Rhea

Spurly,

I'm afraid I can't give you a passing grade in reading comprehension. Your answer doesn't even score a glancing blow against the actual topic...

Here's the question:

spurly

I'm sorry. I posted an answer to the title of this thread.

Kevin

JEST2ASK

:boohoo: :boohoo:

I do not think you are sorry ........ Your post was intentional ... to make a statement - However I could be wrong ... You could have posted without reading the intial post or any of the responses.


Did You read anything other than the title before posting

spurly

Yes. I read the title and the first post in the thread. I answered based on what I think when I read the titles in the title list.

If that is wrong, I am sorry.

Rhea

Apology accepted. But I still can't give you a passing grade in reading comprehension. The Opening Post and all subsequent posts were pretty clear.

Try not to go off half-cocked, son. Take a deep breath, contemplate the topic. Converse with others instead of preaching. You'll find your world intensely satisfying that way.

Treacle Worshipper

I agree that there are a lot of cute images around. Sometimes even crucifixes seem to be made in order to minimise the impact of what a horrible death it was.

However...

This was not my experience as a child. I have a copy of "The Bible for Children" (by Bridget Hadaway and Jean Atcheson) which was given to me when I was only four. (20 years ago.) This has plenty of violent pictures in it, but I still think the worst one is the one of the flood. The foreground is taken up with realistic drawings of people dying, including several children and a baby. There are also some drowned animals. The Ark is a shadowy shape towards the back of the picture. This gave me a very graphic impression of what "God" would do to me if I was "bad" - and when you're four, "bad" is refusing to eat your bread crusts.

So, while I agree that adult Christians should be exposed to the more horrific stories of their religion, I'm happy that kids are getting fluffy giraffes to play with rather than terrifying pictures to look at.

TW

spurly

As a Christian and a youth minister, I try not to hide the groteque parts of Scripture from my students. For instance, they know about Noah getting drunk and naked after the flood receded.

Kevin

Rhea

You know, I forgot about that.
Didn't God only Save Noah and his family because "they were the only good people on the planet"?

Do I have that right?

It makes one wonder why God made such an error, and then why he didn't correct it once it was made clear. Curious.


Although, I wouldn't call Noah's display of being "not good" the grotesque part of the Bible. I would call all the drowned babies the grosteque part, personally. Do your classes discuss the drowning of the infants? How they thrashed their chubby little arms and legs in panic as the water closed over their faces? Maybe a discussion of the mother of four, trying valiantly to tread water as she holds desperately to her four young children with the water rising, all of them panicking, screaming, the toddler slipping from her grasp with a look of sheer terror before she slips beneath the waves, looking up at her Mama still treading water as she sinks, holding her breath as long as she can, reaching up with her little 2yo arm for help, then finally sucks in the "breath" that kills her?

Although, since that infant and that toddler were "sinful" (unlike Noah, of course), it's not really that grotesque, I suppose. Not like getting drunk and naked is.

Rhea

Treacle Worshipper, I actually agree with you wholeheartedly. I do think that it is appropriate for young children to be shielded from images that would terrify them. That is one of the reasons I object to the "Bible Stories" books in my medical center waiting room. Stories about governments trying to kill people, parents running to escape, babies being put in the river to be found by others, jeering, etc, are not at all appropriate for a pediatrics office or any place that children will pick them up and ask them to be read.

But I'm sorry for going off in a gross direction. I was really starting this for things like why there are never pictures of apes in Christian merchandise. And other less troublesome images. Whoops.

Amos

Sounds awfull but do you think Catholics are responsible for this?

Most Catholics never read the bible and don't even have a bible in their own house!