{"id":1189,"date":"2012-08-23T23:57:31","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T20:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2014-01-14T01:13:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T23:13:05","slug":"the-dumbing-down-of-bible-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/the-dumbing-down-of-bible-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dumbing Down of Bible Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever paid attention to what Bible stories we teach in Sunday School? Here&#8217;s a short list of some of the big ones that I remember:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cain and Able<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Noah&#8217;s Ark<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sodom and Gomorrah<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Sacrifice of Issac<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Samson<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>David and Goliath<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Etc..<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What&#8217;s wrong with this? Well nothing really except for the fact that these aren&#8217;t children&#8217;s stories by any stretch of the imagination! Tim Hawkins gives a comical and I believe an accurate description of how we often &#8220;dumb down&#8221; the stories in our Bible.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YVxRddVYYig?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately many of these stories stay locked in the realm of primary Sunday school classes when we graduate into adulthood. I referred to this recently in my post <a title=\"The 5th Commandment, it\u2019s not just for Kids!\" href=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/2012\/08\/the-5th-commandment-its-not-just-for-kids\/\">The 5th Commandment, it&#8217;s not just for Kids!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The reality is that the Bible was primarily written to adults and thus its subject matter correlates to its audience adults! Let&#8217;s just for a minute review the content of the common Sunday school stories I mentioned above with a few subtitles to help us get the gist of the story.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cain and Able<\/strong> (Sibling rivalry turns bloody)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Noah&#8217;s Ark<\/strong> (Mass genocide of an entire generation)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sodom and Gomorrah<\/strong> (Homosexual violence and thousands burned alive)<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Sacrifice of Issac<\/strong> (Father binds only son and attempts to kill him with a knife)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Samson<\/strong> (One man kills 1,000 then commits suicide)<\/li>\n<li><strong>David and Goliath<\/strong> (Young boy decapitates giant)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope you can see where I&#8217;m going with this. It&#8217;s not that we shouldn&#8217;t teach these stories in Sunday School, we should. However, we can&#8217;t leave them there! Our culture has dumbed down and degraded Bible stories to the point where they often seem to be on the same level as Mother Goose or Dr. Seuss. While we might never admit it we often treat them in a similar way.<\/p>\n<p>Another problem in addition to the Sunday School version of these stories is that we often become immune to their significance through repetition. When we read the Bible sometimes it is tempting to skip some of the &#8220;familiar&#8221; parts because we think we know them so well!<\/p>\n<p>The big question is <strong>&#8220;How can we regain a fresh and honest perspective when reading God&#8217;s Word?&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>Below are a few suggestions that I hope will help you see God&#8217;s Word from a more adult perspective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Stop Reading!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As soon as you feel like your mind has gone into neutral or it seems like you are not learning anything from the text you need to immediately stop reading. &nbsp;Once you stop reading take a moment to ask yourself a few questions about the text. Here are some good ones to start with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Who are the main characters?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What action is being done and why?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How does this relate to the larger context,&nbsp;chapter, book?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What does this text tell me about the character of God?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What does this text tell me about man?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How would I react in the same situation?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What would this story look like in contemporary society?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2. <strong>Do it Again!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reread and then reread. &nbsp;Sometimes we just need a little time for it to soak in and for the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds. I find this one of the most rewarding tools when I am preparing a sermon. &nbsp;Often I&#8217;ll reread a text 20-30 times and then simply meditate in quietness for 10-15 minutes after reading.<\/p>\n<p>3. <strong>Go Back!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This might mean going back to the beginning of the chapter but most likely you&#8217;ll need to go farther, maybe to the beginning of the book or beyond. &nbsp;The problem is that we like exciting stories like &#8220;David and Goliath&#8221; as a result they are often told and read out of context. &nbsp;When this happens we miss valuable information that helps us understand the significance of the story.<\/p>\n<p>As long as Bible stories stay on the nursery wall our youth will be much more likely to pick up books about vampires and teenage sorcerers than the Bible!&nbsp;We need to challenge ourselves to bring back the validity of these historical events not only for ourselves but also for our children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Have you ever experienced the &#8220;Sunday School&#8221; version of a Bible story?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What if anything helped you to change your perception? &nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever paid attention to what Bible stories we teach in Sunday School? Here&#8217;s a short list of some of the big ones that I remember:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cain and Able<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Noah&#8217;s Ark<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sodom and Gomorrah<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Sacrifice of Issac<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Samson<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>David and Goliath<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Etc..<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[198,200,199],"class_list":["post-1189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-bible-stories","tag-interpretation","tag-sunday-school"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC00482.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-jb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7127,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/7-more-reasons-why-i-believe-chronological-bible-teaching-is-desperately-needed-in-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":0},"title":"7 More Reasons Why I Believe Chronological Bible Teaching Is Desperately Needed in Churches","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"November 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently I talked with someone who grew up in the church, went to Sunday School every week, and knew all the right answers to the regular questions asked, but one thing surprised me and left me wondering what on earth are our churches really doing when it comes to Bible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-10.03.52-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-10.03.52-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-10.03.52-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-10.03.52-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-18-at-10.03.52-PM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3041,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/stop-telling-your-child-to-behave\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":1},"title":"Stop Telling Your Child to Behave!","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, you read that title correctly, you need to stop telling your child to behave! Why? Because you're missing the point. Life isn't just about good behavior, it's about having a heart that's right with God. When all we do is tell our children how to behave we forget that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Stop-Telling-Your-Child-To-Behave.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Stop-Telling-Your-Child-To-Behave.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Stop-Telling-Your-Child-To-Behave.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3193,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/our-1st-sunday-in-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":2},"title":"Our 1st Sunday in America","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"October 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we spent our first Sunday in America. We worshiped with Bethany Bible Church in Kenmore, Washington. We all enjoyed singing praises songs in English and a few American doughnuts before Sunday school! We will be spending the first month with Bethany Bible so if you are anywhere near the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC05751-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC05751-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/DSC05751-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2464,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/april-ministry-update-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":3},"title":"April Ministry Update -Video","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I hope that you had a great Resurrection Sunday! We are still looking forward to celebrating the resurrection here in Ukraine on May 5th. Find out why we celebrate on different dates here. March kept us on our feet with two new Bible schools starting and a big blizzard that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/april-13-vid.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/april-13-vid.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/april-13-vid.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/bethany-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":4},"title":"Bethany Bible","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday we visited Bethany Bible Church in Kenmore, WA. We have been having a good Western, Wa heat wave 90+ so it was nice and hot. We enjoyed getting to know the people at Bethany. We had a chance to share our testimony and Caleb preached in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Updates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":99,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/vacation-bible-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":5},"title":"Vacation Bible School","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"July 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This week is VBS at our sending church Discovery Baptist. The kids are enjoying the theme, \"Set Sail\". Naomi and Mishael's \"Uncle\" Nehemiah is \"Captian Shipwreck\".\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Updates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3596,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions\/3596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}