by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the line, it seems to me, there has been an assumption that all the stories in the Bible have to be something for children. If some account is disturbing, then there is a problem with the Bible – as if the Bible was written just for the sake of kids.<\/p>\n
Some people object to the Bible on these grounds, even making fun of it. After all, we read about adultery, murder, incest, rape, children sacrificed to idols, and other horrific situations. We read of concubines getting hacked to pieces, kings brutally assassinated, and some of the “heroes” committing terrible sins. This is not really the stuff we want to tell our children about. Therefore, some conclude, the Bible is not a good book.<\/p>\n
Those who think this way are very much missing the point of the Bible. The Bible was never meant to be a child’s storybook. It’s not about just trying to engender nice platitudes and have entertaining classes. Don’t misunderstand. We need to be teaching our children the Bible, but there is a reason there are different levels of learning and teaching. Children may not be ready for some of what we read in the Bible, but there is always plenty there to talk about with them. As they grow, they will get to know the Bible more fully, and, if taught well, will understand why the ugliness is there.<\/p>\n
What this shows us is that the Bible is a book of reality. The writers do not sugar coat. They don’t gloss over the faults and sins of the main characters. They don’t hide the plots that make normally good men look bad. The Bible reflects what really happens. It teaches us head-on about the loathsome nature of sin. Eventually, all people need to know about this and understand the Bible’s purposes.<\/p>\n
In other words, the Bible shows us exactly why we need the grace of God. All of the ugliness of the sins and evils we read about are finally wrapped up in the suffering Servant as He hangs on the cross. Therein we find the full force of sinful disgust being conquered by the abundant love and grace of God. If we don’t see the problem first, we’ll never understand the need for, and depth of, God’s response.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Doy Moyer Somewhere along the line, it seems to me, there has been an assumption that all the stories in the Bible have to be something for children. If some account is disturbing, then there is a problem with the Bible – as if the Bible was written just for the sake of kids.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,1031,1028],"tags":[358,665,110,29,107,451],"class_list":["post-44714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","category-childhood","category-parenting","tag-bible-class","tag-child-rearing","tag-children","tag-parenting","tag-raising-children","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/at-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":0},"title":"At Home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by John Gipson \"And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ\" (Acts 5:42). Harold E. Luccock once observed, \"We have not ceased to preach at the temple. But we have, rather largely, ceased to do it at home.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-will-teach-our-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":1},"title":"Who Will Teach Our Children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant It is patently obvious that babies are born uneducated. They are not born with the ability to do math, read, or do science projects. And along with this is a lack of knowledge about God and His will for us. They do know when they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/school-2-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":90327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/countering-the-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":2},"title":"Countering the Culture","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson What William J. Bennett wrote years ago has even more relevance today: \"There is a coarseness, a callousness and a cynicism to our era. The worst of it has to do with our children. Our culture seems almost dedicated to the corruption of the young\" (Reader's Digest,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-mean-by-chasten\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":3},"title":"What Do You Mean By Chasten?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Colley Jesus dictated these words to the apostle John for the church in Laodicea: \"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten\" (Revelation 3:19). After this Bible reference appeared on a sign in the front of a church building, a phone call was received from a somewhat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-about-the-childrens-father-who-doesnt-care-for-them-well-when-he-has-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":4},"title":"What do we do about the children’s father who doesn’t care for them well when he has them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need your help. My fianc\u00e9 and I are members of the church of Christ. \u00a0We are dealing with a test right now. My fianc\u00e9's ex-husband isn't a Christian. The kids live with her, but they get to see him on the weekends. He likes to pawn them off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23598,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-you-for-publishing-old-bible-illustrations\/","url_meta":{"origin":44714,"position":5},"title":"Thank you for publishing old Bible illustrations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for publishing these\u00a0old Bible illustrations. When my children were small, I used to read Bible stories to them from a book that had illustrations such as these. I prefer them to modern illustrations. The modern children's Bible stories are terrible. The illustrations are simply cartoons. Children have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}