Sounds like us, Mr Bell

I was just listening to a talk by Rob Bell* (how holy for a Saturday night?) on the Mars Hill podcast and this section jumped out at me. I instantly nabbed the Mac from a bemused Andy (who was only trying to find a new house for us) to tap it out for you to read.

This could certainly be written about me: how about you?

"For parents, sometimes you'll hear the story: "I'm so concerned about my child, they've gone off on a search; they've left the church; they've gone off and they're reading this speaker or this one," and there's a tear in the parents' eyes. "We raised them, they went to church, they went to Sunday School, they heard all the stories: what's happened?"

I would argue that what happens naturally, developmentally, when you've grown up around a particular faith tradition, is that you've grown up knowing, which is different from knowing.

And so oftentimes, what the search is and what looks like a departure, may actually be the most healthy thing imaginable, because this kid - this adult - may have come to a point of realising that, "I know, but I don't know; and it's not enough for me to just know about, I want to know."

And so sometimes what happens is that the Christian community freaks: "They're reading this, they're exploring this, they're talking about this!" When the Christian tradition should celebrate that this person is not satisfied just to 'know about', they want the full epigonosis** enchillada!

And at the very moment when as Christians, we should celebrate someone who says, "I actually want to know what it is that I believe and I want to live it. And I want to sift and sort and I want to know what's out there, because I want to have an authentic understanding of my own journey and what it means to believe and live in the world." At that moment, the church should be cheering the way because there's no fear.

Instead the church freaks, shuts down and reinforces all of the closed, narrow-minded stereotypes this person has in the first place. Because perhaps what's happening - perhaps - this person has realised that I don't just want to know, I want to know. And we should celebrate that impluse wherever we find it."

* Main speaker at Greenbelt this year - yay!

** Greek term meaning something along the lines of 'super-knowledge' (makes more sense in the context of the rest of the sermon)