The Search is Over

Ok, has something that you can't remember (someone's name, a song, etc.) ever bothered you enough that it sort of consumed you? I was reminded of a passage from a book today that I wanted to go back and look up, and being almost 100% positive Shane Claiborne said it, I scanned the pages of The Irresistable Revolution like 6 times looking for it. Lo and behold the almighty internet finally gave me the answer I was looking for when I did a google search to find it. All those passes through Revolution were in vain, because it was actually from Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz (a book I haven't even completely read.) After all that thinking about it, I figured I might as well share it with all of you. Be prepared- it's graphic- but I completely agree with it nonetheless.

"I associated much of Christian doctrine with children's stories because I grew up in a church. My Sunday school teachers had turned Bible narrative into children's fables. They talked about Noah and the ark because the story had animals in it. They failed to mention that this was when God massacred all of humanity. It took me a while to realize that these stories, while often used with children, are not at all children's stories. I think the devil has tricked us into thinking so much of biblical theology is a story fit for kids. How did we come to think the story of Noah's ark is appropriate for children? Can you imagine a children's book about Noah's ark complete with paintings of people gasping in gallons of water, mothers grasping their children while their bodies go flying down white-rapid rivers, the children's tiny heads being bashed against rocks or hung up in fallen trees? I don't think a children's book like that would sell many copies." (31)

I have thought along those lines a hundred times. So much of the Bible would get a solid R-rating (or sometimes higher) if you made it into a movie. It's always bothered me that we tend to water things down so much for our kids, to the point that when they are older it might be hard for them to separate their Kid's Church lessons about the ark and the like from the raw truth of God's Word. So ok, my point is that we just need to use discernment as parents. It's not that we should completely censor them from hearing those stories, or that we should expose them to the complete reality of the story at an age too young to grasp it, but maybe we need to be more careful about how much we omit (as in, we tend to omit nearly all but the nice things that make us comfortable with God-with a few exceptions. Funny that so many kids grow up to be adults that only want to believe the parts of Scripture that seem nice and that make them feel good...) Just a thought.