What do I believe?

This is not going to be very cohesive but I thought that by writing I may be able to put my thoughts in order. Jon and I have recently been faced with the issue of how to interprete the Bible, whose theology is sound, and what makes someone right and others wrong? I guess it all started when I began to read Rob Bell’s book, “Velvet Elvis” He talks about Christianity being a wall of bricks and if one of the bricks is removed than the whole thing falls. He suggests faith should look like a trampoline that flexes and moves. Bell desires to see the church openly discussing the issues of our faith. He says that he affirms to foundational doctrines of our faith such as the trinity, virgin birth and salvation through Christ alone, but also believes that we are only human that the authors of the bible were only human and therefore can never really understand God and consequently need to continue to hash our interpretations of the Word. This made sense to me , in fact I found it relieving to hear someone say it. Just yesterday we had an old dear friend drop in on his way by going home. He had actually been to a conference in the States and one of the speakers had spoke negatively about Rob Bell and his philosophy of interpretation. Our friend pointed out that the above doctrines of our faith can not be interpreted differently, that in fact they are so foundational to our faith that without them we would not have “A Faith.” I clearly see what our friend is saying, and yet I felt as though there still are things in the Bible that people through the centuries have interpreted completely differently, and had staked their lives and others on. So I still wonder if there could be a balance. For example I am unnerved when someone stated emphatically that the world was created in seven days, and if you don’t believe that you are going to hell. I also am very annoyed with people who speak as if to have the inside scope of the “end times.” I mean, first of all, does it matter to God what we believe about these things and secondly, it takes a certain kind of arrogance to assume you have read to mind of God. That you have put him into a neat little box. So anyways…ranting now stopping…my dilemma now remains, do I believe there is a need to affirm certain truths, and to do so with conviction, or do I believe there is a need to be open to all possibilities about God and the Word????? Could there be an in between? Could there be a road that could hold both? Affirming the orthox doctrines of our faith but realizing God doesn’t say everything in black and white and wants me to go to him for direction and guidance when it comes to some things. I don’t know…. I feel like I have to believe something with conviction or else what do I have to give anyone else. And it does seem to me, that God does say some things very clearly…