Brick Walls and Trampolines
I’ve re-opened a book I thought I had long closed, Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. Back in 2005 it caused something of a craze and a controversy, especially at the (apparent) suggestion that the virgin birth — among other doctrines — was effectively unnecessary (but don’t worry, I’m not going to discuss the virgin birth). The reason I’ve re-opened this book is because my post yesterday night was, in fact, “inspired” by Rob Bell. What I want to do with this post is discuss in detail Bell’s illustrations, and then discuss the implications of what he is teaching. There would appear to be multiple interpretations of this particular section of Bell’s writing, so I’ll keep those in consideration, especially those which, I think, miss the point (I’ll probably end up discussing two such interpretations).
Introduction
Bell paints an illustration using the examples of trampoline springs, and a brick wall. The … (Read more)
The Resurrection?
Lately I’ve been watching and reading about the debate surrounding the resurrection of Jesus and the historicity of such an account. This reminded me of a brief dialogue Tony Jones presented at the beginning of The New Christians. The argument was meant to show the deficiency of foundationalism, however, it concerns something that is brought up more often than not in popularized ‘resurrection dialogue’. I’m going to modify the dialogue somewhat and then go from there. Thus, beginning with Tony Jones modified dialogue:
“I believe the resurrection account because of Biblical testimony.”
“Well, how do you know the Bible is true and accurate?
“I believe what the Bible says on the resurrection because the Apostles were martyred for their belief, and people don’t knowingly die for a lie.”
“What about the 9/11 terrorists?”
“They were deceived. They didn’t know they were dying for a lie. The apostles had … (Read more)
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