Bob DeWaay does a good job in this article explaining the teaching of Ron Bell in “Velvet Elvis” and debunking them. All I will add is that the American Church is heading for big trouble if young “Christians” keep following these postmodern leaders that have no regard for sound biblical doctrine.
For the past two years I have researched the theology of the Emergent Church in preparation for a book I am writing. During that time I ignored Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis because I was concentrating on other works of postmodern theology. Then someone loaned me Bell’s video in which he uses subatomic physics to try to prove that, “everything is spiritual.” After viewing it, I saw how seriously he is leading people astray. On a recent trip I finally read Velvet Elvis.
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Having established that we cannot validly know enough to build a wall or foundation with theological bricks, Bell invites us on a journey. But how do we know that a Christian journey is a better one than a Muslim one? For Bell we don’t. We know that Christian ethics and social action are very good things and if we engage in these practices our Muslim neighbors will be better off even if they stay Muslim. Says Bell, “Another truth [remember this means “mystery” for Bell] about the church we’re embracing is that the gospel is good news, especially for those who don’t believe it.”[vi] He claims we need to quit trying to convert people and just change the world for better: “Jesus lives; here’s a toaster.”[vii] Bell’s trampoline analogy starts out with a neo-orthodox understanding of a “leap” and ends in the social gospel. The result is nearly indistinguishable from the theological liberalism I was taught in my youth in the 1950’s and 60’s..
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