(The Bible:) Too Offensive?

So, yesterday I posted several pictures of explicit LEGO scenes depicting sex, decapitations, childbirth, and various other violent situations. I asked if they were too offensive, if you would want to read or allow your children to read a book filled with these images. Now, here's the thing. The book that I got these images from is "The Brick Bible," a graphic novel style Old Testament Bible completely illustrated using LEGOs. The images each depict a Biblical situation.

• The first is Sodom and Gomorrah after God destroys them with fire.
• The second is when Lot's daughters get him drunk and sleep with him.
• The third is Rebekah giving birth to Jacob and Esau.
• The fourth is Samson killing the Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
• The fifth is David beheading Goliath.
• The sixth is David having the messenger who killed Saul killed.
• The seventh is David looking at Bathsheba bathing.

I didn't include it, but every image is captioned with the Bible verses that describe it. There are many more images as well. Some are happy and appropriate, others are even more disturbing. There are images of rapes, dismemberments, drunkenness, massacres, circumcisions, human sacrifice, diseases, etc... basically, you name it and you can find it. I must admit that reading through it I was both shocked and amused. I was disturbed by the images, and the fact that they were LEGO kinda made it better, but also kinda made it worse. However, what I found most amazing was the fact that the entire Bible is depicted, not just the major stories, not just the popular stories, and not just the pretty stories, but everything.

I started to do some research on "The Brick Bible" and I discovered a few interesting things.

1. "The Brick Bible" was actually pulled from the shelves of Sam's Club for being too offensive.
2. The creator of "The Brick Bible" The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith is actually an atheist who is non too fond of God, and has quite a few derogatory things to say about Him and the Bible.
3. "the goal of The Brick Testament is to give people an increased knowledge of the contents of The Bible in a way that is fun and compelling while remaining true to the text of the scriptures." (from http://www.thebricktestament.com).

So here's my question. Is this too offensive? Does depicting the stories in the Bible, in all their beauty and all their hideousness make it more or less acceptable or appropriate? Does the fact that a man who does not believe in God and (yet) views God as angry, vindictive, hateful, etc... created this book make it any more or less offensive or acceptable?

I actually really like "The Brick Bible" because of the fact that it displays the stories of the Bible, many of which most Christians don't know about or gloss over, and if you go on the website www.thebricktestament.com, there are many more stories depicted. The depictions on the website betray a bit more of the The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith's atheism in the title's for the image collections as well as a few of his own words inserted in bubbles in the images.

The fact of the matter is that the Bible is not G rated, or PG or PG-13. Some parts of it are for sure, but the Bible as a whole is definitely R, if not NC-17. It displays the story of humanity in all its glory and all its despicable filth, and it displays the story of God's love through it.

I have been reading through the entire Bible, something which I have never done before in my almost 24 years as a Christian, and I am amazed at what I am reading and discovering. I am seeing new insights, lessons, and truths in stories I've read dozens of times before, and I am reading stories I have never read before. Some of these stories are really cool, and others leave me very upset and questioning why God would have allowed the events to happen, but all are revealing more about God, about humanity, and about the relationship between the two.

So what do you think? Do you think it is appropriate or acceptable to depict all of the Bible stories in this format? Furthermore, do you think that something created by a man who is antagonistic toward God can be used for good? Or, do you think that this is too offensive and Sam's Club was right in pulling it from their shelves?

Too Offensive?

I recently came across a book. This book has thousands of scenes, all created using LEGOs. Below I have included a few of these images. Now I want to ask you, what do you think about these images? Are they offensive? Are they ok because they are LEGOs? Is this something that you would want to read or allow your children to read? What do you think?

Fight or Flight

FEAR

I've been thinking about this a lot in the last couple weeks. It seems to be popping up in various forms all around me, and God has been revealing some pretty cool things to me about it, so I thought I would share.

Fear is a very natural and very powerful emotion. In fact, I would argue that fear is potentially the most powerful emotion (potentially, because I believe love can potentially be the most powerful emotion, but these two are at odds with each other and only one can reign in your life). We have all experienced fear in some form or fashion in our lives. Sometimes this comes in the form of being scared of the dark, or clowns, or dogs, or spiders, or whatever. If I asked you to share what you are afraid of everyone would have a whole list of things, and most likely it would be filled with these sorts of things. Then there is fear of heights, crowds, public speaking, small spaces, things of that nature. Your list may be filled with several of these as well. Finally, there is fear of things like failure, rejection, shame, being alone, death, etc... Every one of us has these fears as well, but most often they will not make your list of things you are afraid of. They are very personal fears, and they have the capability to determine the direction of your life.

Fear has one extremely powerful attribute. It is capable of paralyzing. You've heard the expression "frozen with fear," and this is exactly what fear does. It freezes us, as least for a moment. This is obvious from life, from movies, etc... How many times do you see yourself or someone else get afraid and just freeze, or curl up, or hide, but you don't move. You get quite and still. You see this in the Bible as well.

Peter, after Jesus called him out onto the water, became afraid of the water, and instead of continuing to walk toward Christ. He froze and began to sink. Later, after Christ was arrested, Peter, who was brash and zealous by nature, became frozen with fear, hiding, and refusing to even admit that he knew Jesus. In the Old Testament you see the Israelites become fearful of the people in the Promise Land, and that fear caused them to stop following God, to stop moving forward, and resulted in them, literally, walking in circles for 40 years.

Fear paralyzes, but the natural response to fear is the complete opposite. This post is entitled "Fight or Flight." I'm sure you do, but in case you don't know, that is the body's natural response to fear. We are flooded with adrenaline, and we are prepared to either fight the danger that is scaring us or flee from it and protect ourselves. Either way, out bodies overcome fear by preparing us for action. What's interesting is that we can all see this with certain fears, such as if someone is attacking you, a tree limb is suddenly falling above you, someone is in a car accident, even with fears like bugs and dogs, but the concept is true for all fears.

Fear is overcome by action. When Peter began to sink, he reached out for Christ. He moved toward Him and was saved. In response to Peter's three denials of Jesus, Jesus, three times, called him to action "feed my lambs," "take care of my sheep," "feed my sheep." And, the Israelites, after 40 years, emerged from their fear induced wandering to widespread action, entering the land God promised and fighting those they were once afraid of.

How many times in our lives do we let fear paralyze us, and I'm talking about that last set of fears, the personal ones. How many times are we afraid of failure so we never try, afraid of being hurt so we refuse to love or open ourselves up, afraid of rejection or ridicule so we don't share God's love with those around us? I've seen it in my life many times. I let fear dictate what I will (or really what I won't) do, and many times it is something that God is calling me to do, but I don't because I let fear reign instead. But, just like fight or flight, living in that state of fear is not good for anyone, and the only way to break out of it is to act, and often that action is to do the very thing your are afraid of. Face your fear.

When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God told Joshua, on many occasions, "Be strong and courageous." Courage, interestingly, is not necessarily being free of fear, but it is acting and pushing on in spite of fear. So be courageous.

Finally, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the two most powerful emotions that I see are fear and love.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment." -- 2 Timothy 1:7

"There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear..." -- 1 John 4:18a  

God makes it clear in Scripture that we are not meant to be fearful. He has not designed us with a spirit of fearfulness. Rather, we are given a spirit of love, and where there is perfect love (Christ), fear is driven out. This gives new meaning to "with God all things are possible." With God (perfect love) all things are possible because He drives out fear, which paralyzes us, and invites us to action with Him.

What is God calling you to do in your life that maybe you are afraid of? What have you been frozen from doing because of some fear? Take the time today to ask God to drive out that fear and to help you to act in His love! 

*If you want to read a good fiction book that deals with fear and love. I suggest Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee.