Tag: Children’s Bibles

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Potpourri (NBCS, Homeschool resources, Piper…)

Michelle Lesley

 

Welcome to another “potpourri” edition of The Mailbag, where I give short(er) answers to several questions rather than a long answer to one question. I also like to take the opportunity in these potpourrri editions to let new readers know about my comments/e-mail/messages policy. I’m not able to respond individually to most e-mails and messages, so here are some helpful hints for getting your questions answered more quickly. Remember, the search bar can be a helpful tool!

I see many people on my Facebook news feed that are sharing innocuous or biblical sounding content (memes, Facebook posts, blog posts, etc.) from false teachers/ministries. I didn’t find an article on your web site and was wondering if you have already written one. I thinking it would be helpful to help share with others that it’s now necessary to understand the ramifications of sharing (boosting the author’s credibility, clicks, $, inadvertently sharing false doctrine or non-biblical philosophy, etc.)

I see the same thing in my Facebook feed, and it worries me for the people who, with the best of intentions, I’m sure, are following false teachers themselves and pointing others to false teachers by sharing those posts.

I have, indeed, written an article about this (it does pop up if you use the search bar, but you have to scroll down a ways to get to it since I wrote it a few years ago- sorry about that):

Four Reasons Why It Matters Who We Share, Pin, and Re-Tweet

What do you think of National Back to Church Sunday (NBCS)?

The concept is OK at the surface level, I guess. If all it is is a particular Sunday on the calendar when unchurched people are encouraged to go back to church, and churched people are encouraged to invite unchurched people to church, and churches are encouraged to find out why their supposedly churched members haven’t shown up for weeks, months, or years, I see no problem with the concept itself.

The problem comes when you move from the “on paper” concept to the actual churches that are participating and how those churches are attempting to get unchurched people in the door. If it’s a doctrinally sound church and the pastor says, “Hey- everybody invite an unchurched friend to come with you next week,” great. But we do not want unchurched people putting one toe over the threshold of an apostate or heretical church, and sadly, it appears as though at least some of the participating churches that have registered with the NBCS “Find a Church” page may fall into those categories. And if these “churches” are using unbiblical means and enticements to get lost people in the doors, that’s an additional problem.

The reader also included a link to encounter.com in her question. It’s clear encounter.com is in some way connected to NBCS, but I’m unclear as to how. The material on the “Invited to Belong” page is nauseatingly and blatantly seeker driven and man-centered. It’s all about how worthy you are rather than how worthy Christ is. There is no gospel presentation. Of the four people quoted, none are doctrinally sound Christians. One of the final sentences is a good summary of the whole page: “No church will be perfect, because no person is perfect, but we invite you to find a local church where you will belong.” Not a doctrinally sound church. Not a church that proclaims the biblical gospel. Not a church that preaches Christ and Him crucified. Not a church that teaches the Bible. It’s all about you, baby. If this encounter.com page is in some way NBCS’s mission statement or statement of faith, then I would certainly not recommend the NBCS organization.

I am looking for a solid but very simple Bible study for a loved one who struggles with understanding complicated concepts and words. Maybe even a kids study that is rich in theology. I was wondering if you had any ideas or advice on this?

It’s wonderful that your dear one loves the Lord and wants to study her Bible. Thank you so much for trying to help her!

Since you are a long time reader, you’ve probably heard me say that I don’t recommend “canned” studies, but that people should pick up the actual Bible and study it for themselves. In this case, may I suggest that might even be more important for someone like your loved one? I imagine that her poor reading skills may have made her more dependent on others in many areas of her life than she would like to be, and that studying the Bible for herself would not only be the best way to learn it, but would also give her a greater sense of confidence and independence. An “ownership” of her study of the Bible, if you will.

There are several good children’s and “easy reader” Bibles out there. I’ve suggested a few here: Children’s Bible Recommendations. You might wish to sit down with her and come up with a list of simple questions she can answer as she finishes reading a chapter, such as:

📖 Who is this passage about?
📖 What is the main idea of this passage?
📖 Why did God – the author of the author of the Bible Who says all Scripture is useful – put this passage in the Bible? 
📖 What can I learn about God from this passage?
📖 Is this passage telling me to do/not to do something? How can I obey it?
📖 Is there something in this passage I need to pray about?

Or, if you like, you could suggest that she read one of the books of the Bible I’ve written a study on (out of her own, new, easy to read Bible), take some of the questions I’ve written and send her a simplified version of the ones you think she can handle.

And, perhaps you could be “on call” via phone or e-mail to answer any questions she might have about what she’s studying. What a great opportunity to do one on one discipleship with someone who’s dear to your heart!

Do you know of any good Christian homeschooling blogs?

I homeschool, so I’m asked from time to time about homeschooling resources, but to be honest, it’s just not something I really read about. I recently asked my readers to recommend some good, doctrinally sound online homeschool blogs and resources, and here’s what they suggested (Please note, I have not vetted any of these. You will need to do the research yourself to discover whether or not they’re doctrinally sound.)

✏ Family Renewal
✏ Reformed Homeschoolin’ Mamas
✏ Durenda Wilson (author of The Unhurried Homeschooler)
✏ Half-A-Hundred Acre Wood
✏ The Kingdom Driven Family
✏ Annie & Everything

I really enjoyed reading A Few Good Men and A Few MORE Good Men, but how come John Piper (or another pastor) isn’t included? Is he a false teacher? 

Please understand that these two lists of godly male teachers aren’t exhaustive. Praise God, there are scores of preachers and teachers out there who faithfully teach and rightly handle God’s Word. I couldn’t list all of them if I tried, though I plan to add more articles like this in the future. These were just the teachers I was most familiar with at the time I wrote the articles. The mere fact that your favorite teacher doesn’t appear on these lists does not make him a false teacher, and I hope the articles don’t imply that (I don’t think they do).

John Piper’s books, sermons, and blog are mostly fine, and while I disagree with him on several points of theology, I certainly do not consider him to be a false teacher. But he’s not somebody I’m going to proactively recommend, either. Here’s how I’ve answered readers in the past who have asked me about John Piper:

While I consider Dr. Piper to be a generally doctrinally sound Christian brother and agree with him in many aspects of theology, he is not someone I proactively recommend for a few reasons:

1. Dr. Piper is a continuationist. I usually limit my endorsements to cessationists  because I believe this is the biblical view of the gifts. (I do not consider otherwise doctrinally sound continuationists to be false teachers, however.)

2. I’m concerned about Dr. Piper’s associations and partnerships with false teachers (which violates 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Romans 16:17-18, and 2 John 9-11). First he appeared to embrace Rick Warren when he interviewed him and invited him to speak at the Desiring God conference in 2010. More recently, he has been a featured speaker at events like the Passion conferences where he has shared the stage with Christine Caine, Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Judah Smith.

3. Dr. Piper’s complementarianism seems muddled at best. On the one hand he will go so far as to say that Christian women should not be drill sergeants (the Bible mentions nothing of the sort), yet on the other hand he joins in ministry with the aforementioned Caine, Shirer, and Moore who – in addition the the false doctrine they preach – all actively and unrepentantly violate clear Scripture by preaching to men. It’s quite confusing.

I’m not going to warn people away from John Piper as a false teacher, but I can’t, in good conscience, recommend him either.

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Children’s Bible Recommendations

Michelle Lesley

I continue to update this article as new
Bibles and information become available.

Do you have any recommendations for a trustworthy Bible for children? My son is almost 6 and still learning to read well. I’m looking for a Bible that he might be able to grow with and use until he’s 10 or so. We’d love to get him in the practice of bringing his own Bible to church. I saw you have a large family so I thought you might have some insight.

Getting your kids started on Bible ownership and reading at an early age is definitely something Christian parents should be doing, and finding a great Bible for young readers can take some searching.

I do have six kiddos, but my youngest is almost fourteen- a little above the age bracket you’re looking at. I couldn’t remember which kids’ Bible we had most recently used with our own kids, so I asked my almost fourteen year old and my fifteen year old. They both reported that we had given them the NIV Adventure Bible when they were around six or eight. Sadly, I cannot commend that children’s Bible to you today (see below).

My friend Rachel over at danielthree18 recently wrote a helpful review of the ESV Following Jesus Bible she and her husband bought their son for Christmas. It wasn’t available when we were Bible shopping for our own kids, but if it had been, it’s probably the one we would have chosen.

As I was gathering links for this article, I stumbled across a couple more kids’ Bibles that, while I haven’t read them, look like they might be worth checking out: the ESV Grow Bible and the ESV Children’s Bible. I can’t personally vouch for either of them, so examine them carefully, but ESV Bibles generally have a reputation for being trustworthy.

More recently, Steadfast Bibles and Three Sixteen Publishing released the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Children’s Edition. The NASB is one of the most accurate and reliable English translations of the Bible on the market today. I used the NASB as my primary reading Bible for over 20 years and highly recommend it. I have no doubt that the children’s edition is equally stellar. Read more about the NASB Children’s Edition here.

If you’d rather get your son a simple, non-child themed, no frills Bible, I’d recommend a regular old ESV. If you’d like to examine the translations I’ve mentioned here, or any others, you can “try before you buy” at BibleGateway.com. They have numerous Bible versions you can take a look at online for free. There’s even a side by side comparison feature:

You can also check your church’s library or your local public library and examine their children’s Bibles to see what’s available out there, and what your child likes, before purchasing him a Bible.

For our readers with smaller children, I’d like to suggest checking out (I haven’t read it) The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung. Kevin has long had a reputation as a solid, trustworthy pastor and teacher of God’s word, not to mention a dad of young kids.

“Beginning in Genesis and ending with Revelation, DeYoung provides engaging retellings of various Bible stories, explaining how they fit into the overarching storyline. Each reading is coupled with beautiful illustrations by award-winning artist Don Clark and concludes with a reflective prayer. Perfect for bedtime stories or to read together as a family…”

While there are a number of good children’s Bibles out there, unfortunately, there are some that should be avoided. The following children’s Bibles and Bible storybooks are..

Not Recommended

Though numerous doctrinally sound sources have recommended The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones in the past (including Tim Challies and me), I’m afraid I can no longer commend it to you.

The Jesus Storybook Bible was released in 2007. In 2018, Sally Lloyd-Jones released a children’s book entitled Goldfish on Vacation which included an illustration of a homosexual couple. When a homosexual man commended her for this on Twitter (the tweet has since been deleted) she had this to say:

There are other issues with the Storybook Bible itself:

Though our own children used it, and I used to recommend it, I have retracted all previous recommendations of the NIV/NIrV Adventure Bible (and any other NIV or NIrV Bible). As you may be aware, in 2005, Zondervan revised the trustworthy 1984 translation of the NIV to include gender neutral/inclusive language. It was called the T(Today’s)NIV. In response to completely appropriate backlash from the Christian community, Zondervan again revised the NIV in 2011. Unfortunately, they did not revise out the gender neutral/inclusive language, but, rather, essentially merged the NIV with the TNIV, dropping the “T,” and simultaneously took the 1984 NIV and the TNIV out of print. The current editions of the NIV/NIrV Adventure Bible contain the 2011 gender neutral/inclusive text of the NIV.

For a better grasp of the problems with the gender neutral/inclusive verbiage of the 2011 NIV, please read: A fair analysis of the new NIV.

Here is an excerpt from the preface of the current edition of the NIV Adventure Bible. (Click on “look inside” at the upper left of the page for the entire preface.):

On a “wear and tear” note- we’ve purchased both soft cover (paperback) and hard cover Bibles for our elementary-aged kids, and both seem to get torn up pretty easily. (Or maybe my kids are just tough on Bibles!) With soft covers, the front and/or back cover can get ripped clean off, and with hard covers, the binding tends to detach. The only solution I can think of for this is to purchase a hard cover edition and some sort of case to keep it in (maybe one made of whatever those airplane “black boxes” are made out of). Perhaps training your child to keep his Bible in a certain place (on his dresser, the coffee table, etc.) whenever he’s not reading it might help. We neglected to do this and I often found Bibles on the floor, in the toy box, at the bottom of the closet, and other places conducive to Bible destruction. Anyway, keep the duct tape handy is all I’m saying.

The main thing, when you’re looking for a Bible for your kids is to find a good translation, avoid paraphrases, and be on the lookout for false doctrine, which has, unfortunately, trickled down into kids’ Bibles and devotionals (such as the kids’ versions of Jesus Calling). You might find my article Which Bible Do You Recommend? (for selecting an adult Bible) to be helpful.

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.