CHRISTIANS: JUST SAY NO TO RABBI RAY, "WALKING IN THE DUST" WITH ROB BELL
YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEARN ANCIENT JEWISH CULTURE TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE
"THE MISSION OF JESUS"
BY RAY VANDER LAAN REVIEWED
Description:
Triumph of God's Kingdom in a Broken World
In this new That The World May Know video Bible study, author and Bible teacher, Ray Vander Laan takes you on a journey in Israel to explore what it means to be a kingdom of priests in a prodigal world by discovering the mission that God gave his people many centuries ago and how that impacts us today.In each lesson, Vander Laan illuminates the historical, geographical, and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures. Filmed on location in Israel, the That the World May Know DVD series will transform your understanding of God and challenge you to be a true follower of Jesus.
______________________________________________________________________
The Mission of Jesus Small Group Bible Study
by Ray Vander Laan - Trailer
The Mission of Jesus Small Group Bible Study by Ray Vander Laan
_____________________________________________________________
ROB BELL AND HIS ECHOES OF RAY VANDER LAAN
BY KEN SILVA
SEE: http://apprising.org/2008/04/11/rob-bell-and-his-echoes-of-ray-vanderlaan/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“My people have become lost sheep; Their shepherds have led them astray, They have made them turn aside on the mountains; They have gone along from mountain to hill, And have forgotten their resting place.” (Jeremiah 50:6, NASB)
Heading Into Jewish Kabbalistic Mystic Spiritual Bondage
Many are new to the mystical Messianic musings of Rob Bell, rock star icon within the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church with its quasi-universalism in a new version of postmodern Progressive Christian theology under their spiritual circus “big tent” of empty Emergence Christianity.
What they don’t know is how he rose to prominence through his own leaning heavily on the teachings of Ray Vander Laan. Here’s the link to some more research at Relational Concepts, Inc., which is a group of Michigan pastors have done extensive research into Ray Vander Laan and also reviewed Velvet Elvis, which is the first book by Rob Bell.
And then in this letter to Apprising Ministries a reader describes the adverse effects on a Christian school in their community which has also come under Vander Laan’s questionable influence:
I live in a fairly large community and our local Christian school has been taken over by Ray Vander Laan followers. The Bible dept. was handed over to a long time protégé of RVL. The school president and several board members became enamored with Ray Vander Laan after taking a trip with him to Israel.
Being doctrinally conservative and a serious student of the Word for over 20 years, I started seeing red flags all over the place. The children were reciting the Jewish Shema 3 times a day in Hebrew. The high schoolers got a heavy dose of Rob Bell too. Mezusah boxes started showing up on the classroom doorways. The students were introduced to a ritual Mikvah cleansing at retreats and chapels.
A group of parents formed behind the scenes to advise the board and president about our doctrinal concerns. We were placated and ask to trust them. After a long and ugly battle, we gave up our school and left with about 30 other families.
Rob Bell calls Ray Vander Laan his Rabbi. Interesting.
By the way Rob Bell produced RVL’s most recent video “Dust of the Rabbi”.
Would be interested to hear your comments on my research into RVL. Thanks.
Because of Him,
See also:Just Say No To “Rabbi” Ray
______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
A FURTHER EVALUATION OF THE HERMENEUTICS OF RAY VANDER LAAN
DECEMBER 2009
BY CHUCK MAY
EXCERPT:
"This paper is a summary of the dangers of using extra-biblical ancient Jewish culture to determine the
meaning of the Bible. As in my previous critique, “How Jewish Do You Have to be to Understand the
Bible?”, I will specifically focus on the hermeneutics of Ray Vander Laan. As I’ve said before, I have
nothing against Mr. Vander Laan personally; I’ve never met the man. But Vander Laan is the teacher in
my area (West Michigan) who is the lead proponent of this method of interpretation. Since I am most
acquainted with his teachings, they will be the subject of my critique. As a supplement to my earlier
critique, I will now summarize and reinforce the point that using culture to determine meaning is a poor
method of interpretation which the body of Christ should not espouse.
Specifically, I will show that
culturally based methods of interpretation, such as Vander Laan’s, lead to the following:
1) The explicit denial of the sufficiency of Scripture
2) The implicit denial of the inerrancy of the Bible
3) The potential denial of Christianity’s central doctrines
4) The conclusion that context is irrelevant to determining meaning
5) The Gnostic approach to spiritual understanding and growth
6) The affirmation that biblical texts have many meanings, but the assumption that only the
culturally based interpretation is correct
7) The average Christian will not study their Bible.
Commentary: Notice that Vander Laan states that a Westerner can’t get to the proper meaning of the
text unless he understands it through VanderLaan’s extra-biblical/Eastern interpretation. Here again
Vander Laan reinforces the fact that the Bible is not sufficient. Also, because the extra knowledge you
need to understand is only known by a few, Vander Laan’s methods reduce to Gnosticism, in that, unless
you have special/secret knowledge, you will not get the proper meaning, even after a thousand readings
of the text.
In an analysis of a speech given by Vander Laan, Wayne Grudem writes: “Vander Laan’s
approach is deeply troubling because he would take away the ability of ordinary readers to read, understand, believe, and hold firm to the words of the Bible for themselves. And he would take
away the ability of ordinary believers to quote a verse from the Bible to prove that a particular
teaching was right or wrong. His approach takes away the Bible from the people.”
________________________________________________________
