false 44361 031026345X 9780310263456 2281 405 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1200323296m/44361.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44361.Velvet_Elvis_Repainting_the_Christian_Faith 5344 Rob Bell 4919 916 2 0 false Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 27 14:40:18 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 22:03:50 -0700 2009
I found several things as really good insights. Especially when it came to culture and analogies from Jewish Rabi. I would love to know how credible and dependable his research is. He says a lot as if it is a settled cultural insight that he knows beyond any doubts. But I have never known biblical culture to be as "provable" as he seems to consider it. Verging on building doctrine off of cultural insights.

I found he is very unbalanced. Everything is seen through postmodern glasses. He does a good job of showing the need to allow our fellowship with God to impact our actual living experience. I believe the emergent movement has a good point in bringing attention to living issues that we tend to have ignored (humanitarian, local political, etc.) However, he will often elevate these above doctrinal concerns.

My biggest critique that makes this a hate book for me is the "RAW" nature of it. There are several things he says that show he does believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. But he will bring up a whole list of reasons to doubt it and then talk about how it impacts us so much anyway. The result is he feels he can confidently say it is the greatest book of all ancient lit. So he takes the reader down a road to doubt God's Word and then only leaves them with the belief that it will impact their lives. He also:
* says that God's primary goal is for us to bring heaven to earth.
* says that Hell is basically what we make it on earth
* says our primary goal should be transforming earth
* thinks we should have no favoritism
* believes the above means we should not see people as saved or not
* doesn't focus on evangelism but on being a blessing to people

A case can be made for all of these if you look at Christ's words to Israel when He was offering them the kingdom. However, at no point was Christ meaning that they did not need to be justified by faith. Paul clearly said to do good to all men (no favoritism) and especially to those of the household of faith (FAVORITISM).

As a critical read, I did find good stuff in the book. I also found it to be an easy read. But ultimately, I could never recommend this to anyone. Especially if I thought they might be susceptible to doubts. I don't think he is fair with scripture and would not help them if they were truly searching.]]>