More from my main man, Rob Bell

Excerpted from an interview in "Relevant" magazine, or as its known around my condo, "the magazine with the title that makes me want to shoot myself in the head."

As the title of the book suggests, Jesus Wants To Save Christians. In your opinion, what are the biggest things we need saving from?

Boredom. Which is really despair in its non-caffeinated form. And boxes. Where we live in fear and where we put those who unsettle us.

You describe the plan of God for the church to be a gift to the world. Many people today would say that the church is anything but. What are some crucial changes that our churches need to make to become a Eucharist that is broken and poured out for the world?

1. Master the art of doubt. Faith needs it to survive.

2. Surrender the compulsive need to constantly remind people that according to your worldview you're going to heaven forever when you die and they're going to burn in hell forever.

3. Celebrate the good and the true and the beautiful wherever and whenever you find it regardless of the label it wears or the person it comes from or the place you found it. All things are yours.

4. Remember that the tax collectors and prostitutes loved to feast with Jesus and the religious establishment gossiped about him and dissected his teachings and questioned his commitment to orthodoxy and eventually had him killed. There's a lesson for us there.
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Yes, thank goodness Jesus came to save us from non-caffeinated despair (if anyone can explain what the heck that means, I would be very grateful) and boxes. After all, who can forget Romans 3:23, "For all are in boxes and have fallen short by feeling bored."

And I agree. I have been compulsively feeling the need to impose my horrendous worldview on others. Why do I feel such a compelling need to tell others that according to my worldview I'm going to heaven and they are going to hell? It is really selfish of me, who possess every good thing in Christ by virtue of his death and have been commanded by him to go and make disciples of the nations, to impose my worldview on those who will shortly suffer eternal damnation if they do not repent. I really should be doing more to make them feel comfortable.

Also, I am glad that Rob Bell has informed me that my faith is in serious need of doubt. No wonder I have been feeling like my faith isn't going to survive...it is all because I haven't been doubting lately, or rather, that I haven't been doubting "artfully" enough. Yes, that is the problem. I need to doubt more artfully. I mean, it totally makes sense. After all, faith is "being sure of things not seen," and doubt is being unsure of things not seen, so it is really coherant that doubt and faith need each other to survive. Let me add some more advice while I'm add it:

5. Master the art of hating others. Love needs it to survive.

6. Master the art of eating unhealthy food. Eating healthy food needs it to survive.

7. Master the art of living at the bottom of the sea. Not being wet needs it to survive.