Thursday, January 1, 2009

The BEST Children's Bible!

Recently we were having dinner with the Haugens when Zachary came out of their son's room with this Bible. As I randomly flipped to a story at the beginning called The Terrible Lie I quickly realized what a gem I was holding. Not only did the Bible tell of the Fall (as many Children's Bibles don't seem to include), but as the subtitle states "Every story whispers his name." EVERY story points you to Jesus. This is a Bible where GOD is the hero and it tells the wonderful true story of how He comes to rescue us!

Here's just a sample of what I read that night:

Adam and Eve lived happily together in their beautiful new home. And everything was perfect - for a while.

Until the day when everything went wrong.

God had a horrible enemy. His name was Satan. Satan had once been the most beautiful angel, but he didn't want to be just an angel - he wanted to be God. He grew proud and evil and full of hate, and God had to send him out of heaven. Satan was seething with anger and looking for a way to hurt God. He wanted to stop God's plan, stop this love story, right there. So he disguised himself as a snake and waited in the garden.

Now, God had given Adam and Eve only one rule: "Don't eat the fruit on that tree," God told them. "Because if you do, you'll think you know everything. You'll stop trusting me. And then death and sadness and tears will come."

(You see, God knew if they ate the fruit, they would think they didn't need him. And they would try to make themselves happy without him. But God knew there was no such thing as happiness without him, and life without him wouldn't be life at all.)...

You'll have to get this fantastic book and see for yourself how God's heart breaks when his children believe the terrible lie and eat the fruit and how he sends them from the garden because he loves them too much to let them live forever in their sin hiding from him and...well, here's the end of the story...

And though they would forget him, and run from him, deep in their hearts, God's children would miss him always, and long for him - lost children yearning for their home.

Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: "It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I'm going to do battle against the snake. I'll get rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here. I'm coming back for you!"

And he would. One day, God himself would come.

This book has been endorsed and influenced by Tim Keller's teaching. It is, as Keller says, not just for kids. I am learning tons as I read through this with Zachary. The Bible I had before this one is totally moralistic and actually tells kids to be like David - implying that if you just try hard enough and be "good" then you're ok. Isn't that the exact opposite of the gospel?? I'm not ok. I can't try hard enough. Christ had to come to do what I can't - save myself. I'm so grateful to have found this book now while Zachary is young and can grow up hearing how the entire Bible is one big love story of God rescuing his children.

I encourage you to buy a copy here (or 3 to get free shipping and give 2 away!)

3 comments:

Annie said...

That's funny. Nick just brought this home for the kids from his trip to Covenant Seminary this past week (for a youth pastor conference) I'm glad to hear you love it so much! We also really like the NIrV Read with Me Bible which is good about using actual Scripture and has great artwork. And - as less of a bible and more of a commentary - we really like the Big Picture Storybook by David Helm. Have you checked either of those out?
~annie

Keith and Kathryn said...

This my all-time favorite Children's Bible, too...and we have a lot of them. :) I fell in love with it when I was first introduced to it about a year ago. My kids love it...especially the stories of Moses, which we've probably read a million times. :) I have a friend who was a missionary to China and now is in the states ministering to Chinese students coming to the US for college. She says it is perfect for these students because the language is simple without losing the true message of the Gospel. It's an amazing book.

The Tubes said...

We've got this book too! Eliza loves it & so do we!!! We've not only suggested it to other parents, but to our college students as well...it's good for all ages!