"Velvet Elvis"-DAY THREE

I'm continuing Chapter 1 of "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell.



I ended my last blog entry with a quote with Bell talking about how people have had a hard time talking about God since "God is bigger than our words, our brains, our worldviews, and our imaginations." He continues the chapter by referring to Moses and how his idea of having no shape or form was a "revolutionary" concept in his day.



"In Moses' day, the way you honored and respected whatever gods you followed was by making carvings or sculptures of them and then bowing down to what you had made. These were gods you could get your mind around. Moses is confronting people with an entirely new concept of what the true God is like. He is claiming that no statue or carving could ever capture this God, because this God has no shape or form."



Bell says this idea of God having no shape or form and having no limits was an idea that carried on through The Bible. When Moses asked God what His name was, God simply said, "I am." Throughout history, people have interpreted this in different ways ("I will be who I will be" or "I always have been, I am, and I always will be.") When God said "I am", He could have been telling us that an attempt at understanding Him completely is futile.



"The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up. And if we made him up, then we are in control. And so in passage after passage, we find God reminding people that he is beyond and bigger and more."



Next week, I will continue talking about Chapter one and what Bell calls "Brickianity".



So far, I'm really liking what Bell has to say, and I have seen nothing contrary to God's word. Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.