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 Redundant Nov 05, 2009
I really enjoyed Bell's book Velvet Elvis; however, I was slightly disappointed by this book. It seemed very redundant, like everything I have heard before.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Great Message! Sep 12, 2009
Another insightful piece by Rob Bell. He articulates the problem of existing as a church within empire very well. I thought we was prophetic in his description of the problem, and pastoral in "solution" to the problem - perhaps a bit soft, however. I would quibble with some of his scholarship along the way as being a little outdated, but overall his message is an important one for the western world to hear!
9 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Love NOOMA... strongly disagree with this book Aug 25, 2009
I loved his NOOMA videos and found "Sex God" and "Velvet Elvis" intriguing. But this book is absolutely ridiculous liberal propaganda.
This book is written to the response to the War on Terror: in particular the Iraqi Freedom war. The authors make the case that America spends billions of dollars on homeland security and defense spending and not enough on helping the needy, sick, and the poor. They go further to say that America has become an Empire, like the ancient Egyptian empire that enslaved the people of Israel. Since God heard Israel's cry, Pharaoh was destroyed. Therefore America will be destroyed because we spend lots of money on metal detectors and bombs and we use those to kill evil people and their wives and children and keep the bad people out of our country who want to kill us.
If you agree with the above statement you will love this book. If you know the story of David in the Bible you will not like this book because his story of how God blessed him as he expanded the Israeli empire by killing and subduing his enemies. You are also going to love this book if you believe George W. Bush is the anti-Christ and Barrack Obama is the savior of the world.
I wasted $20 and 4 hours of my life with this book.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 It's okay, but not memorable. Aug 05, 2009
Rob Bell hit a home run with his first book, "Velvet Elvis", and at least a standup double or triple with "Sex God", but has barely gotten a single with this, his third book, co-written with Don Golden. It's not that he doesn't have good things to say and write about, and it's not that it's badly written, but the style is simply not as engaging.
The one word paragraphs go on and on.
And they are annoying.
And I keep wishing they'd stop.
And they keep leading up to something.
Something that doesn't... quite... get there.
Not an awful book or a bad book by any stretch, but when I got to the end of it there was nothing new in my life that I got out of it, really. In "Velvet Elvis" I learned that my beliefs were springs to spur me on to live a more Christ-focused life, and that has stuck with me, With "Sex God" I really got interested in the whole connection between everything physical and spiritual, a message that was even better supported with Rob's EXCELLENT video "Everything is Spiritual". (That book and video make excellent companion pieces, imho.)
With this book I learned that we're not doing enough to heal the world. Well, "The Hole In The Gospel" tells that story better (by Richard Stearns). So buy that book instead.
I love Rob and will continue to buy his books, but if you're looking for a first Bell book to read, skip this one and go right to "Velvet Elvis".
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Empires, Exile, and Middle-class Americans Aug 05, 2009
Rob Bell writes in a breezy, yet emphatic, style with structural brevity and amazing punch. "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" is Bell's third book, and though he collaborates with Don Golden, his concise, well-researched reasoning combined with his sometimes hilarious, sometimes profound endnotes make this work unmistakably Bell. Golden contributes his expertise on the church's engagement in impacting global poverty. He currently serves as an executive leader for World Relief, a Christian non-profit organization that pours millions of dollars into addressing some of the world's biggest crises caused by poverty.
Bell's perspective is shaped by his insistence that the Bible be read, studied, and lived as a fluid, complete work. Not in bits and pieces. His narrative in this book, therefore, starts in Genesis and covers much of the Old and New Testaments all the way through Revelation. With a keen eye for the history of God's people, Bell draws some frighteningly stark parallels between the "empires" of ancient Egypt and Rome and current-day world power, the United States of America. Like the ancient Israelites, he argues that Americans are caught in exile: "Exile is when you fail to convert your blessing into blessings for others.
Exile is when you find yourself a stranger to the purposes of God". (1)
Armed with a plethora of shocking statistics (2) and an articulate description of the history of God's people, Bell shows his readers the difference between a life focused on His Kingdom--one of service and sacrifice--versus the world's view of power and security. Clearly humans' lust for wealth and power hasn't changed much since the days of Solomon. With a piercingly insightful look into the human heart, Bell skillfully challenges us, as followers of Jesus, to think beyond our limited earthly views and to joyfully enter into our neighbors' suffering as the Body of Jesus Himself: "Disconnection from the suffering of the world, isolation from the cry of the oppressed, indifference to the poverty around us will always lead to despair.
We were made for such much more." (3)
This manifesto begs us to reconsider our priorities as American citizens, identifying the perils of "the vicious cycle of the priority of preservation": the futile accumulation of military bases, stockpiling of weapons and the compulsion to protect one's "rights". Mr. Bell invites us into a life of freedom from the bondage of self-preservation and self-sufficiency. A life that mirrors Jesus' pouring out of oneself in selfless acts of Kingdom love.
Ever teetering on the edge of controversy (4), this author does write some things that make me shift uncomfortably in my reading chair. At times, Bell over-emphasizes the importance of humanity at the expense of reverence for the Lord. For example, in his descriptions of God's gift of the Ten Commandments, he writes "The Sabbath command should be understood as being against the inhumane labor conditions and unreasonable production demands of Pharaoh's Egypt. The text says that `Pharaoh's slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed.' How beautiful, then is a God who commands these Israelites to rest each week?" (5)
Like the other nine, this is a timeless commandment, not predicated on the specific sufferings of its recipients or a particular story in history. As my pastor, Abe Hepler, likes to say, "The Bible is not a story about us. It's a story about who God is."
While I found this book compelling and extremely thought-provoking, I yearned for Bell to offer more solutions, more practical ideas to break the spell of materialism. And in the end, I really felt like I had gotten a big lecture on how rotten I am as a middle-class American.
(1) Pg. 45
(2) "More than half the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150.00 a week." Pg. 122
(3) Pg. 163
(4) See, for example, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, "Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions" (Good News Publishers, 2008), pp. 97 - 98. Driscoll shreds Bell's assertion that Mary's virginity before Jesus' birth isn't a necessary tenant for our faith.
(5) Pg. 191
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