Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.
Its been out for a while. I've had it on my bookself for 2 years, if not going on 3. I started it once, but as it goes with most books I start...I get halfway through and stop. Not because it isn't a good book, I most likely got distracted or enticed by another good read. But I'm glad, very glad that I came back to this one. I highly recommend it to everyone no matter where you are in your faith journey. It will definitely help you think.
As I'm nearing the end of the book, one thing resinated enough with me that I wanted to blog it out.
"...if people were taught more about who they are, they wouldn't have to be told what to do. It would come naturally." He goes on to say..."The point isn't sin management. The point is who we are now."
I may have ripped the page I underlined those phrases in such a strong, loud "Amen!!!" fashion. How true is that. If we taught more about who they are...If we spoke truth into the lives of those around us and less negativity, how would we live differently?
If we told children more of the truth...that they are good, that they are whole, that they are loved, that they are valued, that they are here for a specific purpose...how much more would they live up to that. What if we told children other than our own, that they matter, that they are made to do great things, that they were made to choose great things and not do so in a condescending demeanor. Not as if it is an expectation, but that it is a truth about them. We all know how impressionable they are. If you tell a young adolescent that they are funny because they did a certain thing, do they not typically try and replicate what they just did over and over and over and over again to get laugh?
We need to lay claim to the lives of the youth in our lives. We need to cover them with these truths. We need to believe these truths about them. We need to believe these truths about ourselves too. We ALL are created for greatness. Christ died so we could see our potential and we miss the point (don't get hung up on your shortcomings though, thats missing the point).
This book so far has been one of those divine appointments. I'm reading it at the right time. A time where I have been questioning where I'm at and really reevaluating what this whole thing called life is really about.
Read the book. I am wanting someone to chew on it and dialogue with me!!!
2 comments:
I read it and I wanted to throw it across the room on occasion, LOL. The "theological springs" and the comment on the virgin birth really disappointed me.
My main issue with the Emerging movement (the liberal side) is rather than looking at adjusting our orthopraxy, how we do things and why we do the things we do as a Church.
The want to "repaint" our theology and make it fit with our culture. We should be looking at our culture through a theological lens - not the other way around.
Now it is important to understand the culture we live in and be able to take that orthodoxy, what we believe, and be able to communicate it in a way that people will understand (orthopraxy).
Unfortunately the approach that I have seen regarding their approach to orthodox Christian theology is arrogant, fuzzy and eternally misleading.
Obviously this view comes from more than just my reading of Velvet Elvis, but the "springs" comment is a example of the problem.
One statement I loved in the book - "The word Christian makes a better noun than an adjective." Amen to that!
I do agree. There were points that I didn't always agree with, but it definitely throw a fresh coat on my faith.
We don't need to recreate our faith to fit into the culture today, it already fits. And it is looking through that faith into the culture that we should be repainting the culture. (if that makes any sense).
I'm definitely interested in looking into the "emergent" church. I have a few books to read that I have had sitting on my shelf and hope to get through them soon!
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