A Review of Velvet Elvis

A Review of Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI., 2005

Part 2

After reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell I was quite saddened. This because I know that many, but not all, in a younger generation (in reaction to an imperfect church) probably buy into his thought. I was angry because once again the devil has said, “Did God say?” and people are once again actually listening and jumping onto the band-wagon of delusion.

Here are a few quotes from Velvet Elvis followed by Scripture and a brief review.

"The Christian faith tradition is filled with change and growth and transformation. Jesus took part in this process by calling people to rethink faith and the Bible and hope and love and everything else, and by inviting them into the endless process of working out how to live as God created us to live." V.E. by Rob Bell p.11

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14 ESV

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. Luke 24:27 NASB

COMMENT: The reason Jesus had to have people “rethink” is because they didn’t think correctly to BEGIN. And that was because they didn’t understand the SCRIPTURES. And He had to open their eyes for that to happen. It wasn’t to be some endless process for the actual purpose of not finding the truth but still somehow enjoying the journey. It was for the purpose of knowing and obeying the truth that was actually discovered. We are continuing to “learn” because there is so much to learn! Not because truth is elusive or changing! It would seem that in attempting to come to personal and experiential truth he actually bypasses this important point. Truth in Jesus Christ is both propositional and incarnational. They didn’t kill Jesus because His “way” was different or “cool” or “non-conformist” i.e. how he lived, who he “hung out with,” “how he just accepted everything and everyone (which He didn’t by the way), etc. They killed Him because He Himself claimed to be THE ONLY WAY as the Messiah who would die for our sins and our Lord. And His Kingdom (although not of this world but a “reign and rule” none-the-less) was seen in direct defiance of the established authority in this world. His was a propositional “blasphemy” to the rulers of this age because of a real incarnation and a competing “truth” kingdom.

"Times change. God doesn’t, but times do. We learn and grow, and the world around us shifts, and the Christian faith is alive only when it is listening, morphing, innovating, letting go of whatever has gotten in the way of Jesus and embracing whatever will help us be more and more the people God wants us to be." V.E. by Rob Bell p. 11

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 3, 4 NASB

COMMENT: Notice that he says the “Christian faith” is to change if it is to continue being alive! Please make sure you actually read and understood what he just said in plain English. But the “Christian faith” has been ONCE AND FOR ALL delivered to the saints and is in Holy Scripture. We are changing - not it. We are being conformed to Him because we are embracing that which speaks of Him - the Word ministered by the Holy Spirit of God. And then notice what he once again says in plain English. (I wouldn’t reference this if this was the only instance in the book and he might have just misspoken.) Let go of what has gotten in the way of Jesus. Since when does the Christian faith as revealed to us through the Word of God get in the way of Jesus? How do you know what is the way of Jesus except by the clear teachings of Scripture? The only way the “Christian faith” could get in the way of Jesus is if we actually bought into his little “spring-world” that he talks about on p. 27. In a nut shell, he compares two “ways” of looking at truth. One is brick-world and the other is spring-world. The bricks are as in a wall and the springs are as in a trampoline. And he takes things like virgin birth and trinity and inspiration and would rather live with these in his spring-world. That way they are flexible: they can be set aside or break or bend or whatever. And how really solid are these “truths” anyhow if we consider rethinking one of them and they might change. No problem according to Bell. We can still keep jumping in spring-world because these springs are flexible and there are still plenty left for the purpose of our jumping. And since God is bigger than any wall these truths should not be like bricks which are fixed and rigid but like the springs on a trampoline that flex. So we shouldn’t expect our faith or God to change just because we rethink one of these springs because all is kosher in spring-world. (Evidently this is because "God" is the jumping and not the springs or the bricks in the wall.) If a few springs fail or change or are replaced or flex - what is that - there are a lot of them and as long as we’re having a good time in spring-world all is okay. But don’t dare let these truths be found in brick-world which is loved by those nasty brick-people because bricks are nonflexible. But don’t you brick-world people dare make us spring-world people feel judged by your non-flexible brick-God. (I am extrapolating his thought).

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. Luke 8:15 NASB

And as a part of this tradition, I embrace the need to keep painting, to keep reforming. By this I do not mean cosmetic, superficial changes like better lights and music, sharper graphics, and new methods with easy-to-follow steps. I mean theology; the beliefs about God, Jesus, the Bible, salvation, the future. We must keep reforming the way the Christian faith is DEFINED (emphasis), lived, and explained. V.E. by Rob Bell p. 12

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11 ESV

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Psalm 119:160 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31, 32 ESV

COMMENT: The above texts of Scripture speak quite plainly don’t you agree? The Bible defines the Christian faith - not us. The object of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ Himself - and His work in His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension defines us in our identity with Him. He is the center - not us.

“And the Bible keeps insisting that Jesus is how God put things together. The writer Paul said that Jesus is how God holds all things together. The Bible points us to a Jesus who is in some mysterious way behind it all. Jesus is the arrangement. Jesus is the design. Jesus is the intelligence.” V.E. by Rob Bell p. 83

About a couple being married:
“The same force that brought them together holds the whole world together. I then asked, ‘So today, your wedding is about something far more significant than just the two of you becoming husband and wife, isn’t it?’ They then said they would call this glue, this force, God.” V.E. by Rob Bell p. 76, 77

Panentheism - The view that the world is contained in and is a manifestation of the divine. Although the divine is immanent in and to the world, it still transcends the universe to some degree. As the human body is to the soul or mind, so the universe is to the divine.
Quoted from: www.apologeticsindex.com

COMMENT: Velvet Elvis has some outright panentheistic speech as sighted. But panentheistic thought is interwoven deeply within the framework of the book.

The only conclusion a Christian can come to after reading Velvet Elvis is that it is a repainting of Christianity itself. It redefines the Rock who is Christ as articulated in the Holy Scriptures and defined by His cross and turns Him into a "smiling-jumping" Christ of a self-worshiping generation.

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