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)
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 then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ1.
As I said in my previous post, I’ve been hearing quite a lot of people downplay or even reject the virgin birth as a fanciful bit mythologizing 2… (Read more)
Virgin Births and Naked Gospels
Over the past few days a couple things have happened: I’ve become supremely irritated at people constantly devaluing the virgin birth — it changes a lot if it didn’t happen! I’ve also, upon recommendation, picked up the book The Naked Gospel by Dr. Andrew Farley. I believe it’s with this book that I’ll start making more time for book reviews. As an aside, I’ve also picked up more of Peter Kreeft’s work (Socrates Meets Jesus, Making Sense out of Suffering, Three Approaches to Abortion and Back to Virtue); I find the man an engaging writer and usually spot on.
Back to essays… And after that, perhaps a few things on the virgin birth, and a book review, of course.… (Read more)
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