Children’s Bible stories published with social justice focus

A group of new children’s storybook Bibles is being published to reflect a progressive focus on diversity, inclusion, and social justice. One is The Just Love Story Bible, a “justice-oriented” storybook for children ages four to ten. Authored by Rev. Jacqui Lewis and Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris, it features fifty-two Bible stories and illustrations portraying characters in black, brown, and tan skin tones.

The authors said they hope to prompt children to ask questions and challenge traditional beliefs about God, Jesus, and the biblical narrative. For example, Lewis describes her storybook’s presentation of Jesus’ resurrection: “Did that happen? For me, it matters more that children know that love never dies, so that’s where I landed.”

Rev. Lewis’s bio on her church’s website describes her congregation as “a Christian universalist, multicultural, multiethnic rainbow coalition” that “understands what Jacqui preaches: Love liberates. Love. Period.”

This focus is not new, of course. Rob Bell generated controversy with his book a few years ago, Love Wins, in which he argues for a universalist theology that rejects the existence of hell. When people debate same-sex relationships and marriage, an LGBTQ advocate will inevitably proclaim the mantra “love is love,” as though this wins the argument and ends the discussion.

But does it?

Love is a verb

Yesterday we focused on the power of love to change the world. But not just any love from any source expressed in any way: God’s love manifested by God’s Spirit when we make God’s Son our Lord.

Let’s think about this for a moment.

A philosopher would say that love has no ontological status, meaning that it has no independent existence. We say that we “feel love” for someone, but we do not feel love unless it is for someone. Try this yourself: attempt to “feel love” right now in the abstract, apart from a particular object of that love.

Similarly, we say we “act in love,” but we cannot do so unless our action is directed at someone. Try to “act in love” right now in the abstract, apart from a particular object.

As Stephen Covey observed, love is a verb rather than a noun. So if someone says that “love liberates” or “love wins” or “love is love,” we need to know more. Who is the one loving? Who is the one being loved? What is the nature of this love?

Consider:

• David’s love affair with Bathsheba led to deceit and murder (2 Samuel 11).
• Solomon’s love for “many foreign women” turned him to idolatry and led to the division of his kingdom (1 Kings 11).
• German boys and girls who joined the Hitler Youth swore “always to do my duty with love and loyalty, for the Führer and our flag” (my emphasis)

• The ACLU is backing a drive to challenge bigamy laws, part of a larger move to normalize and legalize polyamorous and polygamous “love.”
• Wikipedia lists a large number of pedophile groups advocating for sexual “love” between adults and children.

“The gospel is bad news before it is good news”

Our problem with love is its source: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus described our “heart condition” this way: “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21–22).

As a result, we need a spiritual heart transplant. We need the “new heart” only God can give us (Ezekiel 36:26) when we are “born again” as his children through faith in his Son (John 1:12; 3:3). Frederick Buechner said of this reality:

The gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy.

According to Tim Keller, “The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

Here’s the catch: We must experience the risen Lord Jesus personally to experience the transformation he can make in our lives. He alone can forgive our sins, save our souls, transform our character, and manifest himself in and through us.

“Love wins” when it is his love. 

God’s word assures us: “The Lᴏʀᴅ your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT). Commenting on this promise, First15, our devotional ministry, quotes Brennan Manning:

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”

Will you make his “awareness” yours today?

Quote for the day:

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.” —Brennan Manning

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