Theologian Ben Witherington, who happens to be quite sympathetic to Rob Bell, shares his impression of a question and answer session with Bell which he personally witnessed:

[In the area of] ethics, [a problem] which became very apparent tonight [was] when Rob Bell was asked about homosexuality. His answers was evasive in part, and disturbing in other parts, and clearly unBiblical in other parts and in this he sounds like some other leaders in the Emergent Church movement…

Rob made the blanket statement that you have no moral authority to speak on this issue unless you have gay friends and understand their struggle. While I am all for having pastoral empathy with people and their struggles, on that showing, Paul should never have spoken on this issue at all. (Online source)

No Rob, as ambassadors for Christ we are commanded to proclaim what God has said on this and every subject to which He has spoken. Our "moral authority" comes from Christ our Creator. But this is precisely the problem. The sin of unbelief. Emergent Guru Brian McLaren is on record regarding the sin of homosexuality as saying:

I hesitate in answering "the homosexual question"… Most of the emerging leaders I know share my agony over this question… Frankly, many of us don’t know what we should think about homosexuality. We’ve heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say "it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us"…

If we think that there may actually be a legitimate context for some homosexual relationships, we know that the biblical arguments are nuanced and multilayered, and the pastoral ramifications are staggeringly complex. We aren’t sure if or where lines are to be drawn, nor do we know how to enforce with fairness whatever lines are drawn. Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. (Online source)

Frankly I am astonished that evangelical leaders even listen to this fool and accept him as brother in Christ. Well Brian, here’s what "seems good to the Holy Spirit" as He lovingly warn us how the Creator feels about homosexuality:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, NASB)

And we in the Body of Christ will learn from a real man of God sent as forth as a pastor-teacher. Oswald Chambers instructs us:

We say – "If I really could believe!" The point is – If I really will believe. No wonder Jesus Christ lays such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." If we really believed that God meant what He said – what should we be like!

And today I admonish you in the Lord to stop following these milquetoast mystics of the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church.

See also:

DAN KIMBALL AND THE EMERGENT CHURCH SEEKING HARD TO MAKE HOMOSEXUAL SIN NOT SIN

TONY JONES AND THE EMERGENT CHURCH: “CHRISTIAN” GAY IS A-OK