The Dumbing Down of the Bible and Our Kids

Somehow or another, the 'wise' grown ups of the land have done a dumb thing. They have concluded that the children under their guidance have somehow lost their intelligence over the centuries and are now reduced to using simplified Bible terms, verses, and names, such as calling Jesus 'my forever friend,' etc. To demonstrate this sad truth, here's the link to The Message prayer cards for kids...

Praying Thru the Bible With My First Message by Nav Press
www.navpress.com

Here's what the instructions for these prayer cards say:

The Praying Through the Bible with My First Message prayers can be adapter to various age groups. For younger kids, you might want to take just one sentence from each prayer and have them pray it. With older children, consider asking them to expand on the written prayer as the Holy Spirit prompts them through the words of the (simplified Message) Bible story. Remember these prayers and cards are just a starting point....

Hmmm...the word Lectio Divina comes to mind, but then again, these are published by the contemplative Nav Press. Anyways, the goal, the instructions say, is to develop a habit of prayer in response to Scripture. The prayers are all very simple and cute. For example, the second prayer on Card #1 says:

• Adam and Eve Genesis 2 Thank You, Lord, for giving me family and friends so I don't have to be alone. Help me to love these special people and be kind and helpful to them.

That's all very nice and everything, but here's the thing. The instructions for these cards say that they are designed to be used in conjunction with the Bible stories in My First Message: A Devotional Bible for Kids. Well, you would never know by the raving reviews over at amazon.com, but hullo, this is not scripture! The publishers (and most parents) apparently do not realize that children are perfectly capable of reading (and memorizing) real scripture - even (gasp) King James! Children can comprehend much more than we often think.

I read this quote somewhere...

Old Testament Jews had memorized the Torah by age 10. In contrast, only 59% of today’s U.S. (Protestant) Christians read the Bible weekly.

This memorization achievment was indeed an amazing thing, especially by today's standards...

From quite early in the Second Temple period, one could hardly find a little boy in the street who didn't know the Scriptures. According to Jerome (342-420 A.D.) who lived in Bethlehem and learned Hebrew from local Jewish residents in order to translate the Scriptures into Latin [producing the Vulgate Bible]: "There doesn't exist any Jewish child who doesn't know by heart the history from Adam to Zerubbabel [i.e., from the beginning to the end of the Bible]."

Source: Jesus' Education @ www.cometozion.org

Has the human brain changed since then, or have we just changed our priorities? Obviously, it's better that children learn Bible stories than Harry Potter stories, but shame on us Christian parents and leaders for giving kids the message that they are not intelligent enough to comprehend the words in a real Bible.

***Update: Related:

Message Bible for Little Kids Instructs on Contemplative Meditation
www.crossroad.to