So this is the late Tuesday edition of my Faith Links, and I apologize again for the delay.

Relevant Magazine put up a very interesting follow story to the Rob Bell controversy relating to his book Love Wins. I covered the substantive issues of the controversy in an earlier post, so I won’t rehash the details.

The Relevant article is titled “What Love  Wins Tells Us About Christianity,” and the writer pulls out 10 points that can be gleaned from the firestorm.

Much of the article focuses on the role that social media played in the debate over whether Bell was spouting heresy or simply expanding a conversation. Those points hit home with me because I first heard about Bell’s book through a Twitter post by Southern Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler about two days after Bell’s teaser video was released.

Scot McNight’s second point in the article is that the opinions of prominent pastors matter now more than ever, especially since their voices can be heard instantly and their thoughts broadcast to millions of people through the web and especially using Twitter.

Someone recently referring to an athlete making a Twitter gaffe said that Twitter puts people in an impossible position of having to say something meaningful in only 140 characters. Your words are sure to come across the wrong way to some, and you just can’t put everything into the context it might deserve.

There wasn’t much context needed for John Piper’s “Farewell, Rob Bell” tweet, but many others left sound bytes out there that probably weren’t ideal.

Anyway, there’s some other good points made in this article, and it’s worth taking the time to read it. It’s an easy read, too.

Other Links

• This news comes from an unlikely source, but according to the First United Methodist Facebook page, the pastoral staff has been reappointed for another year. That includes Rev. Dave McEntire.
• Have you heard of the proposed ABC television comedy called “Christian Bitches” (seriously, that’s the name)? Well, if not, here’s a good primer for you from Christianity Today. It’s not as knee jerk as some reactions have been, and it gave me some new info that I didn’t know: The show is based off a book by a Christian woman from Texas.
• Desiring God gives some helpful advice on how to have a conversation about the Gospel with a stranger, particularly one who has a Christian background but doesn’t grasp the importance of scripture.
• This last link isn’t all that recent, but it’s a great post. It’s from the Mars Hill Church blog in Seattle, where Mark Driscoll is the pastor. This post is basically an excerpt from a radio interview with Dave Bruskas, the pastor of the Mars Hill campus in Albuquerque. It’s directed squarely at men and hits right at the heart of one of the biggest struggles/temptations Christian men face: Sexual sin. Check it out, very helpful stuff.