There’s one thing that can be said with all certainty about Rob Bell: he knows how to stir the water. And Velvet Elvis is no exception.
You don’t have to look any further than the caption of this book to know what I mean. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. That should turn a few heads and stir up a few things, right? And it has. So much so that you almost feel like a heretic for simply picking this book up and reading the back cover.
Yet, controversy aside, as with The Shack, this book has helped mold and change my life. There’s a realness to Rob’s writing, speaking and teaching that you can’t help but be attracted to. He takes you past the obvious, and looks at things in ways that you would never have thought of on your own.
I know that Rob doesn’t write edgy things for controversy’s sake. From all that I have heard and seen written about him, he has plenty enough of unwarranted, hurtful words spoken about him without purposely asking for more. I simply think he is one of the ones who have caught the fact that there has got to be more than what we see right now. There must be more than this.
Velvet Elvis covers a wide range of topics, but seems to consistently bring everything back to Christians knowing who they are in Christ, and living that out: an easy, rewarding yoke. The cost is so small in comparison to the relationship God offers in return, yet if the cost is consistently right in front of your eyes it appears to be all there is. It looks ten times bigger than it really is.
The revelations in this book are far too numerous to sum up in a paragraph, but my favourite would have to be the trampoline analogy. Theology and revelation should be like a trampoline; not like a brick wall. When a revelation or piece of theology held dear is turned upside down, and turns out to be false or wrong, one’s entire Christian life shouldn’t crumble like a brick wall with one brick removed. Instead revelation should be like trampoline springs being tightened or loosened, causing the person bouncing to bounce higher. But whatever happens, they keep bouncing.
This makes you realise that life is an adventure to be explored, not a battle to be feared. Rob talks about the Christian life being like a painting that is never finished until we are with Christ. However, in this life, it is constantly being reworked, rethought, restructured and fresh. Otherwise it ends up in the basement just like his Velvet Elvis.
If people in our heritage hadn’t done this very thing there would still be crusades and people being murdered because they don’t believe. Rethinking, repainting. Most people are already doing this in their life without even thinking about it, but this is giving it a name and encouraging it to never stop. Never stop going deeper in God and encouraging others to do likewise.
Because there is always further to go in God.
Despite what you may have heard about this book, I would challenge you to pick it up and read it through for yourself. Eat the meat and spit out the bones if necessary; either way, don’t miss out on this great read.
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- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Stephen Garton
- Your Love Never Fails by Stephen Garton
