My Impression of Velvet Elvis

Rob Bell is quite the controversial person in Christian circles. He is a very popular pastor and author with many, yet some people believe that many of his teachings are borderline heretical. In order to better understand this man, I decided to read his first published book, which is Velvet Elvis.

Velvet Elvis is divided into seven chapters, which the author calls “movements.” Each of these “movements” is fairly self-contained, which leads to the easy use of them in a Bible Study or book club format. Each “movement” centers around a personal story Mr. Bell has experienced, and it allows for the audience to interact with the book in a more personal fashion. I found his writing style to be very entertaining with his use of analogies and stories like the aforementioned ones. Unlike many books pertaining to aspects of theology and doctrine, the book was not boring and dry.

Mr. Bell describes the book that asks Christians to question their beliefs as part of a journey process. I personally believe that a person should have his/her own faith through experience and introspection and should not have a faith because of family roots or social acquaintances. Still, he does raise questions without answers and, to some extent, takes some liberty with Scripture.

There are two instances in the book which gave me pause from a doctrinal standpoint. One occurred on page 26, in which he described how faith should be strong enough to survive someone digging up proof that the Bible was incorrect. The example Mr. Bell used was a hypothetical situation in which archaeological evidence is found in which Jesus Christ had a human father. This flies in the face of the prophecy of the Old Testament and the Gospels of the New Testament. This example seemed like a poor choice to point out that faith should overcome finding out new discoveries about the Bible being “wrong.” I personally believe in an infallible God and that His Word is not incorrect in any way, shape, or form. If the foundation of my salvation, Jesus Christ, is repainted as being all man and not all man and all God, then my faith would be shattered irreparably.

The other instance is in the portion of the text below:

"Jesus at one point claimed to be 'the way, the truth, and the life'. Jesus was not making claims about one religion being better than all other religions. That completely misses the point, the depth, and the truth. Rather, he was telling those who were following him that his way is the way to the depth of reality. This kind of life Jesus was living, perfectly and completely in connection and cooperation with God, is the best possible way for a person to live. It is how things are" (Page 21).

This sounds like it makes sense until one looks at the complete Scripture Mr. Bell was referencing, which is John 14:5-14. Here is the Scripture from the New International Version of the Bible:

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (John 14:5-14 – New International Version).

When one looks at the complete Scripture, Jesus is clearly talking about himself as the way, the truth, and the life to salvation. He clearly was saying that only through Him and not other sources could one truly be saved. Surely, the New Testament has many stories where Jesus taught people how to live. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-12) is a classic example of this. Still, Jesus was not trying to make some universal statement about how good people who do good things and follow a certain “way” are all good with Him. No, they are only good with God if they believe in Jesus Christ and accept his free gift of salvation.

Beyond these two major differences, I found much to like, especially in the latter half of the book. One page 168, I loved how he described a church as being powerful when it stands up to a pervasive culture which runs counter to God’s teaching. Mr. Bell is at his best when discusses how a church should focus on standing up for God while having empathy for others. Many people focus on one of the two at the expense of the other; an effective Christian needs both of these in liberal measures. He is also correct in stating that Christians need to wrestle with God’s Word, like Jacob, and understand it for ourselves. I just wish he would not take tangents that stop at the precipice of heresy to highlight his points. In the end, it is a wonderfully written call to arms for Christians to better understand their faith; but the people who wrestle with the Word like Mr. Bell asks will quickly see the flaws in his examples.