Genesis is Not G Rated Nor is Bible
My teenage kids remarked to me that they got scarred by Genesis as children. Genesis is not G Rated and neither is the rest of the Bible.
Spreading the Good News in China, I also had this experience of people getting hurt and driven away by Genesis.
Lot and his daughters is the biggest problem. However, those of us who have looked closely at the text know the Bible has even more non G issues.
It is not just that Genesis is not G rated topically. Lot is the guy who God saved from Sodom. He is a good guy. He and his daughters do this, and the text does not even say this is horrible or explain why they ended this way. It could make people feel Christians condone this kind of behavior. The text does not comment at all. It appears to be a casual thing that happened.
If we read the whole Bible, we see that Genesis is not God’s ideal culture. We can understand that the world is full of sin, and we Christians are not any better than anyone else.
Lot’s story helps us see how lost we really are and how fear can ruin us. Jesus showed us we are all at risk of being Lot.
Genesis is Not G Rated Nor is The Bible
So when our children are starting to read, we do best to tell them that the children’s Bible omitted some horrific stories like Lot’s daughters. We somehow need to say that the history books often simply tell the story, and then the teaching books help us see how God feels about those things.
Further, when we share the Bible with people, we do well to tell them this basic structure of the Bible.
While we are at it, Proverbs is not written as a promise from God. It is written as wisdom. That does not mean that all people who follow Proverbs will be guaranteed good via our miraculous God. The vast majority of people, however, will be better off by applying its thinking.
Ecclesiastes is written by someone who lost faith, but is seeing how meaningless life is without God. Amazing book, but totally different base then say Romans. Judges shows what happens when everyone did as they see fit.
The Bible is an amazing gift from God. Rich in content, and therefore, takes some understanding which is hard for the people just starting to access it. May we see and help such people. Keep Reading the Bible.
