Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell
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Book Reviews of Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
Book Review: It Happened to Me
Summary: 5 Stars
Out of my desire to pursue the move of God, I couldn't help it: I bit the bullet train of trendiness. Having heard all the bubble-gum, trendy, counter-culture rage about this morsel, I finally decided to pick it up.
In my hand it felt like an Ace-of-Base cassette tape but went down like a banana-mint smoothie.
I am wrestling and stirred over Rob Bell's `Velvet Elvis.'
Maybe it's the coffee.
Maybe it's the white processed sugar tantalizing my A.D.D. dendrites.
Maybe it's just the time of the Lord.
I couldn't put it down last night and at the first reading am almost finished with it. It is now Monday morning and I have a literary chaffing you-know-where.
Now, I am no beatnik, turtle-neck-wearin', kumbaya-playin', adjective-stacking, relevant-church post-modernist post-er child.
I may be from Florida, but I ain't stoopid: the church is outdated, irrelevant and losing people.
There is no power to change, nor is there any love to guide.
The community that is relevant which Rob Bell describes offers a peripheral hint at the answer.
To which question?
Good question!
What question?
What questions??
How can I, a person called to ministry, affect change today?
I know I am called to work in the service of the Lord, but what can I offer Americana that they do not already despise?
Why is the church always 20 years behind of world?
Why is church attendance expected to drop by 50% in the next 3 years?
I want to serve, but I can't stand even attending a church.
The real question is this.
What will my church, ministry, or life look like?
The tools of man that have been handed down are outdated like using a cracker-jack decoder ring to save the Captain Planet generation from a MySpace transmutation.
I don't think the answer is The Relevant or PostModern Church, but it has to be a flesh-and-blood community that is relevant.
Why are ministries lagging?
They unplugged their TV and forsook reading the newspaper decades ago. Now, the only people they attract are others who jumped into that same time capsule.
They are the only ones who get each others jokes about Ovaltine! (Was that EVER funny?)
Why are many young adults 32 and under walking away from many Sunday services and shaking their head in befuddlement?
They are wondering what the solution is.
Truthfully, they really are wondering what the question is.
Why do I find ex-pastors wearing crocs drifting through Wal-Mart at 3 in the morning, staring through the Glade Plug-ins, their bed-head bald-spot in disarray with Cheezits and milk in the cart that shopped them through their insomnia?
Why do I have to call their name three times before they jump out of their comatose?
Why do they just spill forth with tears from their blood-shot eyes that the mission is not getting done?
Why does it chafe me when many pastors indignantly ignore rational questions like the validity of the word, the general lack of miracles in the Body, and why 90% of the service is unanointed and irrelevant? The reply `pshaaw-you've-been-studying-those-post-modernists-you-need-faith' is a NON-ANSWER.
Because it's irrelevant.
Times New Roman size 12 is out.
Arial size 10 is in.
What Rob Bell offers so progressively is a loving, cool-headed, faith-building rational hope for this new move of God.
He offers tangible answers like why I should believe the Bible as inerrant and true even though it was compiled by many stinky-cheese men over centuries of Dateline-worthy debate. Nugget after nugget after nugget like stuffing your mouth with chocolate, cashew, and caramel turtles, ignoring the cries of your mom `Gustas, save some for later!'
Why didn't I get that in Sunday school as a boy?
Felt boards and macaroni necklaces worked for a bit and Jonah was an easy book to swallow, but it is inadequate and antiquated.
The generations facing the challenges of a progressing society would like some rationale.
Not because they are demanding and need answers, but because they need to be equipped to face a world that demands rationale.
Rob Bell is, I believe, the guy in the crowd pointing to a way to get us over this critical hump.
Many of the leaders from time-gone-by have led us into HUGE and undeniable revelation, but the masses have crammed into a critical crunch where the craggy, inorganic walls caught us claustrophobically, cornered and cramped.
With a timid inquisitiveness bordering on sarcasm Rob Bell is asking `uhm...why don't we try the door?'
If I could summarize `Velvet Elvis', I would say that it is literary-opulent judo; using the forcefulness of our off-balance opinions to floor us. It is a CSI: Las Vegas aha! where the cool jumpy scenes reveal that the cause of death is self-inflicted. It's a Carmen Sandiego meets Mr. Rogers meets Captain Obvious fondue pot you have GOT to dip in.
But you tell me, `cause after all, the rest is just commentary, right?
Book Review: Rock'in Rythyms of Rob Bell... it's groovy if you listen.
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't expect to agree with every part of this book, and that has held true for every book I have ever read.
I enjoy looking at Christianity from a point of view that encompasses more than my American culture. The Bible was not written by Americans or even westerners. It was written by Jews in a Hebrew/ ancient culture. That is all I see Rob saying... the Bible is not SCIENTIFIC truth.. it is TRUTH beyond Science.. it is TRULY a LIVING BOOK told through the LIVES of its Characters.. I get the impression that some are not willing to let their FAITH stretch beyond American pragmatism.. I get the impression that FAITH equals knowing the FACTS to some folks.
As for only giving viewpoints from Rob's point of view... can you really do anything else? Seriously, does a bracelet that says WWJD allow you to really know WWJD? (Well, you can check out the Christian marketers and they will be happy to tell you, but I ain't buying it.) Someone give me Jesus' viewpoint without your viewpoint being a factor? Has anyone ever heard one preacher say one thing and another say something else about the same verse? Who is CORRECT? You be the judge... get it? It all STARTS with your point of view. Understanding that is HUGE; Discounting that is IGNORANT. We are living with the MOST INFORMED AND EDUCATED society ever to walk this planet. We need to understand it is about FAITH not facts.
Folks once said that the EARTH had to be the center of the universe or the Bible was false and there was NO GOD.. A heretic named Copernicus and Galileo disputed that simple mindedness. Who was correct and was the Bible false in the light of those questions and discoveries?
Folks once said that there could be NO NEW WORLD because the BIBLE never mentioned it. Anyone that claimed Columbus had discovered a NEW WORLD was a heretic. The church was just trying to be reasonable. Did you guys know you lived in ASIA? The Bible LIVED through that bit of ignorance as well.
1500 years from the time Christ lived people knew and experienced the ETERNAL life of Jesus without a Bible to reference on their shelf. The Word was with God and the Word was God. The church taught at one time that it was HERETICAL to put the Bible in the hands of the ignorant masses. We could not understand it without their teaching. Got SEMINARY? I am glad the church lost that battle too because I believe the Bible to be truth beyond their opinions. It speaks to me and changes me daily,facts and figures aside. (that was a little tongue in cheek trick)
I don't think Rob or anyone reading this is less than Martin Luther, Calvin, Wesley, because it is not about those people. It was/is/ and always will be about GOD revealing HIMSELF to generations and the people that are willing to listen to what "my Father in heaven has revealed to you." The Bible is true and I haven't heard Bell dispute that one time. He just allows it to be MORE TRUE than SCIENTIFIC.
Truth is bigger than FACTS and perceptions. God is FAR bigger than our understanding. The LIFE He gave us is GREATER and TRUER than WE can IMAGINE. The facts breakdown, but the TRUTH working in our LIVES changes EVERYTHING.
Rob doesn't have it ALL figured out and I think that is his point. I am down with Rob and I am ready to find God in the mystery that is beyond my understanding (and your's).
I believe that those that God has waiting to hear this beautiful message of Jesus are worth fighting for. I will not be tagged by the pragmatic INFORMED American church as not getting it. God is bigger than both sides of the argument and He has managed to work through all of our fragilities and still reveal Himself and change lives.
I do have a Rabbi.. He is not Rob.. He is Jewish.. He was a carpenter that became a teacher... He was accused of being a heretic... He was attacked... He became an outcast.. He was murdered by the religious establishment (through the hands of the power establishment)... He's bigger than a book.. He's bigger than a teaching.. He has more to teach than we have time or capacity to grasp. My Rabbi is Jesus and Rob has helped me on my path to knowing Him more. That really is the point isn't it? Keep rock'in Rob, I am with you and so is my Rabbi.
I think I'll buy another copy!
Book Review: From someone who is daily discovering how to live the "Way"...
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a scholar, nor did I ever do great in English class, so there are sure to be some erros in my typing. I am however someone who is simply trying to live the life in which I am created to live.
I don't think I can evaluate this whole book into a neat little paragraph. Nor do I believe this is the place to blog my personal beliefs, whether they are challenged or rediscovered by Velvet Elvis. What I do believe is that I am still processing this book, weeks after I have read it.
It's is possible to grow up, take on a belief and continue to live that belief without ever truly discovering why you believe it. Maybe because you were taught it in Sunday School. Maybe because that's what your how your family has lived it out. Maybe because that's how you grew up in church? Or maybe that's the way you were taught in school or college. No matter what - we are often never truly challenged to rethink, reclaim, and rediscover the core of what we believe. Sure a nonbeliever may question you, or even challenge and debate with you. But for someone who lives the "Way" as which you are living, suddenly steps forward and brings new deminsions to this life that if processed the correct way takes us to things on such a deeper level.
The essentials are to great to debate. If I'm correct we know this life to be our "personal" spiritual journey. Which gives way for many thoughts, questions, and beliefs - whether agreed upon or not. The true essential lies in the belief that Jesus is the "way" the truth and the life. Other non-essentials are just to be argued so that we can build walls [religions] to bring people behind. This book is to think about other aspects of your life and the text that is taught to us. To think about, understand and know why you have created some of these beliefs to be an essential in which you live by. Rob should not be hated because of this, but celebrated, becuase people reading this whether they are agree or don't - are rediscovering for themselves, what these essentials are for them.
I don't attend Mars Hill, but I do celebrate with what is happening in their community. This book if read the proper way -does not force beliefs or doctrines upon a person. It does not change the way in which I believe myself. If anything it helps strengthen it. What it does do - is challenge me to reclaim the words of God and his teachings. To take a walk back through the pages of the text and truly find out for myself why I believe and live the way I am currently living.
Rob does an amazing job of questioning and bringing incredible and fresh thoughts to the journey we live. He takes the core and heart of what we live for and twists it, turns it, then brings a new demension that most are not willing to even think about, study or wrestle with. This doesn't mean that he is absolutely correct on every statement made in the book. It's his commentary right?
If you read it, put up a wall, get defensive, immediatley take it at face value then you miss the true heart of what this book is all about. It is for you to read, and re-read, and re-read again so that you will rediscover and wrestle the issues and beliefs that help you on your personal spiritual journey.
This book is a must read - but only for those who are willing to set aside the religion and thoughts that they have been raised to believe and in a new mysterious way search out the core reasons why they still believe or don't believe this way to be true for them.
Are you willing to ask yourself tough questions - or just live the life you were told to live? Remember this is your journey - discover it for yourself.
Book Review: Read it even if you don't like Rob Bell!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I want to dislike Rob Bell. I don't really understand trendy glasses and spikey hair, and I have heard people criticize him in ways that made me naturally disinclined to listen to him. But after having seen several of Bell's NOOMA videos, I began to wonder if he might have some significant things to say to me. And having now read his "Velvet Elvis," I am quite certain that he has much to say that I and many others need to hear.
As with his oral communication, Bell does not write in a linear fashion. He is not an apologist, and he does not try to win arguments by presenting an organized set of data. Instead, he tells anecdotes and stories. He meanders and makes points in less direct ways. But, thankfully, he makes some very strong points.
What I love about Bell is his willingness to be brutally honest. He calls a spade a spade, even if that spade represents something that Christians (or, more probably, evangelical American Christians) have been committed to for decades and generations. In particular, Chapter 2 about the Bible is something that every evangelical should read. He takes some baseline assumptions that I have heard and made for most of my life and articulates why these assumptions are not only absurd but ultimately destructive. This chapter is worth the price of the rest of the book.
Though not as compelling to me, other chapters were also strong. His description of what the church can and should be (and should not be) is superb. His discussion about the real Jesus was fantastic (and consolidates much of what Philip Yancey did in his book, "The Jesus I Never Knew"). He interjects biblical and church history into the book in helpful and fascinating ways and even manages to explain words from the biblical languages constructively.
There are a few things about which I am willing to critique "Velvet Elvis." First, I find Bell's conversational writing style to be too much. He is so conversational that it's almost not real writing at times. It reads more like a transcript of his speaking, which is choppy and staccato, with short bursts of insight (represented in the book by hundreds of sentence fragments) and long pauses (represented in the book by large gaps of white space between some sentences). Though the book is very readable as a result, it has an almost amateurish feel that was disappointing to me. Clearly, Bell is a deep thinker and intelligent man, and I just wish that his writing style more clearly reflected this.
Finally, I'm not sure exactly what this book is about or who it is for. The nature of Bell is that he is hard to define and describe, but I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish with this book. It would be very appropriate for those of us within the church, as he asks questions that we should all be addressing, offers some stinging criticism of the contemporary church that we need to hear, and presents some compelling challenges that we all ought to pursue. It would also be appropriate for those who are completely unfamiliar with Christianity and the church, as he presents the essence of the Christian faith in a way that is accessible and even attractive. And maybe his target audience is indeed those from both camps, in which case the breadth of topics that he covers may have allowed him to hit his mark.
In any case, I'm happy to recommend "Velvet Elvis" to anyone who wants to read a remarkably compelling portrayal of what following Jesus and honoring God is all about. There is much that will challenge and even irritate, but I'm confident that it will be worth your time.
Book Review: "If it is true, then it is not new" - Rob Bell
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished this very thought provoking book, called Velvet Elvis. I read it in one sitting. I am surprised that the book is published by Zondervan because it contains criticisms, albeit phrased very positively, of some of the ways of "Evangelical" Christianity. Although I agree wholeheartedly with Bell's criticisms, they are not my reason for enjoying the book so much.
What I found inspiring about the book is the focus on continually questioning our beliefs, with the goal of strengthening our faith and coming to grips with the reality of God in the world.
My initial and prior long term understanding of Christianity,(before I became an Orthodox Christian) was an intellectual wrestling with trying to understand it in modern terms. In many ways I had to close my mind to other ideas and interpratations of truth because I misunderstood what Jesus really meant when He said that He was "the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one cames to the Father except through Him." (John 14:6).
What Rob Bell affirms in his book is that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of absolute truth, not a version of it.
Rob makes the observation that much of the New Testament was written with the purpose of showing how Jesus was not only the fulfillment of the teachings of His own people, the Jews, but also the teachings of the pagans and Greek philosophers that were outside the practices of Judaism. This is plainly demonstrated by Jesus' interactions with "outsiders" and the so-called "unrighteous." It is further seen in the teachings of Paul in the book of Acts, where he quotes contemporary Greek poetry to affirm the nature of God, in whom "we move and have our being." Also in the letters of Paul when he asserts that those who do not know the law are declared righteous by their actions.
If something is true then as followers of the source of truth we can claim it. No matter who says it or what tradition it comes from. This is an Orthodox teaching.
To paraphrase C.S. Lewis - the most progressive person is the one who notices that they are going in the wrong direction and turns around and goes back. As I follow the Way I keep finding myself driven back to the starting point again.
To believe in Christ is one thing, to follow Him is something else. To be a disciple of Christ is not to condemn those "outside", but to affirm the truth that is in them because it ultimately points to Him who is the source of all truth. No human being can claim to have the whole picture of reality nailed down, it's like a velvet painting of Elvis, a likeness perhaps, but not the real thing.
Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Zoroastrians, and other religions have truth within them that lead to a seeking for more. Its been my experience that in all my encounters with devoted followers of each of these paths they all have identified Jesus as a model for their particular faith and practice. To Buddhists, Jesus is a Bodhisattva, to Hindus, an Avatar, to Muslims, a true prophet and the Spirit of God, etc. etc.
The Church fathers teach that salvation is not a one time event that happens when you "invite Jesus into your heart" - which Rob Bell points out, is not found anywhere in the bible. It is not belonging to a church or organization. Salvation is a process that draws us into life with God, a process that continues from baptism, or rebirth in Christ, until forever.