Will the ‘real’ Rob Bell please stand up?

So it seems Rob Bell has a new book coming out which seems to be stirring up a lot of controversy (or just an absolutely cracking marketing campaign by HarperOne -the publishers?). At the weekend he hit top ten in twitter trending topics. Now if you know anything about Rob Bell you’ll know a lot of people aren’t exactly what you could call fans. So spare a thought for a web designer called Rob Bell in the UK whose twitter address is unsurprisingly @robbell (he got in there first). Rob Bell the author/speaker is @realrobbell. Why he needs to insist his namesake is not real is beyond me.

I’d love to know how the web designer feels about being the subject of so much anger by Christians..

Some of his tweets are wonderfully gracious and amusing:

@andrew_novell I wish anger was an emotion that led to buying websites, but if that were true I’d be minted!

@andresdja When you read it, let me know – I don’t remember writing it 🙂

@the_youthguy I’m not writing a book, not at the moment, so don’t clear a space on your bookshelf yet! It’s a shame to see anyone hating me

Remember, it’s @robbell for wonderful web services & @realrobbellfor contemporary christianity, simples! http://ht.ly/44t1I 🙂

@sethtowerhurd Do I have to fight @johnpiper or something? I’m not really into fighting, can I get @joelauzon to stand in for me?

Tomorrow on mistaken identities we’ll be talking to plumber Osama Bin Laden, dinner lady Kim Kardashian, and bricklayer Lany Gaga

@geekrev why would they preach about me, I’m but a web monkey from England? I know my front room’s a bit untidy, but Hell’s a bit much!

I look forward to the day when my namesake has to deal with all the Geeks, Marketers & SMB Folk trending my name for something I said, lol

@theonetruemyles who is this @johnpiper and why is he denouncing me? Did he not like a website I designed?

@reverendjohnson do they? Why would an entire religion want to bash a simple Englishman like myself? I’m quite concerned…

oh dear, my namesake is now a Trending Topic worldwide on Twitter, best get ready for fresh lunacy! What else is gonna go mad today?!?Dear Christians, I am not @realrobbell although I hear he does really great things. Please at least look before you ‘quote’ me as him

Poor guy! Although it does raise an interesting question about the grace and gentleness with which Christians treat each other with. I remember Jesus saying something about people knowing we are his followers by the way we love each other. I don’t think we’re painting a very good picture at the moment…

As for the book. The buzz is making me want to read it – so well done admen. I’ll maybe form an opinion then. Its good to question and debate but its also important to show some grace… I remember being at an event with Rob Bell speaking (the author) and when he asked how he deals with all the criticism his answer was “it hurts..”

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