The Un-story of Jesus

We were given a children’s book from a dear friend called “The Story of Jesus.” It s a “little golden book” for those of you familiar with that. Now this friend certainly meant well and was genuinely being generous, for which we are grateful, and perhaps did not realize the politically correct nature of that book. But it is politically correct at best, heresy at worst.

It is not a bad book because of what it puts in, but instead for what it leaves out. It never mentions that he was “the Son of God”, but it does mention in one spot that he knew his “life purpose would be to work for his Father in Heaven, telling people about him.” It leaves out almost all mention of the supernatural. When speaking of Joseph and Mary’s return from Egypt, it merely says that Joseph “got a message” that King Herod had died. It makes it sound like he got a letter from his great aunt Miriam, rather than a message from an angel. In telling the story of Jesus baptism the book says “John baptized Jesus in the river Jordan. As the two men prayed, God sent a dove down from Heaven – a sign that He was pleased.” They conveniently leave out that it was the Holy Spirit, descending on him in the form of a dove.

Then read the next page, supposedly about the temptation in the wilderness: “Afterward, Jesus went off by himself, deep into the rocky wilderness. He stayed for many days, thinking about the good and evil in the world. He prayed for God to show him the way to live his life.” Excuse me? No Devil, no temptation? Why is Jesus praying that God would “show him the way to live his life”? Do you see how children would be mislead by this? It gets worse.

The rest of the book talks about Jesus’ teaching, and some of the kinds of people he talked to. The only supernatural thing mentioned is the feeding of the 5000. But the main problem, the biggest omission comes on the very last page: “After Jesus’ death, his followers took his teachings all around the world. And the stories he told are still known and loved and retold today, in every land on Earth.” No mention of why he died, zero mention or depiction of the cross, and worst of all, they do not mention the fact that he rose from the dead and is alive today. You can see how subtle the deception is. They don’t exactly say anything that is untrue, they just conveniently leave out important details that end up deceiving the reader.

I can stomach a lot of things, but when someone misleads a child or lies to them about Christ….let’s just say what Jesus did: “It would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck and cast into the sea.”