The Promises of God
Storybook Bible is a high level overview of many of the accounts in the Bible
aimed at children. I liked several aspects of it, for one, it doesn't shy away
from teaching what many would consider 'deep' truths, that even adults struggle
with. It seems to go by the premise that
kids will take God's word in faith (as we all must do). Here are some excerpts
to illustrate this, "…He is only one God,
but He has three persons that are all completely that one God" and,
"He has always known every single thing
that was going to happen, and nothing ever happens without His permission. That means when we hear about something that
happened in the Bible, where someone disobeyed God or it seems like God's plans
were messed up, God's plans were never messed up. " It doesn't shy away from concepts of God's
sovereignty, for instance in dealing with Rahab the harlot it says, "God had made it so that Rahab would hear all
these things, and then He changed her heart to want to follow Him."
At first I was
afraid that this book would promote, or at least leave room for, Creation
taking place for millions of years. At
first it seemed that it was at least leaving room for that concept as it didn't
initially describe six "days", but then it actually did seem to get
more specific: "God filled the water with
fish and animals that swim! Big fish and
little fish. They were all created in
one second because He said they should exist." Okay, the term
"One second" certainly doesn't leave room for evolution! I do wish
that it would have clarified creation as taking place in six days though.
This book needs some
clarification/corrective commentary if read to/by kids. I'll give a few examples: For one thing, the book seems to assume that
there were sacrifices for sin before the Mosaic law. It teaches that God told Abraham to kill
Isaac as a sacrifice for sin. I don't remember God specifying that it would be
a sacrifice for sin, just that he was to offer Isaac up as a burnt offering
(were all 'burnt offerings' sacrifices for sin?). Also, later on, in dealing with Moses, after
he flees Egypt, "The Bible doesn't tell us
for sure, but it seems that during this time Moses asked God's forgiveness for
killing the Egyptian and made the sacrifice he had to make for that sin." Again, perhaps I'm wrong, but I thought that
sin sacrifices, in particular, were not instituted by God until the Mosaic
law.
It also reads things
into some of the accounts. For instance,
it talks about Abraham being worried that God really as going to make him kill
his own son. "His heart must have been beating so hard, and he was probably had
tears in his eyes as he worried that maybe God really was going to make him
kill his own son." The Bible doesn't say that Abraham was worried
that he MIGHT have to actually kill his son, he actually didn't seem to have
any question as to whether or not he would have to kill his son, rather he
seemed to have instantly made up his mind that he would kill his son because
God had told him to do it. He was all
in, also evidenced by his contemplating that God can even bring people back
from the dead.
In the
illustrations, Aaron looks significantly younger than Moses - that seems weird
as Aaron was older than Moses. Also, and
I expected this, but there are illustrations of Christ. I always feel a bit uncomfortable with
depictions of Christ, and still do - especially with cartoon
illustrations. These aren't as strange
and irreverent seeming as some (Beginner's Bible), but still make me
uneasy.
Anyway, this book is
sort of an overview/ paraphrase with some interpretative commentary thrown in.
Many thanks to the folks at B&H publishers for
sending me a free review copy of this book. My review did not have to be
favorable.
My Rating: Three Stars ***
This book may be purchased at Christianbook.com and Amazon.com
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