Having 2 kids I have now entered the world of children’s bibles. It has to be said that the quality varies greatly. Some are great, some are not so great. Perhaps the lowest moment was reading the story of Jonah in one where, upon escaping from the giant fish, “Jonah told the people of Ninevah how much God loved them”.
compare to
Jonah 3:4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
and you’ll understand my frustration.
That being said, other Bibles have been great but they all tend to have one fault. They tell stories rather than telling the Big Story. I haven’t yet found one that sets out in simple terms the grand narrative of the Bible. And then the Big Picture Story Bible came along.
This Bible is awesome, go check it out! From the very start you get a Biblical Theology expressed in simple terms that a child can grapple with. Nor does it shy away from the difficult stuff. Tonight Charis (who is 2 and a half years old) and I read about the Passover and how God killed all the firstborn of Egypt. I don’t know how much she took in but if she learnt anything it was that God gave his people a sign to trust in and rescued them from the Egyptians.
Three nights ago we were looking at the curse in the Garden of Eden and discovered that God had promised a “Forever King”. Now, each evening we wonder if the Forever King will come.
This is how the Bible is meant to be read! There are promises and fulfilment that must be understood otherwise we will miss the point. Without it all you have is a bunch of interesting stories and character studies. All my daughter’s other bibles are just that, a series of unrelated stories until suddenly Jesus appears in a whole bunch of them.
But now we have something different. Go check it out for yourselves. This is the best money I have so far spent on my daughter! And, if you click the links here, you might even contribute a bit to my seminary fund 🙂
It is good to know such a thing exists. Pleased I am with biblical theology in children’s bibles, yes.
I agree. I saw this Bible once at my church for some Sunday school thing, and I was more impressed than I ever had been with a children’s Bible.
(…And Charis was such a sweet name to name your daughter! Do you pronounce it the Greek way?)
not sure which way is the greek way.
She gets pronounced something similar to the welsh “carys”.
That would be the correct way. It’s so pretty. Most Americans would probably mispronounce it as Share-is.