Well done, Rob...

So, there's a bit of a controversy. Of course there is. There's always a controversy. And this is all because of a guy who...

Writes.

Paragraphs.

Like.

This.

Yep, it's none other than Rob Bell. Writer, pastor and owner of the coolest glasses and facial hair to be found on a theologian since the late 18th century. He's gone and kicked the hornet's nest again. But...well...that's probably the point.

It would seem that Rob is actually really, really good at kicking that nest.

You see, historically he's done it with just about every book he's written. Take his first: Velvet Elvis. There was controversy before and behind the release of that one. It was called "emergent" and "seditious" but, at the end of the day it was hardly anything more than a call to Biblical teaching and sound theology. Not exactly earth shaking.

Then there was "Everything is Spiritual" and, honestly, I don't know much about that.

After that was "Sex God," a book that caused a minor panic just based on the title. But then it pretty much talked about God and not much about sex. I wasn't disappointed, but the controversy end up being quite unfounded.

"The Gods aren't Angry" also had title issues, but then people got past that and realized it was just another way of addressing the concept of justification by faith, not works. Again, not bad.

"Jesus Wants to Save Christians" challenged us to live the life we're called to and to be all Christ wanted from his church. It gets more towards the concept of what it means to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Again, it sounds controversial, but then it ends up confirming orthodoxy.

Oh, and then there was "Drops Like Stars." I read it, I don't know exactly what it was about. Suffering. Art. God. Creativity. That's about all I could get. There wasn't much controversy, though.

So that brings us to the most recent thing. Putting aside theology (which we must, since we don't actually have the book yet) we can see that Rob has a history of using social media. It makes people talk. It gets the idea in the news. It may (dare I say it) increase book sales as people try to talk intelligently about the issue.

And that, more so than what he actually says, is probably the goal.

Discussion.

Not book sales. I mean, typically those get donated somewhere, so it's a small side bonus, but it's really about the discussion.

So, let me say it again.

Well done, Rob.