Velvet Elvis

OK. One of the books I read over summer is Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Rob is the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan.

I tried to write a review, but there is just too many thoughts that I couldn't articulate in a way that will do the book justice. But I will tell you how it has influenced my thinking.

I see things really black and white. In the past if I hear someone talk and I agree with something they say, I'll willingly listen to the rest without out being too skeptical. But if I hear something that doesn't match up with what I belief, or just doesn't sit well with me, then I tend to write off everything else they put forward. This book has helped me understand that what each person says is a contribution to an age old discussion about what the Bible means and therefore how we live our lives. It's a discussion that continues to evolve.

that's why it scares me when I hear people say "I want to teach people every thing I've learnt at ______ ". (Weather that be a Church, Bible college, a Teacher, Prophet, TV Evangelist, thinking...)
When that attitude is expressed, it is often implying that what they have heard is the ultimate interpretation of the Bible. Mind as well stop thinking, questioning and discussion, because this is it. And it is not. No one person could possibly interpret the Bible without bias or agenda or preconceived ideas getting in the way. That is why we need each other. That's why the Church forms a body. An interesting thought here is that it's usually not the Teacher, Church, Bible College etc that thinks they have reached the ultimate understanding, but the person who hears it and fails to remember that they are hearing a contribution to the discussion. The information can be regurgitated, but the original intention can be lost.

The way I teach kids about the Bible has been challenged. Especially with older kids, I've come to understand that as a teacher to them I should be equipping them to ask questions, to learn about the context of the information they are reading, and how that will apply to their life, rather then only teaching how I interpret it, therefore this is how they should live. I want them to go home, ask their parents what they think, ask their grandparents, friends, neighbours, whoever, and to ask God to give them revelation. I've always valued decision making as a tool we should be equipping kids with, this is key to that.