I’ve compiled a list of scientific errors/misunderstandings from the ‘Everything is Spiritual’ talk on 7/7/06, based on the notes that I took. I want to emphasize that I have the utmost respect for Rob and what he does. At the same time, I feel strongly about accuracy and the implications of a single voice disseminating information without critique. I think that this is inline with the spirit of his book Velvet Elvis too. So, I’m saying this to be constructive!
Monthly Archives: July 2006
I think that Brent did a great job of capturing the essence of the talk in his review. I was going to do a complete play-by-play, but instead I just want to make a couple of comments and observations.
First off, the group of friends I traveled to Sacramento with comprised two pastors/seminary students, two people with PhDs from the Media Lab at MIT, and myself, freshly done with my Aero/Astro PhD at Stanford. So needless to say, we’re a tough crowd.
I need to go to bed earlier!
For anyone who’s interested, here’s what the whiteboard looked like at the end of the “Everything is Spiritual” talk… 
What follows is a review from my friend Brent of the July 7, 2006 Everything is Spiritual talk
7-7-06
We joined the vanpool to Sacramento to hear Rob Bell speak at the Crest Theater. I appreciate his effort to take his work into a new venue, even if only the same people found their way there.
He spoke for nearly two fast hours, using a large white board and a simple set of board skills.
Rob started “In the beginning,” which is a creative place to start, even if he regularly finds himself at the foundations of everything. “In the beginning Elohim,” God, and His Spirit, are present and His Word separates light from dark, sky from water, land from sea for three days, and in the following three days brings forth sun and moon, birds and fish, animals and humans from the earth and sea and sky that He has spoken into being.
A couple of weeks ago <a href=”July 7) I went with my friends Kevin, Danielle, Brent, and Savalai to the “Everything is Spiritual” talk by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is, for those that don’t know and might be reading this, the founder and main teacher and Mars Hill, a big church in western Michigan. He’s also well known for his brainchild, the Nooma series of teaching videos.
Rob is young, hip, and I think held up on a pretty high pedestal by a good number of people. I think this post is pretty typical of how a lot of people view him. And I think that it’s generally true–he’s a pretty smart guy with a really good message. I have a couple of quibbles though. I’m going to post a review of the talk by my friend Brent, and then my own review in two parts. The first will be a general review and the second a somewhat more detailed look at some of the problems with the talk.
*Update:* I’ve posted my review in two parts: Impressions of Everything is Spiritual and Fact-checking Everything is Spiritual. Also, I’ve posted a reassembled photo of the whiteboard Rob used here.
I’m going to try and post interesting things here again. We’ll see if it works!
