Jesus Rode a...Huh?

From some random Bible coloring book. Totally, awesomely bad:























In case you are confused, Jesus, as far as I know, did not have time to ride on dinosaurs. And, unless I have entered another dimension, T-Rex did not hang in Galilee. This is not the only sketchy Bible book for kids. Many of them are overly simplistic, get stories wrong, and, as is displayed in the picture above, make stuff up. Watch out parents.

For example, a prof of mine pointed out that most Bibles for kids get the story of Noah wrong. Perhaps you remember the story this way: God comes down to find a completely depraved people and decides that the best course of action is to start over (=he decides to kill everyone). Well, in order to keep the human race going, he chose Noah, with his family, to continue the human race. But why was Noah chosen in the first place? Why did he find "favor in the eyes of God?" (Gen. 6:8)? According to many children's Bibles, it was because Noah was a "good man." Unfortunately for these books, the Bible says nothing like that. All it says is that God was displeased with man and that Noah "found favor in the eyes of God." So we must conclude, then, that God based his decision entirely on his mercy and not Noah's righteousness.

This teaching is foundational to the Gospel (see Ephesians 2:8-9) and should therefore be foundational as you teach your kids about Christ and what he has done for us. If we depend on ourselves, we are doomed. But if we depend on Christ, who stands as the only mediator between God and man, we will gain eternal life.

I blogged a while back on The Jesus Storybook Bible. I have a copy and want to start reading it to my little girl soon (even though she may not understand me or it yet!) It is truly remarkable in its ability to relate the stories of the Bible simply without losing any of their profundity. I commend it to you.

HT: Kevin Cawley