Not all puppies and flowers
Diana Peterfreund brought up something in a comment today that irritates me so much, I have to deal with it in a separate post.
Her comment was about Ah, the smell of a book burning, which dealt with a school administrator’s attempt to ban certain books in a high school. I pointed out that the Bible has plenty of gore, murder, incest, rape, adultery, etc., and yet we don’t try to keep children from reading that.
But apparently I’m wrong. Diana says:
“There are actually several publishers of bibles with the naughty bits taken out for the sake of the children. Also publishers of bibles with ‘friendlier’ version of the stories (like the Exodus plagues sans that pesky last one where the children die.)
“Sort of like sanitized Grimms, I guess.”
I had no idea that kind of insanity–and hypocrisy–was going on out there. What happened to the Bible being perfect, and the Inspired Word? I thought we weren’t supposed to add anything to it or take anything away–at least that’s what my Bible says. I must have an older, uncorrected copy.
First of all, let me state my biases:
I love the Bible. I read some part of it every single day. I have read it cover to cover countless times. I teach Sunday school. I love to teach Bible stories and make them as vivid as a scene from Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. In my experience, kids can take a lot. No, I don’t sit there and emphasize stories like Amnon’s rape of his sister or Lot repopulating the land by sleeping with his daughters–yuck–but I also don’t try to skip over the gruesome parts like the Angel of Death scouring Egypt for some babies to kill. If we’re going to give children Bibles to read, that means they get access to every part of it. Can you imagine the uproar if some “disfavored” group tried to publish a version of the Bible that takes out all the parts they object to?
Now, that said, I do understand the need for Bible picture books and story excerpts for children of a tender age. I’m not suggesting we hand a five-year-old a leather-bound Bible and say, “Here, Courtney, knock yourself out.” But the nine-year-olds in my Sunday school class can certainly deal with a little Old Testament destruction and mayhem, in addition to the not-too-fluffy story of Christ’s crucifixion. What am I supposed to tell them? That Jesus died peacefully in his sleep?
The Bible is not all puppies and flowers, folks. And it might surprise some people to learn it’s not all judgment and condemnation, either. There is far more nuance and beauty to it, and the lessons are better-crafted than anything I’ve seen a TV preacher come up with.
Maybe if more people read the Bible word for word, they’d make some interesting discoveries. Such as the fact that Jesus never once said all the homosexuals are going to hell, or that lying is okay so long as you’re just using it to start a war.
Technorati Tags: Censorship, Bible, Church, Christian, Christianity, Religion, Fundamentalism, Theology
June 6th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
hey pollyanna,
the “inspired word” has been reworked, rewrought, rethought, bastardized, demonized and sanitized, since its genesis (pun intended), to suit the political, societal and cultural extengencies of the powers that be or wanna be–nothing new there. i may not know who richard dean anderson is (well i do now) but i did read, and see, “the da vinci code” for cryin’ out loud. so i say accept it as a good read (the bible that is) with the only inspiration being its effect, not its source.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Oo, not willing to go that far, heathen. You’d better come to one of my Sunday school classes.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
That’s strange…mine only talks about bunnies and global warming.
June 6th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Well why you two lovelies duke it out, I would like to add a more serious note. I, like Robin, am a big fan of reading the Bible as text and literature. And while there certainly are fundamentalists in every faith that interpret it literally, I believe that it is more of a family album or a book of love letters left to us by our ancestors, those who were inspired by the beauty and magnitude of their world as well as traumatized and overwhelmed by the ugliness of it.
June 6th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
patrick, can you get my back here?
June 6th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Get your back? Is this a raised by wolves thing?
While I am an admitted heathen and opposed to strict interpretations of things like speed limits and gravity, I don’t argue belief with people. I am open to belief, just opposed to repetitive, ritualistic, and religious behaviors. Oh, and land wars in Asia. Nuke ‘em from orbit, I say. It’s the only way to be sure.
I think we just need a group hug and then we can ask Laura if she’s REALLY sure she wants to meet Curious George.
June 6th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Well, there will either be something for everyone to agree on in my statement, or everyone will be mad at me…
I DO believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. I also agree that there are stories of terrible things in the Bible such as rape, murder, etc. It disturbs me that people think the Bible needs to be “sanitized.” It is what it is.
I do not like the idea of book burning. I think parents have the right to determine what their kids are exposed to. But free speech doesn’t just mean speech you like.
You don’t like a book, don’t read it, don’t recommend it to others. But don’t burn it.
Maybe people will agree with this more than I think…
June 7th, 2006 at 9:27 am
thank you laura–that’s the “group hug” that, as patrick said, we all need.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:19 am
You know, it occurs to me that we are talking about protecting our children from exposure to certain things and I agree that we need to be able to do that.
For example, parents need to be able to protect their children from grandparents who expose them to 2 hours of Florida sun without re-applying sunscreen at regular intervals. This may require legislation.
Also, I strongly suspect that nine year olds wouldn’t like Harry Potter as much if Voldemort appeared and made Harry’s parents go to sleep.
I’m ok with death, destruction and mayhem, just don’t expose children to the sun before they are ready, even if it makes them take a nice long nap the next day.
I think we can all agree on that.
And if people don’t like a book, and it happens to be my book, I fully expect them to read it and get mad.
Then tell a friend to buy a copy, because they will read it and get mad.
So, then they should each buy a second copy to burn, keeping the first to wave around and say “This is a bad book. Buy it and read it yourself to see how bad it is. It makes me angry.”
I’m definitely opposed to people not buying my book simply because they don’t like it. I find that concept appalling.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I’ve only got ONE thing to say to this.
Timshel.
If you don’t know what that means, read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. A few of those book burning bible editing bible thumpers could use a dose of its REAL meaning, for sure.
June 7th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Ah, BJ, what a great reference. It made me run to my bookshelf to look at my own copy, but once again I seemed to have lent out a favorite book and not seen it returned.
Timshel.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
http://timshel.org/timshel.php
For those who don’t have the book.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Thank you, Patrick. Fantastic. I hope everyone clicks on it and reads. It settles the heart.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Now, if someone could explain it to me, being the heathen that I am.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
patrick, hmmmm, very interesting marketing strategy–in addition to the smell of books burning do i also smell a ponzi scheme?
question to the general population of brande bloggers–am i the only one with a day job?
June 7th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I know. It’s amazing all the time these people have to post. It’s like they have 2.5 million dollars in the bank.
June 8th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Umm…I’m a mom and a writer. Those count as day jobs?
June 8th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
day and night jobs.