Well, I finally finished it and yes it was outstanding, but when comparing it with Velvet Elvis I have to say that Velvet Elvis still has the edge for me. Sex God has defintitely made it on my top 10 list of favorites, but Velvet Elvis still pretty much tops the list. I guess I felt like overall I learned more from Velvet Elvis or maybe that is just because it covered many different subjects and Sex God had the main focus of the connection of spirituality and sexuality. Sex God is a bit more personal or at least a bit harder to talk about because our sexuality is such a personal thing to begin with and then connecting it with our spirituality, for me, seems to take it into a whole other realm.
Much of the book appealed to my inner feminist... upon hearing that I am a stay at home mother to 3 children you may question my having an inner feminist, but those of you out there that saw (and heard my reasoning behind) my recent painting known to some as "Forgiven," but also lovingly(?) refered to as "Mother-in-law" may feel that it is not quite the stretch that it may seem. I appreciated Rob's thoughts on submission a great deal as that was a subject that I spent a lot of time thinking about and struggling with as I was working on that painting. I love that he so easily and clearly pointed out that this word that he even mentions has been used to bring great harm to many women, actually means that a man and woman should be submitting to each other equally... he calls it mutual submission.
I felt like a lot of the book gave me a good background of information that I would want to share with my daughter as she begins to become interested in boys (hopefully not for another 30 years!!) and starts to think of her worth as a female in our world. I would say that this could be a great book to actually read with teenage girls to help them see their worth through the eyes of our lord, but I think that much of it could be too heavy for most typical teenage girls. However there are definitely parts of the book that could be very beneficial at that time of a girl's life.
Here is a quote from a section of the book that I keep coming back to...
" I often meet people who aren't part of a church and don't want anything to do with God because of "all those religious hypocrites." Often they have great pain that they blame on "the church." But it's not possible for an institution, whether it's a church or a school or a business or even the government, to hurt somebody.
Institutions are made up of people.
People hurt people."
I guess it was an unexpectedly meaningful book for me that just really deepened my appreciation for Rob's teachings!! If there were one book that I could convince my dear husband (I know that you barely have time to read the bible let alone anything else because we have 3 kids and live such a crazy life!!) to read this year I think it would be Sex God. Obviously we have all heard the analogy of the relationship of a husband and wife and and our relationship with Christ before, but Rob presented so many "new" connections that my brain is really still processing it all.
It is definitely, definitely, definitely a must read!! Off and on today I keep finding myself referring back to it even though I am "done" with it. I actually think that I am going to have to go right back into another reading of it, because I know that there is much that will hit me on an even deeper level the second time through. There is so much meaningful and really touching information that I just can not even begin to touch on it all in a blog post. I would say that if you have not yet read Velvet Elvis, get it now and start reading... and if you have read it, then it is now time to get started on Sex God!
As a side note, today I had a short email conversation today about Velvet Elvis and it sent me back to the post that I wrote upon finishing it. In case anyone is interested here is a link to it: http://brusheswithgrace.blogspot.com/2007/05/velvet-elvis.html.
Labels: Book Discussions
For me, Sex God was better than Velvet Elvis because it focused on community and relationships - what Rob wrote about applies to all types of relationships, not just husband/wife. And the chapter called "Worth Dying For"? Hands down, the best in the book.