apparently, the “kingdom” aspect of heaven was vital to Jesus and His teachings.

But notice—kingdoms are power structures. They are an area of authority. As such, when He spoke of heaven, Jesus was emphasizing heaven’s present power and work. When Jesus told stories that began with similes (such as, the kingdom of heaven is like a man sowing seed in a barren field), He was showing His culture what it looked like when heaven was in control. This was what Jesus wanted His followers to know about heaven. For Jesus, heaven was primarily about God’s will being done on earth. We don’t need to leave earth, because heaven is coming here. Because “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,” it makes sense that the Son’s highest concern would be repairing the world His Father loves—saturating it with the life of heaven (John 3:16, NIV).

Now and Not Yet

Jesus and the rest of the New Testament writers consistently speak in a way that suggests both that heaven—the sphere of God’s reign, presence and repairing power—is already here in a new way and that it is not yet fully here in another.

When the early Christians expressed their hope in God’s future, they pointed at the resurrection, but there was something else that was more tangible, specific and informative about God’s plans for each of them. They spoke of experiencing God’s Spirit within them and within one another. The Spirit that had once hovered over chaos and helped make the world, the Spirit they saw in Jesus—that same Spirit was now in them. It was tangible, and they felt it transforming them inside and making them more like Jesus.

Jesus believed the Spirit’s renewal—of both human beings and God’s world—had begun. The Spirit’s work is how new creation happens. Notice, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a tiny mustard seed sprouting and eventually growing into an enormous tree filling all the sky. He compared the kingdom of heaven to yeast that slowly worked into a large lump of dough. Both parables imply that the kingdom of heaven will not be instantaneous. Jesus thought heaven had just now begun to grow here, had just now begun to reclaim all the places that had been neglected.

As such, we should think of heaven and the age to come chasing us, meeting us, enlivening us and beginning to grow right here in our midst. It’s as though the renewal of all things has begun, and you and I are being transformed now into what we will always be.

The Sight of Heaven

If we are willing, we can choose to see heaven. We can see it in the lives of those around us who are transformed not by lucky flukes, but the Spirit of God. We can see it in the life and resurrection of Jesus, and in ourselves. We can choose to see places in our own story not as an accident, but as a real encounter with the God who is making everything new. It is a mistake to think of heaven as ever distant, inexperienced, always a step beyond our lives now. The Bible is filled with stories not of people being hurried out of here, but of God descending and drawing the world to Himself.

In the early days of creation, God descended into the Garden of Eden. During the exodus, God descended in a guiding pillar of cloud and fire. During the Jewish exile, God descended into a Babylonian fire to be with three would-be martyrs. In the Gospels, God descended in the incarnation of Jesus. At the origin of the Christian community, God descended like tongues of fire, which communicate to every nation a new reality. When Paul pictured the end of the age, he wrote again of God descending: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command … and the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The final chapters of the Bible end with a grand culmination where heaven and earth are fully wed and God makes His home with us here. What results when our lives are united to that reality—to the reign of God and the work of His Son—is new creation. As God Himself says to close the Bible:

“‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning

or crying or pain, for the old order of things [the present age] has passed away.’

He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

- Revelation 21:3-5

 

Do we choose to see our world this way? Do we choose to see heaven slowly engulfing everything and waiting for its full revelation in our midst? Our hope then is that we will continue to be transformed, that “he who began a good work in you [now] will carry it on to completion [then]” (Philippians 1:6). You and I have not yet arrived. We are not yet perfect. We are always in transit. Our lives are a work of tension—the tension between a work “begun” and a work “complete.” But for those who experience God’s Spirit, the future is clear. We are being made more and more like Jesus who has given us His Spirit.

 

As such, when we choose mercy over indifference, when we choose action over apathy, when we choose self-restraint and chastity over a life given over to our many reckless desires, we choose to live now in the kingdom of heaven. When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, house the homeless and die to ourselves for the sake of another, we enjoy the life of the age to come. When we hear the voice of God telling us we are loved, that our many sins are forgiven, we experience now what we will experience forever. When we eat together, laugh together, sing together, serve together, take communion, love our enemies and cancel debts, we choose to live the best kind of life—the life of God’s future connected to Him and to one another.

Of course, Jesus is central to all this. He is not simply the one announcing a new kingdom. He is the king—the Christ—and in the pantheon of potential deities, Jesus alone is doing the work of restoration. He alone has a history of making everything new. In Jesus alone do we get the sense that repair may actually become a reality. We see the defeat of evil in the events of Good Friday and Easter, for the cross and resurrection are the sign to all that there is a new king, for death could not overcome the life rising up in God’s Son.

Jeff Cook teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado, and is the author of Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes (Zondervan 2008) and the upcoming Everything New (2011). This article is excerpted from one that originally appeared in RELEVANT. To get more articles like this, you can subscribe by clicking here.

"Everything New," by Jeff Cook

Everything New by Jeff Cook

http://everythingnew.org/articles/

Everything New - One Philosopher's Search for a God Worth Believing In [Kindle Edition]

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2012

FROM THE PREFACE

A lot of good people, people I think heroic and virtuous, do not believe in my God. They are my friends, my students, my colleagues. One of the latter said he thought you had to be crazy, literally nuts, to believe in a God--which doesn't make my chances at tenure look very promising.

He may be right. I teach philosophy at a state university exploring the works of writers like Russell, Hume and Nietzsche. Such thinkers continue to give me all kinds of reasons to bail God-belief (in fact by now I can argue against God's existence better than anyone else I know), but I don't find such arguments satisfying.

Strong? Sure.

Emotionally compelling? Absolutely.

I gave up God-belief during my graduate studies when I realized the religious views I had defended since high school were insufficient. But recently that changed.

When I get serious about what is real and what the best possible life looks like, I choose to believe-- even after a church I worked for fell apart, even after my son was born with autism, despite the arguments and the long season in which I felt confident a God was not there. I now choose to believe not only in a God, but in a very specific God.

This is what that path has looked like.

Editorial Reviews

"Prepare to see God in new ways."

- SHANE HIPPS. Teaching Pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church, www.shanehipps.com

"Jeff Cook offers an honest voice in the midst of too many saying the same thing with subtle, monotonous, meaningless differences ... There's more in this little book than its length indicates. Digest this book."

- SCOT McKNIGHT. Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University.

"A creatively written and historically grounded portrait ... Everything New presents Jesus in beautiful and compelling ways."

- PRESTON SPRINKLE.
 New York Times Best Selling Author, www.prestonsprinkle.com 

About the Author

Jeff Cook teaches philosophy at the University of Northern Colorado. He pastors Atlas Church in Greeley, Colorado. He creates music-driven preaching events with Tim Coons. He posts incendiary thoughts at www.relevantmagazine.com. And he is overseeing a set of animation projects with the incomparable Shane White. You can see his work at: www.everythingnew.org

Product Details

Paperback: 218 pages

Publisher: Blue Door Publishing (June 15, 2012)