Murder! Intrigue! Seductions!
If you read the Bible or Bible stories to your kids, I have a question for you. Have you ever gotten to a part where you just thought, "Uh, this is kind of scary or saucy or otherwise seemingly inappropriate for children?" Did you then sort of just shove that thought aside, pressing forward through the story, convincing yourself that because it's the Bible, and the Bible is God's Word, and this is a children's Bible thrown together, presumably, by experts who must know more than you, that it's good for your kids and you need to buck up and learn how to answer their absolutely forthcoming-at-a-blinding-rate questions? That nagging feeling stuck around a bit, though, didn't it?
I'm on the nursery rotation at church, and a few weeks ago our team was talking about our lessons for the month of November. We draw from various resources and sometimes just come up with our own. We had a copy of the story of Joseph from a children's Bible story book, but YOWZA!! We had to trim out about half of it! Brothers trying to kill a brother, another man's wife trying to seduce a man...it absolutely is like sitting a kid in front of a daytime soap opera! I could just see it: innocent children sitting wide-eyed, absorbing it all, then on the way home with their parents, asking inappropriate questions and blaming us nursery workers.
I wondered about the people in charge of publishing this children's book of stories, and I realized something. They were not drawing on the discernment God gave them, and I bet I know why. They probably thought that if they left anything out, they were "taking away" from the book and would be condemned in SIN! And there it is: religion. A religious spirit will cause us to forget to flow with what might be appropriate in the moment, by the spirit of God, because we feel so bound to a particular law from which we're too terrified to deviate. As if God is glorified by mortifying or confusing small children who cannot possibly understand some of the concepts in the Bible.
I've found the same things in my kids' adorable little Bibles that they have, and that I'm so glad they have! I just have to weed through some of the passages and some entire stories altogether.
It's appropriate to start with milk and work a person up to the meatier things, both spiritually and with regard to the things of life. I don't need to waste my time right now explaining murder, sex, lust, and adultery to my three-year-old. That doesn't mean that those things aren't supposed to be in the Bible, but it does mean that I'm honoring my responsibility as a parent to use my brain and not let him encounter it until he can handle it. Yes, even the Bible. Even Jesus' crucifixion...I totally approach this stuff by the Holy Spirit, but little ones don't need gruesome details. But they might not even need a subtle reference to the gruesome details, because they pick up on that stuff. They need the truth in a way they can understand and not be freaked out! And it seems so odd to me to be blogging about something seemingly so obvious, but I've encountered inappropriate adult content, just in "kid" language, in enough kid versions of the Bible that I've begun to wonder if it's not so obvious to some of the Christian community after all.
Have any of you dealt with this? I know that before I learned otherwise, I would've felt guilty or confused about how to approach these sorts of things. Boo! If you've been there and felt less than equipped to know what to do, be encouraged! Take the cool, age-appropriate things and sprinkle them as a delightfully palatable seasoning in your kids' lives, presenting the character and love of God that kids so understand. As they grow in wisdom and stature under your wise parenting, begin to fill in details that also add more mature lessons. You are the parent God chose for them, and a happy thing it is! You're ultimately in charge of their education, spiritual and otherwise. Don't let some "expert" out there throw you off!
We can and should trust many of our instincts as we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's presence in us and counsel to us. Whew! We can relax a bit and realize we're not going crazy after all, which is always good.
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