Proctors_Gambit

Oooh is that for real Dave?
Tut, tut, Changing the bible.
How very damning, literally.
See Gal 1:8,9

In the site I just visited, they talked of the 10 plagues and said that pharoah kept hardening his heart.
When in fact the bible states it was God hardening Pharoah's heart.
Ex 7:3, Ex 9:12


-Gambit

lpetrich

Or Exodus 20:26 (don't climb up upon an altar because you would explose yourself if you did)
Or Psalm 137:8-9 (baby-killing is good)
Or the story of Noah getting drunk and accidentally exposing himself.
Or the story of Lot's daughters making their father drunk and seducing him.
Or some of the Song of Solomon.

wildernesse

As a child, I had a children's Bible that I read all the way through one summer--mostly because it told me more about the history of the kings which was very interesting to me at the time.

I don't remember that anything was censored much in my religious upbringing. Yes, people were killed horribly--but that was how it was in the past, and the way the world is set up is different now so that this is not part of our everyday lives, as I was most likely taught.

However, my parents didn't censor much stuff for me as a child--altho the horror movie I watched when I was four that made me afraid to sleep with any part of my body hanging off the bed for fear of the demon monster living in the closet that would devour me makes me wish that they were just a little more careful sometimes. I was allowed to watch/read almost anything--in fact, I can't remember ever being told that something was forbidden (including the Bible). Music was a different story, and could not contain excessive "dirty" talk.

I don't think that I would call all conservative Christians part of the "moral police." My parents were/are responsible for themselves and us as children, and outsiders can produce whatever they like. My parents (and their at-home children) don't have to buy it or watch it or listen to it--consumer choice and individual responsibility. Sometimes I wonder if these "moral police" are real Republicans.

--tibac

Opera Nut

My aunt who is a Methodist, and may also be a fundy, was married for 50 years, and her hubby died. She remarried some rich conservative guy, in Kerrville TX where she lives. He started a rather large real estate chain.

Anyway, he writes "Texas historical fiction" and sends me links saying "Pleeease read!". It was the usual "white guy" crap, like the shit we get fed about Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, William Travis, Fannin, and all these other guys who supposedly fought in the war for Texas Independence in 1836.

Then he bragged and said "I write Sunday School stories for children."

I wrote back and said "I hope for their sake that you do not frighten them."

Bingo! No response from him....

Dale Merlin

When I was growing up in the '50s in a Southern Baptist home, my parents encouraged me to read the Bible without any censorship. In fact, there were "prizes" given out at my church for reading the Bible from cover to cover. I have no reason to doubt that this is still the case in Southern Baptist society.

I think most children raised in this way are not likely to question the stories in the Bible, since they are exposed to it from their earliest recollections. If they do raise questions, there are standard answers (as you know from reading Xian answers to atheist questions on this board) that most adults know to use to try to defuse any budding doubts.

This constant exposure results in a familiarity that seems both comfortable and comforting. I was one of the most skeptical and questioning children in my church, and it took me 40 years to make a complete break with Xianity (although there was a long sojourn in Episcopalianism in there as well).

River

Ya, they do censor these books from kids. I remember looking over a Childrens' book of Biblical stories. They censored "Ishmael" from the book. He was no where to be found . I guess they don't want kiddz to think too hard.

xsquid

Right idea, wrong venue. what I would do is go to a Benny Hinn or Billy Graham gathering, and unfurl a banner saying "BEAT ARMY".

snoiduspoitus

Questioning children need to have their minds set right, like some good passages from Proverbs:

13:24 - He that spareth the rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

19:18 - Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

20:30 - The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes on the inward part of the belly.

22:15 - Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

23:13 - Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

And my personal favorite from this little grouping:

29:15 - The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringest his mother to shame.

Such behavior was just as morally wrong centuries ago as it is now. Seems god's relativistic morals would have landed him in jail today.

ComestibleVenom

Isn't it interesting that those who 'read the bible cover to cover' seem just as unable to integrate those 'naughty bits' as those who had never read them in the first place?

Jinto

Perhaps they only read the cliff's notes from cover to cover.