Mommas don't let your babies buy Jesus at Walmart...

I see you point about the leaving behind childish things. It also seems to set them up for the "White Jesus" cliche. Neither of those are Good. I think it would be beneficial to explore the distinctions between something like this and Veggie Tales (which I think are great).

I remember Bible Story cartoons growing up. I think that having a biblical narrative accompany toys or visual stimulative stuff is important. Making a distinction between what is real and what is imaginary and relating what is imaginary to what is actually true are important too.

Interesting to think about. I don't have kids but I'm thinking about how I grew up and how those things shaped my view of God.

REID.

I am now a regular RSS reader. I like the way you think and write.

I have been anti-commercial Christian for some time. I seasonally worked part time in the Christian Bookstore of some church members several decades ago, just as the creep toward commercialism was starting. I have been back into a Christian Store once since then.

You nailed the core issue here. It trivializes Jesus and the other REAL folk of the Bible.

Also, most of the toys that the biblical characters would be replacing are fantasy characters...is that the grouping that we want our kids to be associating the scripture with?

C.S. Lewis didn't relish the idea of his fantasy literature being "hollywooded". He thought his stories were best envisioned in the imagination of the children the storied were read by/to.

As good as the most recent Narnia film was…it paled in comparison to my own mental projector.

...and that IS fantasy literature. How much more the imagination is called into play to recreate the REAL events of scripture.

I guess I am advocating the BETTER way not the only way.

I played what would now be politically incorrect cowboys and Indians as a child - with real Indian children. So I guess I am not one to nitpick.

Good article!

Reid, great insight as usual. At first I thought, "oh man, just let them play." But after reading, I wholeheartedly agree.

On a tangent, however....

You referred to people of the Bible as characters, which is something I've been hearing more and more from Bible believers lately.

Maybe I'm into semantics, but don't you think we shouldn't use that term. If we believe these people existed, why do we refer to them as "characters?" Like the Bible is just another book full of stories with characters.

When else are any other non-biblical historical figures referred to as characters?

Except for Ben Franklin. From what I've read, he *was* quite the character. :-)

I guess I'm ignorant here, but do so many people really grow up with the notion that Jesus was whitey? My parents and other teachers of my formative years always taught that Jesus was a Jew. I guess I was fortunate in this regard.

BV, there are numerous pictures, books, cartoons etc. which do portray a European Jesus with long flowing hair. You know, this guy:
http://www.heart-cry.com/love/Jesus_ws.jpg

Both historically, culturally off base. A Jewish man at that time would have had darker features and short hair. Jesus was not a Nazirite...so no flowing locks. Certainly not blond or light brown locks :)

This is one rendition which I feel is likely closer to reality:
http://bibledudes.com/images/other/jesus_bbc.jpg

Mike, characters are part of a story. And Scripture records an historical narrative. If someone was writing historical non fiction, there would be characters. But I do see your point. We are not talking about action figure, comic book type characters.

Josh, I like Veggietales and not a cartoon hater. I prefer the stories that they write/produce to the one's featuring biblical narratives. But a cartoon rendition of a biblical story, is designed to feature that story, not to replace spiderman. Kids use their toys for make believe all the time. Which is a great thing for their imaginations. But taking Jesus or Sampson and having him ride to the beach in a car with Barbie is not where I want to go with the Biblical narrative/people. Even say Big Ideas production of Jonah or Esther, are faithful to the text and take the young mind "to the biblical narrative" But even then, I think you have to be careful with that stuff as well. There are some good animated stuff out there, but we still use much discernment with it. A new DVD series which I love for my kids is called "Torchlighters" featuring people from church history. Our kids love the stories of John Bunyan, William Tyndale...my wife won't let them watch Jim Elliot yet, because there is a bunch of violence with spears. I think it is fine, but my wife is a good balance for me on that stuff. Smile.

Great stuff guys, Randy, welcome brother. RSS is great isn't it! I suppose you are the closest here of having a degree in Jesus Junk having worked in a bookstore.

Great discussion...

Great convo you've got going on here. I heard about this issue on the Albert Mohler show the other day, and then tracked in here on a link from SouthernSaid. The Willie Nelson title-rip totally pulled me in...lol

The issues here are divers and sundry (I've always wanted to say that...)

1)I mean, have we lost all concept of "graven images" today? The kids may not be bowing down to the action-figures, but is chewing on thier plastic heads any better?

2) And likewise, though Veggie Tales has missed a lot of flack here, seriously folks - where do we draw the line between action figures and talking vegetables? As I heard Russel Moore say the other day, we shouldn't be teaching kids the Bible in Aesop's fable form (ie. the moral of the story of David and Goliath is David was brave so be brave, etc). And we most definitely shouldn't be teaching our kids that Jonah was a cucumber...

3) The root of a lot of this issue is parents determining what 'means' of discipleship is appropriate for thier children. Our culture would rather sit our kids in front of a video for an hour, than take the time to go through the Bible and/or catechisms with them for ourselves. Then we send them to Sunday School every week, where many times they learn that Noah and the Flood is all about the animals, and how they came two by two. I mean, talk about secondary characters stealing the stage...

4)The 'whitey' Jesus issue is troublesome as well. And then you have the flip side today, in Walmart nonetheless, where you can chose which race you want Jesus to be for your Christmas decorations: black, white, or hispanic.

If Walmart serves no other purpose, it is quite apt at pointing out our cultural tides, and compromising under-currents...

'Brother Hank

Great blog, Reid and interesting comments. I used to teach in a children's ministry in Indiana where we used wooden figures (general shapes with no faces so as to not implant one picture of the individual into the child's mind) to tell/visually portray Bible stories as part of children's worship. There was a very specific way in which we were trained to handle those figurines as we told the story; we didn't move them around by grabbing them by the head, for example. At some point in our morning, we had a worship response time (a kiddie "So What?") when our children could interact with several types of media (art supplies, journals, instruments) as well as the story materials from the current lesson or previous lessons that had been taught. We continued to teach them the proper way to handle the figurines so that they were able to retell the story to each other, hopefully building a respect and love for the narrative and not just giving them an opp. to simply play with them as "toys". I thought this was a wonderful way to help kids interact with and kinesthetically learn the stories of the Bible.

I have to say that I'm in Randy H.'s camp as well on this Christian toy issue in the larger commercial Christian context; I also worked in a Christian book store several years ago. It's sometimes hard not to be a bit jaded. One of my biggest issues was the fact that I could get a regular baby doll from Walmart for $5, but the "Christian" version was $20 or $25 (and this was 20 years ago!!) They play the same. I was having trouble articulating all of the weird reactions to the first paragraphs of this article when I came to the section you wrote about fostering a Christian sub-culture where we pull out from the world. As a kid who was almost literally born at a church function and raised quite sheltered with a bit with an "us v. them" mentality, I already have enough baggage to leave behind in the quest to live missionally in the world. Got the "not of the world" down pat - maybe too good. :)

All of that said, I think the idea of the Little People nativity set is a good one. Several years ago, my MIL bought a non-breakable, resin nativity set specifically for her grandkids to be able to touch & play with with complete freedom. I loved that thoughtfulness on her part. But, I see this as a tool for the season, not as a plaything that will be dumped in a toy box or left out in the yard or used as a submarine at bathtime.

Finally, how could any of this compete with GI Joe with the Kung-Foo grip? I mean, look at the Daniel character's face in that package. Some warrior. Yuck.

Blessings to you my friend.

Great conversation guys. Hank, I prefer any veggietales stuff that are not biblical stories.

We do all sorts of weird stuff to domesticate the Noah story.

Being a mother of 4 young children, I find it refreshing that they are able to play with biblical figures as their heros. I am quite concerned with a lot of things/different characters associated with Spiderman, Batman, Superman, etc. I think it is a fun way for young boys to play action heros with dolls while learning that these people were real life heros, not just make believe. As they grow, while the dolls will be put aside, the lessons won't.

Amber, I share your heart for my kids...that they would put dolls away but not the lessons of their youth.

Yet my concern is that they will see Jesus and other great saints of history as toys...or something they played with as kids.

When such a large percentage of kids leave the church at 18 I think we need to try some different things. For me, Jesus dolls is not going to be one of them.

Thanks for the note. I was encouraged by your desire to faithfully bring up your kids.

Blessings