Velvet Elvis - what i didn't like

I tried really hard to really like this book. I write myself, so the style wasn't a problem for me, but the content was disappointing as a whole. That's not to say their weren't good parts, convicting parts, and encouraging parts. There were. Expect a post on what those were sometime soon.

Let me begin by saying that I believe in a God who inspired Scripture and said some things very clearly. I believe if He could breathe His Word through Man, if He could create us all and destroy death, the He can empower us to understand the Bible beyond time and culture. That's important.

Second, there was more to this book than I can successfully put in a review. Maybe I shouldn't have written it. It would be better discussed at Cafe Brazil over a sandwich. But I did, so lets discuss it.

Most of the negative publicity aimed at Velvet Elvis relates to Rob's comments on the virgin birth. I can live with that in some regards. I think salvation is possible without accepting the virgin birth. That much is true. Still, the trampoline thing was a really bad analogy. Have you ever tried jumping on a trampoline missing one spring? I have, and it almost killed me when the next one let go. Legitimate structure is important, vital even. Not our means of making the Bible's paradoxes make sense necessarily(Calvinism), but the things the Bible says and seems to say clearly need to stay. Scripture is the foundation, church teaching is the wall. Keep the foundation. Live with the tension. Rethinking Scriptures because they are difficult, unscientific, or lacking in modern believability is at worst cowardly and at best unintelligent. Believe, or choose not to, don't go for both.

As to the rest;
Some comments early on were made about using verses for personal motives. I'm pretty sure we all do it. If you loved this book, I challenge you to do one thing. Read the verses in the footnotes. Then read around them. Some questions make less sense than the answers already given. It didn't really make me want to throw up, but it wasn't fair to the other side.
The rabbinic thing is interesting, but I don't put quite as much stock as most people in the immediacy of the Bible's context. See above. Its worth knowing but I don't think it guides my Bible.
I believe questions are rarely rooted in humility and often rooted in pride. Watch any two year old who has learned the word 'why.' "It's time for bed." Why? "Eat your dinner." Why? "Please stop eating your toys." Why? Children ask questions for two reasons - a desire to know, and because they think they already know, and their answer is better. I question God in the same way, but often the latter. If you know me, you know some of those questions.

Overall, The image that goes through my mind as I think about Velvet Elvis is from C.S. Lewis, who would probably mutter something along the lines of Professor Kirk if he read it. The image is from The Last Battle. Near the end of the book, the characters reach the fairytale equivalent of heaven. In heaven there call is to go 'further up and further in,' upwards towards Christ and inwards towards the true reality that is found in Him. I felt like Velvet Elvis did a very good job of going further up, and a very poor job of going further in.

I'll end this with the same questions i think we should ask about any discussion.
1) Why is it important that we think seriously about any book that interprets the Bible?
2) How can a disagreement in ideas result in a conversation that promotes the truth in love?
3) how can we further the kingdom by examining a book for Christians?
If the answer to any of those is It's not, It can't, or We can't, then lets just disagree and leave it there.

three lights

three lights. two
that were no good.
(one)
around the building
nothing stood.

(light) and shadow danced fantastic
silhouettes of saints
and wood (the good)

(two)
echoing the clash of plastic,
down the road
a temple stood

inverted steeple sink-hole,
floodlights glazed the sky

and down the road came more
(three)
lights, two by two,
crawling to its door

they stopped in rows
they shone no more
(then two by two
they shone no more)

we heard a note

we heard a note
a while
the rest of us were songs.
that single note; Your note
now fades into crescendo.
there its clarity reveals
depth within the chorus underneath


        Short not sweet,
        Sad without defeat.
        Short not sweet,
        Sung without defeat.
as you trailed off our voices raised
a rising
for brief eternity:


Sunday's Song

clamored into nothing, frantic and wild

then again
the noise grew
became an anthem
and Your music helped me trust

more voices rose than i have ever heard
a rose
and sang. wordless:

He is good
He is near and He is true and He is good

now i can't stop hearing

music always plays

and Your music hurts my heart

deep are the wounds of Your friendship