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The Usborne Family Bible--anyone familiar?


38carrots
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I picked it up at a thrift store as I liked the illustrations and the format and I thought that would be a good edition to introduce my children to the content of the Bible (we are not religious.)

 

Though I've read parts of the Bible in the past, it was more in the context of some kind of an analysis, where we'd focuse on literally some paragraphs. It was an interesting experience to read all of the Old Testament in a row, so to speak, but in a greatly simplified form.

 

I was sort of surprised at how my children perceived the Bible, and I would like to ask whether this is how it is perceived or this is just an unfortunate rendition.

 

"You read one story, and you read them all," the kids said. "Every story is about the people not listening to / forgetting their god, getting punished, starting listening again. Then forgetting their god again. Rinse, repeat."

 

So is this really what it is about?

 

I don't want to read the actual Bible just yet. I'd like to read Bible stories again, but with more depth in them. Is there such an edition? Or should we just read the Bible if we want to learn more and dig deeper? Any books that you can recommend that might engage in an accessible analysis? (Either from secular or religious point of view).

 

The kids are 9 and 12.

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This is a very interesting question. Your children are at the age where children's Bibles are much too simplified and make the Bible stories almost seem boring and lack the beautiful language scripture is known for. I would recommend you get a copy of God's Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible by Vaughan Roberts and work through it. I would also recommend the website Biblegateway.com to take a look at all the translations available and some of their Bible study resources. I also like books by Kay Arthur such as How to Study Your Bible 4 Kids. There are also a huge number of teen study Bibles available if you want to dig deeper.

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I was sort of surprised at how my children perceived the Bible, and I would like to ask whether this is how it is perceived or this is just an unfortunate rendition.

 

"You read one story, and you read them all," the kids said. "Every story is about the people not listening to / forgetting their god, getting punished, starting listening again. Then forgetting their god again. Rinse, repeat."

 

We are Christians, and yes, this is much of the Old Testament in a nutshell.  :)

 

For the age range you mentioned, I like the Adventure Bible. There are little bits of commentary throughout. Maybe have them read one of the gospels for a good introduction to Christianity. 

Edited by MercyA
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I recently made the transition to a "real Bible" for my daughter. There are several good, "real" translations written in elementary English such as the Common English Bible and the New International Reader's Version. We bought the latter and even as an adult I am getting a lot of new insight from the extremely straightforward presentation. I studied Bible (including the original languages) in college and frankly a lot of the sense of mystery necessitating the type of analysis you describe stems from the use of antiquated or overly formal translations.

 

But about the stories - yeah, that repetitive aspect is kind of part of the point. Mankind's inability to fly right and save ourselves. But one big problem with children's Bibles is that they overemphasize the Old Testament, where that storyline keeps happening in various ways, because of its greater length. The New Testament is really a game changer that puts the whole thing in a different light, not just more stories. It's lovely to eventually know the whole history of ancient Israel, but the problem of sin and a Savior which the New Testament addresses can be more or less sufficiently set up by covering Creation through the Exodus from Egypt.

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I picked it up at a thrift store as I liked the illustrations and the format and I thought that would be a good edition to introduce my children to the content of the Bible (we are not religious.)

 

Though I've read parts of the Bible in the past, it was more in the context of some kind of an analysis, where we'd focuse on literally some paragraphs. It was an interesting experience to read all of the Old Testament in a row, so to speak, but in a greatly simplified form.

 

I was sort of surprised at how my children perceived the Bible, and I would like to ask whether this is how it is perceived or this is just an unfortunate rendition.

 

"You read one story, and you read them all," the kids said. "Every story is about the people not listening to / forgetting their god, getting punished, starting listening again. Then forgetting their god again. Rinse, repeat."

 

So is this really what it is about?

 

I don't want to read the actual Bible just yet. I'd like to read Bible stories again, but with more depth in them. Is there such an edition? Or should we just read the Bible if we want to learn more and dig deeper? Any books that you can recommend that might engage in an accessible analysis? (Either from secular or religious point of view).

 

The kids are 9 and 12.

That's definitely one key theme of the Old Testament: but the "moral of the story" (in that theme) is not about fearing punishment but about remembering trust. God shows the trait of constancy through the stories by rescuing the people (or their descendants) with great readiness as soon as they become willing to trust in him again. The "punishment" aspect is much more focused on how hard it is to "make do without God's help" than on the rare episodes where God seems to be directly punitive.

 

The main thrust of the Old Testament is the expectation of a new ruler and a perfect kingdom for God's people after the exile/occupation of their land by foreign powers. By the end of the Old Testament nobody would have guessed that would be Jesus (it's pretty vague!) but the New Testament claims that Jesus is that person-who-was-promised.

 

The New Testament also presents a solution to the repeated cycle of God's people wavering between loyalty and self-rule: the spiritual presence of God within every believer. This Holy Spirit changes human nature such that God can keep his promises of perfection for humanity through healing and resurrection.

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Did you miss the story of Esther? And the story of Ruth? Those are both fairly short books that you could read without an abridged version and your kids should have no problem understanding. Also, I think they are pretty good stories, but we are Jewish so I might be a bit partial. But both of those have lots to discuss and they are not the whole messing up and repenting cycle. At their age they should have no problem reading the actual bible. I would just pick stories to read out loud.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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