Velvet Elvis

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

Rob Bell has creatively taken the church by storm with his unique style of preaching and his beautifully produced Nooma video series that seeks to teach Scriptural truths through a new medium. So when I heard he had a book out and people were making him out to be a heretic on Amazon, I immediately jumped on it.

I thought the book was refreshing as it raised good questions and provided some adequate answers. A majority of the material in the book I have heard in his sermons at conferences or on a Nooma video so that was a little disappointing. It is mostly recycled material but he did expand on those previous thoughts.

A good illustration in this book takes the form of a trampoline and springs.

“This is where the springs on a trampoline come in. When we jump, we begin to see the need for springs. The springs help make sense of these deeper realities that drive how we live every day. The springs aren’t God. The springs aren’t Jesus. The springs are statements and beliefs about our faith that help give words to the depth that we are experiencing in our jumping. I would call these the doctrines of the Christian faith. They aren’t the point. They help us understand the point, but they are a means and not an end.”

This is a helpful reminder that it is not about believing all of the right things (although most denominations would disagree) but it is about how these springs help us to understand God. Fundamentalists have made the springs the point while liberalists have cancelled out the need for springs altogether. How do we believe “beliefs” without worshipping them and how do we seek God without throwing out need for “beliefs” completely? I’m confusing myself right now. I’m not even sure if this makes sense.

Anyway he would sum it up with, “Doctrine is a wonderful servant and a horrible master.”

Some parts of this book scared me. I feel like I understood what he was trying to say but I also feel like this book could be dangerous to the wrong sort of mind. For example, check this out:

“It is important to remember that we rarely find these first Christians trying to prove that the resurrection actually occurred. For one, a lot of the people who saw Jesus after he rose from the dead were still alive, so if people had questions and doubts, they could talk to somebody who was actually there. But there’s another reason: Everybody’s god in the first century had risen from the dead. To claim a resurrection had occurred was nothing new: Julius Caesar himself was reported to have ascended to the right hand of the gods after his death. To try to prove there was an empty tomb wouldn’t have gotten very far with the average citizen of the Roman Empire; they had heard it all before. This is why so many passages about the early church deal with possessions and meals and generosity. They understood that people are rarely persuaded by arguments, but more often by experiences. Living, breathing, flesh-and-blood experiences of the resurrection community. They saw it as their responsibility to put Jesus’ message on display. To the outside world, it was less about proving and more about inviting people to experience this community of Jesus’ followers for themselves.”

I can understand his main point and agree with it. People have to experience the life that Jesus came to bring and not just be argued with about the details. But I also think the details in this case are pretty important. I could see how people would think he is saying, “Well even if the resurrection didn’t happen, we can still wine and dine people into being a part of our group.” I don’t think that is what Rob is saying but it almost hints at it.

Anyway, I could go on and on but I enjoyed thinking through this book. Not anything totally new but it helps flesh out some not completely old thoughts. He has a certain way of bringing Scripture alive historically, although sometimes I feel like I would like to see his references. Sometimes I have a hard time believing him with some of his historical study. Does anyone else feel that way? Don’t get me wrong, I find it fascinating but I also wonder, “why haven’t I heard this before?” or “Why didn’t our professors tell us about this?”