Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith

As I started to read the one-star reviews, I started to rethink my initial reaction to the book... and it remains the same. I do agree with the critics- nothing can ever replace or come close to the Bible. But I never saw that trying to be accomplished in this book. I am a part of a new generation in the Church, one that is tired of all the church drama, one that wants to get back to the actual living Word and what Christ has called us to do here in this life. I find that Rob Bell gives his reader a wealth of historic information about Jewish traditions, which gives the reader a new prespective and clears up many questions. For example, I never really understood why people wanted Him dead; I mean He was a good guy, never hurt anyone. After reading the chapter on the Rabbi tradition it made a lot of sense. Putting history into context is the only way the Bible can make sense to us and actually be put to use today. There is nothing wrong with questioning your faith. Without questions your faith is stagnant and not growing. God does not want us to follow blindly; that is why He gave us freewill to make up our own minds. This book brought up a lot of great points that really make you think and wonder. It is one person's opinion and should never be taken for gospel, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

I have so many friends that have thrown the baby out with the bathwater and abandoned Jesus all together after hurtful and damaging experiences with church. It's hard to watch their bitterness and resentment and closemindedness. Following Jesus really is the best way to live. It's about Jesus, it's not about Christians or church. Anyway, writers like Rob Bell and Donald Miller are getting back, I think, to the heart of Christianity--following Jesus, and his love, and his best possible life. Theirs are books that I hope and pray that my friends will read someday.

I think that if Ghandi met Rob and Donald he might not have said, "I like your Christ, but not your Christians", and he wouldn't be able to say that he had "never met" a Christian.

There's been a lot of talk about "Velvet Elvis" and this put me off for quite a while, I feared it would be another 'form over substance' book. And when I bought it this morning I wondered still. It's written in a trendy font with trendy coloured pages between the chapters, trendy blue highlight print colours, that kind of thing; the cover is the sort of shiny matte effect which shows your fingerprints instantly and a trendy spot varnish on the front. It was also a surprisingly short book for that much fuss (177 pages of text, extensive endnotes). But anyway I started reading and was instantly completely hooked. I read the entire book in one sitting and am writing this review now.

So what was so good about it? Well it reminded me a little in thought (although was completely different in execution) to Brian MacLaren's "A New Kind of Christian." The two books are approaching a similar subject from a completely different angle and with success in completely different ways. So what is that subject? It's how to relate to the gospel of Jesus in our postmodern world. I'm not sure Rob Bell ever actually uses the word "postmodern" in his book and in fact his is a far easier read on the braincells than MacLaren's (which required several days' thought between chapters). But that is not to denigrate this book in any way, I believe it's another very important addition to the discussion of the 21st century church.

On the last page Rob Bell sums up what he's been saying: "I am like you. I have seen plenty done in the name of God that I'm sure God doesn't want anything to do with. I have lots of reasons for bailing on the whole thing... But... I am not going to stop dreaming of a new kind of faith for the millions of us who need it. I am not going to stop dreaming of new kinds of communities that put the love of God and the brilliance of Jesus on display in honest, compelling ways. I am not going to stop dreaming of new ways to live lives of faith and creativity and meaning and significance."

The book is a fascinating meander through various parts of Christian belief and thought with a lot of reference to Jewish teaching and thought with many new insights to me (and I am a Biblical scholar). He writes in such a lighthearted style and yet presents some very deep thoughts and fascinating ideas about faith, Jesus' teaching and the nature of community and being a neighbour. I particularly appreciated his comparison of the church as trampoline or brick wall and his likening a lot of modern Christian teaching to a brick wall was incredibly aposite (i.e. there are a number of bricks you have to believe in to get in; if any brick is doubted then the whole edifice falls down, thus huge overreliance on doctrinal positions and the necessity of believing them to be a 'proper' Christian, one of my real betes-noirs about modern day evangelicalism). Bell highlights the real 'them and us' mentality that the label 'Christian' can cause as we force people to jump through particular doctrinal hoops which may well cause them to step away forever. He says, "being a Christian is about engaging the mind and heart more and more, not shutting them off or letting someone else think for you," and he explains a great deal about truth being from God, wherever we may find it.

I am sure there is a huge swathe of people from the more conservative fundamentalist wing of the church who hate this book and hate everything that Bell says. However for someone like me, teetering on the edge of giving the whole thing up as a bad job that clashes wildly with what I see as reality in the world in which I am living, "Velvet Elvis" is a reminder of the real meat of the gospel, of Jesus' mission, of his divinity and humanity and of our purpose here on earth, to bring heaven here to those around us by our deeds and our witness. Go and read it!

I don't see the modern theologian as one courageous enough to throw stones (because we all know who rebuked that), but I see many of them feeble enough in the realm of a broad mind as to wage war with crackers, and that's what many have chosen to do with Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis'.

Coming from a pastor's kid who's heard a great deal from the likes of Johnny-Boy MacArthur (Big Mac), Tony-Tony-Tony Evans, Billy the Kid Hybels, John Pied Piper, and others, I can tell you that Bell is onto something, something with substance (much like those great men I just mentioned).

In 'Velvet Elvis', Bell asks us to rethink our logic and understand that God is bigger than our feeble conception of His totality. He asks us to understand that holiness can be found in having pure, sinless fun, that holiness can be found in an HIV-ridden slum of Africa, and that holiness is found wherever you step foot today. Why? Because you are a child of God and YOU are holy in HIS site. I'm sure the "I'm a (bold letters:)SINNER saved by (small letters:) grace" crowd is already slicing my review with a negative mark. Alas, I shall trudge on undaunted!

Bell also asks us to rethink our box of truth, that Christ's truth extends beyond the Bible (but DOES NOT give credence to any other "holy" books" as being a place of Spiritual answers and authority) because Christ is truth and because Christ is limitless, and that Christ is longer than the pages of the Bible. He does this in a way that does not diminish the Word of God, but in a way that points out that the Bible is a source of much of God's truth, but that God ultimately cannot be limited to anything that is written. To diagram God completely, as Bell says, is for God to cease to be God, for God cannot be blue-printed. I know, without context, this doesn't initially sit well, but trust me, Bell is hardly a syncretistic psychopath. He calls the Word of God open-ended, that Christ is showing us His healing, mercy, and truth today just like he did back then, and in similar ways as in what we read within the pages of the Bible.

I think the most potent part of Bell's book is the truth of God-living, not God-defending. Bell says we shouldn't spend so much time trying to defend and explain our faith as we should simply just live it. He uses a trampoline as an example. You don't spend time explaining to someone how good your trampoline is or how safe it is. You simply jump and from the expression of joy that comes from your being, they see that you are having a blast and they want to be a part of that experience.

Bell also gets into the depths of what being a disciple meant in Christ's day and what Christ's sayings actually meant to the Jewish culture of His day. Bell does not westernize Christ here, but shows us the context from which many of the Gospels were written. It's quite eye-opening to say the least. I'm sure the quickly-to-label-someone-a-heretic crowd has just about read enough from my review, but please, give Velvet Elvis an open-minded chance before you give it the same death penalty as more worthy efforts like Harry Potter. I can promise you the following, if you have an open-mind, and that is Bell's book will:

* challenge you to broaden your faith-view
* challenge you to understand your role in holiness
* challenge you to seek out the simple joys in this world
* challenge you to bring heaven to others while we're still here
* challenge you to turn off the phone and chill out for once
* challenge you to know God views you as being holy (if you're His child)
* challenge you to know that God loves EVERYONE (even if you're not His
child)
* challenge you to think outside the box of your current intellect and
carefully-formulated ideas on God's totality

Peace, love, and trampolines.

I found this to be an engaging, enlightening, and thought provoking book. There were many historical aspects that I had never heard before. "Real world" explanations of phrases like "...the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
The historical aspects, though fascinating, were not the main attraction. This book is about making following Christ alive and real in this world, and in this time. It's about engaging our culture, our neighbors, and even our planet in a living and vital way...the way Jesus did.
Velvet Elvis will challenge your preconceived notions. It will expand your understanding.
It is not the final word on Christianity, as the author makes clear. We know Jesus has all the answers, but beware of anyone else who thinks that they do.
I've read a number of other reviews of this book. It seems to have very extreme reactions. People really like it, or they label Mr. Bell as a heretic. Of course, the institutionalized church has pretty much always killed the prophets.
Anyway, like it or hate it, it's a very interesting read. One which I highly recommend.