I have read some criticism of this “Bible” in the past, and reported on what I read four years ago when the book was new. I finally got around to getting a copy and reading it for myself so as to make a better assessment of it.
Rather than repeat what I said about this book in my previous article, I’ll just refer you to it as a “preview” of this article. In this current article, I’m just going to give more demonstrations as to the problems with this “Bible” version, i.e, problems in addition to those previously noted.
Firstly, let me say that the idea of a story-book version Bible is not new; lots of kids’ versions have been available for decades. So in that regard, this book is not new. What is new is the inaccuracies, irreverent language and character portrayals, as well as the trivialization of many characters and teachings. What follows are some of the more serious problems I found in this book:
Page 6. The story-teller says, “So where were we? Yes, the sixth day... After God made all life and declared it good, he made us humans. Well, he made a man, to be exact.”
Um, no. On day six God made both man and woman! The story line implies that Eve came along much later
Page 20. Noah’s flood is depicted as lasting ONLY 40 days before he sent out the dove. While the rain lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, the flood remained much longer. The Bible says that after 150 days the ark rested on the mountains, but the water took even longer to recede.
Page 31, 31. On page 31 one of the characters uses coarse language: “Who the hell does he think he is?” Then on page 35 we have a midwife saying, “I sure ain’t killin’ no baby, hell no!” Are these quotes supposed to be humorous?
Page 61, the story of Job. One of Job’s friends is wearing a suit - jacket & tie! War against Job is depicted by a drawing of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb. This is totally ludicrous.
Page 105 has unnecessary sensual nudity.
Page 137, birth of Jesus has no mention of the virgin birth.
Page 155 tells the story of “The Unforgiving Servant,” with characters from modern Mafia gangster movies!
Page 156 has more crude language as one of the apostles says, “We kicked butt!”
Page 159 uses more crudity as those charging the woman caught in adultery say she was “caught going at it!”
Page 174 tells the story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the shore after resurrection (from John 21). Jesus says, “Greetings! It’s me, your master! You look like you’ve seen a ghost! I can assure you I am real - look at the nail-holes in my hands and feet. By the way, I’m starving. Do you have any food? I could murder some fish and honeycomb.”
Doesn’t this mock Jesus? Doesn’t it trivialize who he is?
Page 197 says John the apostle wrote the Revelation “thousands of years ago.” 2000 years hardly equals “thousands.”
Page 203 discusses how the author developed his “Jesus.” “When I put it together i knew that Christ was going to be the bad guy - you know what I mean, the ‘badass’ that kicks everyone’s butt...” I find this to be rather blasphemous, or at the very least trivializing Christ.
Page 216 makes the typical unbeliever’s charge that God is guilty of having a “genocide policy.”
Well, it’s been almost five years since this book came out, and I really hope it had poor sales. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It is just another cheap idea to make money off of God’s Word.
5 comments:
It certainly gives an accurate assessment of where we are as a people. The dark gets darker but the light by the same token gets lighter. It leaves less and less excuse for where a person stands in relation to God.
Just out of curiosity - which version are you reading from? I possess two versions, one with just the comic version, or the one with the new testament included? If I recall correctly, The new testament is the TNIV, make of that what you will.
blabr,
Well, the photo on the article is the version I have. It has the complete Bible - if you can call it that. And, yes, I know it has the TNIV; I noted that in my first article.
What do I make of the TNIV? Well, it is nothing but twisting God's Word to please the world.
Interesting blog you have. I just subscribed to it.
If this had been Islamic in nature, the Muslims would have risen up in protest, BUT since it is Christian - the silence is deafening.!!!.
It is no wonder our nation is going south at an alarming speed.
Ali--my thoughts exactly! I was going to say that with friends within the "Christian" religion, we don't need enemies. Or, we have met the enemy and it is us.
Post a Comment