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How on earth do you go about choosing

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a children's Bible ? Hmm , you

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get on Amazon , you go to the bookstore . There

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are so many options . Well

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, in today's episode , heidi and I are going to walk

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you through some of the steps that we used as

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we made those decisions for the kids in our

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lives , and we hope that you'll find it helpful

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as you decide what sort of Bible

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you need in your own home .

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Welcome back to Parenting , to Impress your go-to

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podcast , to learn practical ways to love

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God and love others and impress

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this on the hearts of your children . I am

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your host , heidi Franz , and I am joined by my

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dear friend , melanie Simpson two

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moms who have made a lot of mistakes but

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have found grace and truth along the way

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. Melanie , I think

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one of the hardest things about finding

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a children's Bible is that

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there's so many types .

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It's not just which one's

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the best , but which type

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is best for my child now , and

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which age group I mean even I'm thinking about teachers

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who have , who want to have a Bible in their classrooms

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. Each stage and age really

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could require a different kind of Bible

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.

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Yeah , exactly . So we're just going

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to dive right in and we're going to start with the picture

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Bible . This is

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the Bible that I suggest for

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toddlers to age

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about four . These Bibles

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include large illustrations with

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stories that are shortened , but

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the main points are provided in childlike

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terms . Most of them

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include scripture references and some

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even add in some comprehension questions and memory

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verses . The condensed stories

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do not add to the Bible except

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for basic understanding . The

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beginner's Bible Timeless

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Children's Stories is an example

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of this and that's my absolute favorite

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picture Bible . It's the one that I suggest with

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the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum and

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the one that my children used

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and used and used . I think we've gone

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through three copies .

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Okay , moving on to the next age group . So this

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would be preschoolers . Early elementary would be a story

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Bible . It's similar to the picture

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Bible it has pictures but there are more words now so

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you're kind of transitioning into the early reader

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group . It adds a little bit more dimension to

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the characters . There's a little more vibrancy in the stories

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that are told . One

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popular one is the Jesus Storybook

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Bible . Every story whispers his name and that's a favorite . Many

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homes Veggie .

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Tales would be kind of the animated example

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of a story Bible . The next level are

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what I call beginner Bibles , and

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the Bibles in this category contain books and chapters and verses

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like a real Bible , but the

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verses which are not relevant

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to the story or not age appropriate are

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skipped . These Bibles

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, such as the my First Hands-On

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Bible , are a cross between the picture Bible

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and the children's Bible and are best

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for ages four to six .

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The next appropriate age group would

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be for the elementary age , and a children's

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Bible is what we recommend , and they're actual books

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and chapters and verses , just like an adult

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Bible , but they're often in translations that are

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easier for kiddos to understand . So

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this would be a great Bible for a child who is taking

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off reading

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and they want a Bible of their own

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, something that you would be comfortable handing them

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to let them sit down and read it themselves

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. The investigators , holy Bible , is one of these , and

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what's really interesting is in these , you'll

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see , the writers have begun

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to pull themes out , so

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children are getting to see larger pictures of themes

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that are introduced throughout scripture .

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Yeah , all right , so those are the

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four types and based

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upon where your children

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are maturity wise , age

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wise , and even their

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understanding of the Bible you

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can decide which one you want . But , melanie

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, I think there are hundreds and hundreds

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in each type , so how

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do you choose ? So here are a few

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of the points that I've used

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and Melanie have used to consider when we're

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looking at the children's Bibles

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. So number one decide how

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is this Bible going to be used . Will it be the child's , will

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it be the child's main Bible or

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is it for supplemental purposes ? And

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the reason for that is A

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story Bible and a picture

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Bible are very different

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. A story Bible is great for

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listening to stories being

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read , while a picture Bible

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is fantastic for

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looking at what is the Bible

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actually say , what are the words , what are

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the stories in the Bible

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without the added information

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?

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I think the next point to consider would be once

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you get into one that does have words

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, is it an accurate paraphrase

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? And this is a challenge , right ? I

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mean scripture , when we come

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to it as adults , sometimes can be confusing

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, and so it is a challenge to find

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one that appropriately paraphrases

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scriptures without adding or

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taking away . Obviously , age appropriate

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is important . There are certain things that

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we would deem appropriate to leave out

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of a children's Bible , but we also

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don't wanna diminish God's

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word by moving unnecessarily

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from thematic elements or from

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character development or from God's

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providential hand and things . So just being

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mindful of that .

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Good . A third one is the added

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information in the stories to

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help the child understand the Bible story

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, or does it provide unbiblical

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additions ? And this goes along

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with the one before it . It is amazing how

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many times I have reviewed Bible's

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. Melanie and I go . This is not

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biblical .

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It is , I think , a great challenge for

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any person to endeavor to

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present or to provide a child's

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Bible . How on , I mean , I don't

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envy that person . How do you determine

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what is enough and

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what's too much ? Yeah , exactly .

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I had a Bible that I reviewed one time and

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typically when you review

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a Bible you don't read through the entire

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thing because it's just too much . But what you

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do is you just choose

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some key Bible stories

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and then you choose some not as

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popular Bible stories and you read through those

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and I read one of them and this is

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by a very prominent

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Christian organization

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and I wrote the company

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and I said I cannot support this Bible . What

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is written in here on this one

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story in particular is not

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what the Bible says . And

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they came back and very graciously

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said you are correct , they made the change

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in the Bible . But we need to be very

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careful that we don't take

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it as oh well , it's a children's Bible

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, so we know it's true , so we just read it

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. We need to be knowing the scriptures

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ourselves so we can compare them or

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, if we don't know the scriptures ourselves

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yet , that we go with trusted

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Bibles that other people have suggested and

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we'll add a bunch of these to the

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show notes so you can be seen ones that

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we personally have reviewed

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multiple times ourselves .

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I think another point to consider is , particularly

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as your child gets into the elementary

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age , are there scripture references

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for those stories ? In other words

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, if I opened this child's Bible

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, would I be able to then go to my

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translation ? My adult Bible and find

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the place where the story occurred . It's

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really important , as a child begins to transition

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into an adult Bible , that it's

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a seamless transition . In other words

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there isn't this discordance between this

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. It could feel like a story book versus

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the word of God . That was just changed

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in a way to make it more easily digestible

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for a child versus an adult Bible

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. We want that to be a seamless transition .

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Absolutely . And it sounds like I'm

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picking on veggie tales because I love

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especially those core

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veggie tale stories . But

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Rack , shack and Benny are not

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the names of Shadrack

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, meshack and Abednego . Yes , they're

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shortened down , but we want our children

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to know the truth of

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what God says , not

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what somebody has written for entertainment

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.

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It is important that from an early age they

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know that God's word is sufficient and

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that nothing need be added to it or taken

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away . And with that then goes this next point

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, which is the illustrations in a children's

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Bible . Are they distracting ? Do

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they do something or add something to the

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story in a way that does not line

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up with what is being shared and what's

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being told ? Or is it too much information ? Sometimes

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the picture just totally overwhelms and the

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kid has no interest in reading or

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hearing God's word because the picture is

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just so much fun .

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And with the pictures , the younger the child

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, the less details you want in the

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illustrations . That goes across the board

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in all reading . So in

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those younger books

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, in those picture Bibles , those

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pictures should be very simple

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. I also look in illustrations

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. Do they add the pragmatics

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? Do they show the emotion when

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we're talking about the disciples ? Do

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they show the fear in the disciples'

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faces ? When we're talking

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about Noah and seeing the rainbow

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, do we see the peace in Noah's face

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? We wanna make sure the illustrations

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are matching the Bible stories

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.

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I think the last couple of points are so

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key . One is we

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want our children through the repetition

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which we know is fundamental to

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a young child's learning process . We

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want it to be such that they have such

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easy recall of the Bible story

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. In other words , the details are to a minimum

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but the story remains with them

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. And with that said , then as

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they age , more is being

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introduced , more words , more details

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, and then , ultimately , we wanna see

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those themes restoration

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, salvation , redemption the

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great overarching themes of scripture

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need to begin to be introduced

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when they're in those elementary years , because those are

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fundamental to understanding God's

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story . I love that .

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Okay , Melanie , I've got just a few

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words of caution that I think it's so

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important for us to cover here . Story

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Bibles have a

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great place , but

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I would caution you in

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using them as the child's

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main Bible . Let's

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kinda talk through why that is and

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the danger that can happen with it

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.

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First of all , we never want to give the impression

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that God's word needs

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anything , that I mean that it

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alone is not sufficient to teach

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our children about who God is With

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that said , I think that

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Story Bibles , young

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Bibles , beginner Bibles are wonderful companions

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that are an on ramp

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for our kids to owning their faith

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. You know the joy when

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you hand that child a Bible and

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this is your Bible or this is a book that's

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gonna help . You know the Bible . Their

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pieces just light up . They love that . Don't

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be afraid to not know , but

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don't be lazy in not working

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on your own to figure out if it is

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a worthwhile resource . Very good

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.

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I think of the Christmas story as an example

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. You know , the Wisemen weren't even in the

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major , they did not visit

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Jesus as a baby , even though that's

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the Christmas story that we hear

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year after year , and

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so that is something to check

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for and make sure . Are

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these Bibles actually

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accurate , or is

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it something that they're just fun

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and we've turned them into

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stories that sound very similar

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to fairy tales ?

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And you made such a good point , heidi , in that the

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company that sent you that Bible is a well-established

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Christian company and well-meaning

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. But we are fallible human

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beings , and so it is up to us , as parents

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, to steward the resources that we put in

12:02

our kids' hands , and that includes children's

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Bibles .

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The last point that I want to talk about

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is that a Bible is

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only as good as

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it is read . Can you say

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that If

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you don't pick up the Bible , it doesn't matter

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that the child has one . If

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you don't read it with joy

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, it doesn't matter if your child

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has one ? Our

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kids sat on the couch

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behind me and

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spent hours and hours and hours

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flipping through the pages

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of their picture Bibles , because

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they had been read those Bibles

12:42

over and over and over

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, and it was a joy for us

12:46

to read those to them , and

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so I encourage you to

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one , be in the Word yourself and

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then , two , lead your children

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to learn the truth of who

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God is and what God does .

13:03

We want to thank you for listening to the Parenting

13:05

to Impress podcast . Be sure

13:07

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13:09

and check out the show notes for more information

13:12

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