Velvet Elvis - Movement Two - "Yoke"

In our small group time on Wednesdays, our high school guys have been going through Velvet Elvis, a book by Rob Bell that re=examines the Chriistian faith from all angles. In the second chapter, Bell introduces a fresh insight on the relevancy of teh Bible in modern times. He accurately points out that the Bible is more than ancient stories from ancient times that don't pertain to modern issues that are occuring in today's society. The Bible is a book filled with accounts of God working through people who are passionate and desperately hungry to experience the Almighty God.

Bell also presents the view that we are the characters in the Bible as much as the actual characters are. The amazing, fantasmical fact about the Bible is not that the stories happened, it's that they actually happen. We all face the same decision as Adam and Eve did and just like them, we choose to partake from the forbidden fruit, whatever that may be for each of us. The point is that the Bible is a collection of Scriptures that are alive and happening today. They are still pertinent in today's culture just as they were in the times they were written.

The thing that stuck out to me the most out of the second chapter was towards the end of the chapter. Bell is writing about a group of rabbis in ancient times. He describes the mixed feeling of confusion and hope that they feel when they read a Scripture they cannot even come close to understanding. The rabbi is confused because he doesn't understand this important part of God's word but he also has hope because he knows that God will reveal to him the true meaning of this particular passage. Then teh rabbi would say a prayer that would go something like this, "Thank you God that, at some time in the future, the lights are going to come on for me." God is good.