For Whom the “Bell” Tolls – My Thoughts on Velvet Elvis Part 3

For Part 1, click here. For Part 2, click here. This post will conclude my review of Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. …And what does he say about those pastors who do teach the Bible? Luke 11:46 says, “Jesus replied, ‘And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they

For Whom the “Bell” Tolls: My Thoughts on Velvet Elvis – Part 2

For the first part of this review, click here. “Is the Bible the best God can do?” asks Bell. Apparently not, because he doesn’t seem to be sure God even wrote the Bible to begin with. He wonders if Corinthians, for example, is written by Paul or God or God through Paul or Paul through God. I wonder, as he’s standing at the pulpit on Sunday mornings preaching through 1 Timothy what he does with chapter 3 verse 16 (“All Scripture is inspired by God…”), but there’s really no reason for him to preach out of the Bible anyway, according to him.  “The Bible is open-ended,” he says. “We cannot simply do what it says,” because it first must be interpreted. Meaning, “Someone has to

The Strength of Mercy

For those of you familiar with All God’s Children International, here is a book that documents its humble origins, written by Jan Beazely, one of the main instruments in getting this mission off the ground. It’s hard to step out in faith sometimes, but we’re left with no excuse after watching the Beazely family make

Cult #2: Mormonism

Mormonism is the fastest growing and most successful cult. Their church is called The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, or LDS for short. They claim to be Christians, that they believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But they employ semantics to nearly every Christian term. A history: Joseph Smith Jr.:

Aesop’s Fables

Being a fan of fairytales and folklore, I couldn’t justify passing up an opportunity to read the classic, Aesop’s Fables. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the whole book. Like Grimm’s Fairytales some of the stories were not as catchy as others, but I took the liberty to point out a few fun fables for you

Cult #1: Jehovah’s Witness

The official name for Jehovah’s Witness is, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. They produce two magazines within their circuit: “Awake” and “The Watchtower.” Their Bible version: The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT). Everyone who disagrees with Jehovah Witness’s – especially Christians – are not only wrong but are moral enemies and

The Devil in the White City

History and fiction buffs unite! Though this book is purely historical, it is written like a novel. Who would have known that reading about the architecture of the extinct Chicago World Fair would be such a page-turner? Larson does a magnificent job at connecting many pieces of history to this one brief moment in time,