Bell goes through concepts of "What if" that cause a stir in the community of Christianity. To the point that we need to examine how we see Jesus and the word of God. He points out the fact that religion is just that, something written in scripts and fables for us to follow. Which religion was created by man. Jesus himself said that religion is not all you need. You need me as well. (Need scripture for proof). Bell goes through the ideas of what if Jesus had a physical father on this planet. Would this skew our idea of who Jesus is? How would we see him different? Even though he fulfilled all the prophecies except the immaculate conception based on this concept of what if. we built religion around Jesus. When we should have based it on him. He made a clear path for us to follow and answered everything in life for us. However, what if he did have a father on this earth? Would your Faith be skewed? How would you view the world differently? How would you follow the bible different?
We just have to get off the concept of religion and get on the concept of it as a faith in following him. Most churches now see this concept and have changed from being legalistic to relational.
Bell also gets into concepts of how to study the bible and how we should cherish it. He brings in the history of Rabbi's how they cherish the word and study it dearly to gain concepts of how the word can be interpreted in different ways.
"The rabbis spoke if the text being like a gem with seventy faces, and each time you turn the the gem, the light refracts differently, giving you a reflection you haven't seen before." (Bell 90)
If a new rabbi had a new perception of scripture it would have to pass through tests by the elders in order for it to be approved for teaching. However, it brings us the bona fide idea that the bible is there for interpretation on how we should live our lives. It can mean different things to different people. On the other hand, once the person perceives it in a certain way he should get it checked out by fellow Christ followers, preferably by elders.
He makes you realize you need to think outside the box. How many times have you heard that before? People have a hard time looking at things in a different manor and different perspective. It builds the mind to realize things can be different and look different for other people. The idea of even writing this can come across to one person as elementary but the other as being a fine piece of work. Bell expresses we must lok at the bible in all different directions so we can get the most out of it.
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