"Velvet Elvis"-DAY TWO

I am currently in the middle of Chapter 1 of "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell (or, as he calls it, "Movement One-Jump").

Bell begins the chapter by saying that EVERYBODY in this world has a belief system. Even those people who say they don't believe in anything...that's STILL a belief system.

"What often happens is that people with specific beliefs about God end up backed into a corner, defending their faith against the calm, cool rationality of others. As if they have faith and beliefs but others don't. But that is not true."

Bell states that the question is not who has faith and who doesn't. The question is what do we put our faith in. He goes further and states that everybody's belief system is based on influences in our lives (parents, teachers, etc.). Even people who say they're not influenced by religion and think for themselves STILL got that perspective from someone else!!

He uses a humorous story about jumping on a trampoline with his son to explain how statements and beliefs about the Christian faith are like springs on a trampoline. Like springs on a trampoline, when one "jumps" (or as I interpret it...live their lives), these "springs" (or system of beliefs) "help make sense of these deeper realities that drive how we live everyday."

One of the examples of a "spring" that Bell uses is the belief of "The Trinity". Read VERY CAREFULLY what he says:

"This doctrine is central to historic, orthodox Christian faith. While there is only one God, God is somehow present everywhere. People began to call this presence, this power of God, his "Spirit". So there is God, and then there is God's Spirit. And then Jesus comes among us and has this oneness with God that has people saying things like God has visited us in the flesh (John 1:14). So God is one, but God has also revealed himself to us as Spirit and then as Jesus. One and yet three. This three-in-oneness understanding of God emerged in the several hundred years after Jesus' resurrection. People began to call this concept the Trinity. The word trinity is not found anywhere in tbe Bible. Jesus didn't use the word, and the writers of the rest of the Bible didn't use the word. But over time this belief, this understanding, this doctrine, has become central to how followers of Jesus have understood who God is. It is a spring, and people jumped for thousands of years without it."

Now, critics of Bell have taken that statement and used it to make the claim that he denies the authority of the Trinity. BUT WAIT!!! While I was reading, I noticed at the end of the sentence there was a footnote. I turned to the back of the book, found the footnote, and it said this:"

"This fact, of course, doesn't make the doctrine any less true. It's been true all along; people just 'recently' discovered it."

A-HA!!!! So, Bell does NOT deny the authority of the Trinity. He's just saying that it was not called "The Trinity" until much later.

So...why would Bell wait and mention that in the BACK of the book in the footnotes? I have a theory about that. I truly believe Bell wanted to see if people who were reading/studying the book would actually DIG DEEP and see if they would check the footnotes...or if they would just take his quote in the front of the book, misquote it, and use it for their own agendas.

I must admit it felt REALLY good to discover this.

I close this blog entry with another quote from Bell concerning the use of "springs":

"Once again, the springs aren't God. They have emerged over time as people have discussed and studied and experienced and reflected on their growing understanding of who God is. Our words aren't absolutes. Only God is absolute, and God has no intention of sharing this absoluteness with anything, especially words people have come up with to talk about Him. this is something people have struggled with since the beginning: how to talk about God when God is bigger than our words, our brains, our worldviews, and our imaginations."

I'll be looking more into that as I continue to read "Velvet Elvis". Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading.