With the sheer number of books in the world it's often difficult for me to discern which are worthy of reading. I recently blogged about a strategy I developed for me: Read Chapter 1. Check for Goosebumps. As I run across books that capture me in some way, I'll share a quick review.
I've recently had a revived interest in the questions of faith, church, God and their various intersections. The squeaky-clean Sunday School solutions of my youth often haven't translated to my real life as an adult, and in the search for better answers I've determined that I've become more drawn to the search itself.
In Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Rob Bell poses questions I've often had in my head but not verbalized. He doesn't supply many answers, but invites us to join the conversation of faith, life, text, and their multiple intersections.
"Times change. God doesn't, but times do... letting go of whatever has gotten in the way of Jesus, and embracing whatever will help us be more & more the people God wants us to be."
"The Christian faith is mysterious to the core. It is about things and beings that ultimately can't be put into words. Language fails. And if we do definitively put God into words, we have at that very moment made God something God is not."
I've since learned that Bell has his share of disagree-ers, and his postmodern/emerging/Gen-XY attitude is a turn-off to some conservatives. But maybe that's part of the draw for me. It's something a little different that asks me to really think about what I believe, instead of just learning facts (and opinions dressed as fact).
It was simultaneously refreshing and challenging to read and think about the "What ifs" and "Whys" of this writing, and I'm interested to enter the discussions prompted by the author as I continue my journey - asking questions and questioning answers.
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