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,... Read More

Hail Mary, Full of Grace.. Was The Lord With Thee?

Let’s get straight to the point. If the vir­gin birth did not hap­pen, then, as Mark Driscoll rightly observes: If the vir­gin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sex­u­ally promis­cu­ous young woman lying about God’s mirac­u­lous hand in the birth of her son, rais­ing that son to declare he was God, and then join­ing his reli­gion. But if Mary is noth­ing more than a sin­ful con artist... Read More