Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell
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Book Reviews of Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
Book Review: Post-Modern Elvis
Summary: 4 Stars
This is another good book to add the to library of the post-modern, emerging conversation. I was impressed with the non-abrasive nature that Bell takes in making his point. His approach, like Don Miller will cross over generational boundaries and help to bring the church together in our similarities and differences. Much has been said about Velvet Elvis already and this book's popularity as solidified Rob Bell as a voice in the future of the Church. Book Review: Honey and Poison
Summary: 1 Stars
What good will it do if you mix truth and error, and present it to a child in the faith to feed on? Why are we doing this to the little ones in the faith ?
One quote from this book says a lot about Rob Bell's attitude towards the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even if he doesn't believe it wholeheartedly, it opens him, his students and followers up to tolerating all kind of future heresies. The history of the faith teaches us that it takes one concession to evil for errors to creep into the church and end up ruining lives. Doctrines are walls to protect the believer. They're neither prison bars nor optional guideposts. Creation in 6 24 hrs days is different than the Virgin birth. You can still have atonement and salvation without 6 24 hrs days creation, but you can't if Jesus had an earthly father!!!! God is His Word, and His Word is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. We know about Jesus Christ through the historical Christian faith. Hence we can't have God without the Christian faith, because without it we don't have Jesus Christ who is the only way to the Father. While God is beyond all description, we can't be with Him without His historical self-revelation of Himself. He chose to become what He is not by nature, that we may become what we are not by nature (but by grace). If God chose to become man, that men may become like God, then that means that God who is beyond all description chose to confine Himself that we may experience Him. Now Rob Bell wants to downplay the importance of this confined description of God, which is our only means to move from what is limited to what is beyond description. He wants to do away with the bricks of doctrines which guide our way and protect us from wandering aimlessly, the incarnation of God, the voluntary self-confinement of God, His self-emptying, for the God who is beyond description but can never be accessed. He takes away the bricks of historical christianity, the narrow way to heaven, to give you a trampoline to jump on which will never get you up enough to God. God had to come down to you.
I saw it mentioned in one of the posts. Rob Bell relies too much on Rabbinic interpretation that he forgets that the Rabbis rejected Christ and still do. This means that many of his views about the Gospels will be tainted with anti-Christian views, resulting in confused paragraphs like the following on page 17:
"What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being "born of a virgin" also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?"
Throughout the centuries Church fathers and apologists answered definitively these claims. To even speak this way about the apostles, the disciples of Christ and the New Testament reveals hidden doubts in the soul of the author. Even though I know that he's trying to prepare his readers for future "definitive scientific" proofs against the faith, I'd like to remind him that if these claims are true, then there is no need to prepare them for it's better for them to lose their faith in that "lie" and to move on with their lives. But what if the faith is not a lie, as all the faithful throughout Church history found out, and it is the only way for a true relationship with God, and for this reason Satan keeps on slandering it to keep people captive. If this is the case, what is Rob Bell doing exactly ?
If you want a fresh look at the Christian Faith as was always believed, check out the lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem which he gave to the new converts in 4th century Jerusalem. It's free on the web or you can buy the church fathers' volumes here on Amazon.I promise you you'll find all the good things that Rob Bell said in his book (honey) without all the poisons, in fact in those lectures you'll find the antidotes to those poisons. For the Christian faith has been around for so long now that every objection has been answered by the people who actually lived in the early centuries, who spoke the original languages and even died for what they believed.
Book Review: Deep, Thoughtful, and Very Refreshing
Summary: 5 Stars
Rob Bell presents a view of Christ that anyone would be attracted to. His explanation of contemporary Jewish customs and beliefs adds clarity to much of what Jesus said and did. The book challenges your thinking and asks Christians if they are following Christ because they are convinced that it is the best way to live.
Bell gives a fresh take on many key Biblical stories and doctrines, such as Jesus as "Rabbi," bringing Heaven (or Hell) to Earth by our lives, the value of Christian community in collectively interpreting Scripture (which he calls binding and loosing), etc. A very good read. You will learn a lot, think a lot, and be a better Christian after reading this book.
Book Review: Almost a present-day C.S. Lewis
Summary: 4 Stars
Bell presents the heart of Christianity - the love of Christ and our call to walk in the dust of our Rabbi. A thoughtful, appealing book that makes a great gift to someone searching for Christ's love. A great opening for a discussion about Christ.Book Review: =)
Summary: 4 Stars
this was a very interesting book. i personally really enjoyed reading this book. it made me think a lot about my faith and my persectives on many things. this is definitely a book to wrestle with but in the end, i think it will strengthen your faith, no matter where you are spiritually. i am really glad i purchased this book. its a book you can read many times and get something different from it every time