Book Review: Velvet Elvis

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think one of the reasons no one likes Rob Bell is because he isn't as "scientific" about stating his beliefs like most theologians. He doesn't use tons of qualifiers and his language is very emotional, which sometimes makes his words appear "loose" or "wishy washy." But, in context, I think it was easy to see that his main audience was different from that of most theologians and thus he wrote in this style. The only part I really didn't know what to do with was the portion at the end about heaven on earth. I really don't know anything about all that.

Here are some of the key themes I really liked throughout the book.

- Yokes: I never understood that verse about Jesus' yoke being easy. It was wonderful to understand the historical context behind what he was saying. Jesus' "yoke" was easy compared to the pharisees'. pg. 47
- Success: Success never makes life easier. We need to examine issues in our life, and allow God's healing. An essential part of this is learning to stop; something I need to work on. Pg. 11-113
- Killing Superpastor: "I am not defined by what I am not...I believed the not-working-hard-enough lie b/c I didn't function like a superpastor...So I had one choice - I had to kill superpastor." Made me laugh but it also brought some tears: I had to kill straight-A student. Pg. 115
- Implications for stumbling: we admit our sin, confess it, thank God for forgiveness, make amends with others, and move on. I can only imagine how much angst I would avoid if I consistently did this.


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