If you were raised as a Christian, but are currently agnostic...

[Anonymous]

When millions die because of Disney movies I will stop allowing those too. No brainier. Till then I have no problem with them, and will continue to avoid the bible.

[Anonymous]

my husband is more religious than I am so we go to Church (sporadically). I'm sure at some point I will more directly address my lack of belief but in the meantime I take the ministers tack of focusing on the parable.

That said my non-religious Dad got me a comic book version of the bible as a kid that I loved, so I got one for my kids and the 8 year old loved it. 6 year old hasn't read it yet but I hope she will when she's ready.

Bible stories are such a touchstone for so much of western literature that I felt it was important that my kids be familiar with them in order to catch the literary references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm more spiritual than religious. And I'm a minister. The stories you speak of are simply that - stories. They are meant to teach life lessons. When you stop thinking of them as literal, historical fact, and view them as lessons, you may see more value. You would agree that "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" uses a simple story to teach a valid life lesson, right? It's the same with many Bible stories. The story of David and Goliath demonstrates that power isn't always related to size. Noah's Ark could be used to teach the importance of being prepared, thinking clearly in crisis, and perseverance under difficult circumstances. The Creation story in Genesis is beautiful poetry that does an amazingly good job of describing the evolution of our wold if you don't read it literally. Of course, people of faith would add trusting God, obedience, etc.

Jesus spoke in parables all the time, yet so many Christians insist on literal translation of ancient text. I've never understood that. Bible stories are a part of our culture. I think they should be taught the way all ancient literature is taught. If you are a person of faith, you'll obviously view them differently. However, the stories have value to everyone. They are stories of ancient people seeking to explain the world.

This is really helpful. Thank you.

+1

[Anonymous]

I am Christian and was raised in a family that attended church/Sunday School every Sunday.
I had a pretty good education in religion and the stories from the Bible. Or, so I thought.

When I went to college, I took a class in Chaucer (not an English major - it was a class that was part of the basic things that Freshmen had to take).
What I discovered is that in order to truly understand and appreciate some of the classic literature, you really have to have an understanding of the Bible.
So much of what was written centuries ago had references to Biblical stories and events.
Our professor was British, and bemoaned the fact that in the US, we have not been really taught the Bible as a piece of literature. He spent a great deal of time educating us on the Bible so that we could understand the stories written by Chaucer.

So, I do believe it is worthy and important to teach children not only Biblical stories, but allow them, or encourage them, to view the Bible as a piece of literature and study it as you would any other classic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm more spiritual than religious. And I'm a minister. The stories you speak of are simply that - stories. They are meant to teach life lessons. When you stop thinking of them as literal, historical fact, and view them as lessons, you may see more value. You would agree that "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" uses a simple story to teach a valid life lesson, right? It's the same with many Bible stories. The story of David and Goliath demonstrates that power isn't always related to size. Noah's Ark could be used to teach the importance of being prepared, thinking clearly in crisis, and perseverance under difficult circumstances. The Creation story in Genesis is beautiful poetry that does an amazingly good job of describing the evolution of our wold if you don't read it literally. Of course, people of faith would add trusting God, obedience, etc.

Jesus spoke in parables all the time, yet so many Christians insist on literal translation of ancient text. I've never understood that. Bible stories are a part of our culture. I think they should be taught the way all ancient literature is taught. If you are a person of faith, you'll obviously view them differently. However, the stories have value to everyone. They are stories of ancient people seeking to explain the world.

As a minister, assuming you went to seminary, you have the advantage of having been taught, at the graduate level, that the Bible stories are myth - useful myth, but myth, nonetheless. Most other Christians don't have that advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not teaching them. Several Bible stories are what turned me off to Christianity as a child. Abraham getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, for example. I saw and read that in an illustrated children's bible story book at the doctor's office once. The picture of a dad, getting ready to stab his tied up son in the back. Oh, no no no.

Every single Disney story has a parent die, or somebody is locked away by a wicked witch.

Not the PP you quoted, but I can't think of a single Disney story line where a parent kills their own child. That's pretty scary stuff for a kid to digest.

Unlike Disney, nobody is actually killed in that story.

Not Disney, but the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel is pretty darn dark. Their parent dumped them in the woods because there was a famine and the kids were eating too much. An evil witch put them in a cage so that she could fatten them up before cooking them.

There are lots of terrifying fairy tales.

Yes, but they were fairy tales. You weren't supposed to beleive they were true and you wouldn't be threatened with hell for not believing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I'm not teaching them bible stories. They are made up stories. Any that are important enough for them to know for cultural purposes will come up in school or wherever, so we can tak about them then.

My parents are very religious and we're constantly giving the kids children's bibles or bible story books before my husband and I had a sit down with them letting them know that while we loved them dearly we were not raising our kids in any one faith and they didn't have to celebrate that decision but they did have to respect our boundaries- which meant putting an end to al of the bible stuff. They respected our decision even though I'm sure it broke their hearts a little.

Good luck, OP.

I don't disagree but stories like Little Red Riding Hood are made up too. How do you reconcile reading one but not the other?

Bible stories are not generally portrayed as being "made up." They are presented as "true" and something that you must believe or be severely punished -- for eternity!

The stakes are much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not teaching them. Several Bible stories are what turned me off to Christianity as a child. Abraham getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, for example. I saw and read that in an illustrated children's bible story book at the doctor's office once. The picture of a dad, getting ready to stab his tied up son in the back. Oh, no no no.

Every single Disney story has a parent die, or somebody is locked away by a wicked witch.

Not the PP you quoted, but I can't think of a single Disney story line where a parent kills their own child. That's pretty scary stuff for a kid to digest.

I mean, I guess you can't let the kids watch The Lion King then. Dude kills his brother, and also tries to kill his nephew repeatedly.

But everyone knows it's a "story" right? Not seomthing you're supposed to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When millions die because of Disney movies I will stop allowing those too. No brainier. Till then I have no problem with them, and will continue to avoid the bible.

+1

[Anonymous]

My MIL gives my kids religious story books. I happily read them to them so they know many of the stories that are cultural norms. We also talk about what Christians believe (and other religions) and what their dad and I believe. There's lots of 'what do you think?' questions thrown back at them. I have considered getting them a children's bible to talk about the stories, but haven't yet - though they've looked at them at other people's houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my husband is more religious than I am so we go to Church (sporadically). I'm sure at some point I will more directly address my lack of belief but in the meantime I take the ministers tack of focusing on the parable.

That said my non-religious Dad got me a comic book version of the bible as a kid that I loved, so I got one for my kids and the 8 year old loved it. 6 year old hasn't read it yet but I hope she will when she's ready.

Bible stories are such a touchstone for so much of western literature that I felt it was important that my kids be familiar with them in order to catch the literary references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my husband is more religious than I am so we go to Church (sporadically). I'm sure at some point I will more directly address my lack of belief but in the meantime I take the ministers tack of focusing on the parable.

That said my non-religious Dad got me a comic book version of the bible as a kid that I loved, so I got one for my kids and the 8 year old loved it. 6 year old hasn't read it yet but I hope she will when she's ready.

Bible stories are such a touchstone for so much of western literature that I felt it was important that my kids be familiar with them in order to catch the literary references.

Yes, that's the greatest value of Biblical stories, IMHO. Raised as a Roman Catholic, I didn't study the Bible as other Christians did, but I knew a lot of the stories, just from watching TV.

Never could quote the bible, Chapter and verse, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do your kids know bible stories (e.g. Jonah and the whale, Noah's ark, David and Goliath, etc, etc)? If so, how did they learn them?

There are so many biblical references in American pop culture that it feels odd not to teach them--akin to a child who grows up never having read Cinderella or the three little pigs. How has your family handled this?

Faulty premise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my husband is more religious than I am so we go to Church (sporadically). I'm sure at some point I will more directly address my lack of belief but in the meantime I take the ministers tack of focusing on the parable.

That said my non-religious Dad got me a comic book version of the bible as a kid that I loved, so I got one for my kids and the 8 year old loved it. 6 year old hasn't read it yet but I hope she will when she's ready.

Bible stories are such a touchstone for so much of western literature that I felt it was important that my kids be familiar with them in order to catch the literary references.

Not true for anything after the XV century.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my husband is more religious than I am so we go to Church (sporadically). I'm sure at some point I will more directly address my lack of belief but in the meantime I take the ministers tack of focusing on the parable.

That said my non-religious Dad got me a comic book version of the bible as a kid that I loved, so I got one for my kids and the 8 year old loved it. 6 year old hasn't read it yet but I hope she will when she's ready.

Bible stories are such a touchstone for so much of western literature that I felt it was important that my kids be familiar with them in order to catch the literary references.

Not true for anything after the XV century.

Maybe so, but a lot of worthwhile stuff happened before the XV century. The improtant thing to remember is that you can teach about the Bible, without teaching people to believe in the Bible. Think of it like Greek Mythology, or Aesop's fables -- useful, but not factual.