Following my favorite childhood hobby,
I have taken great pleasure in introducing my kids to Legos. Every
Christmas they can depend on getting a new box. In addition to gifts,
most of their own spending money also goes to support their
obsession. They've been to Legoland at the American Mall and most
recently Schaumburg's Legoland Discovery Center. Of course the
internet has all kinds of amazing constructions. One group of Lego
fanatics actually built a life size replica of a house. When I found
the Brick Testament, I thought that was a pretty cool idea. The kids
got all excited and we started reading through some of the Bible stories. It wasn't long
till I started getting annoyed by little things. What
seemed like a great illustrated Bible, turned out to be riddled with bits of sinister
contempt underlining certain stories. Could it be a Bible written for
skeptics? Just who is this author, “Rev” Brendan Powell Smith?
In October 2012, the Brick New
Testament was featured in Time and the Huffington Post. It's now
available on Amazon and becoming increasingly popular among
Christians and homeschoolers. How long will it be before the local
Christian bookstore picks it up? I've already seen it used as sermon
illustrations. When approached about the author being a skeptic, the
pastor just couldn't believe it and continued using it in his
sermons. Maybe this blog will help make things clear, as long as Smith doesn't decide
to remove all the evidence from his pages. Before you start your own
investigation, make sure your prepared to wade through all the
profanities, sarcasm and skeptical rants inundated throughout his
blog.
On October 2, Smith posted in his news, “This
Saturday, October 6, I will be back in the valley signing books at a
Freethinker's convention. I love my job. C'mon out, meet some nice
folks and get a signed book! If you can't make it to these great
events, you can always order a signed copy of any of The Brick Bible
books from The Brick Bible shop! Always nice to meet fans in person
though.”
I have no problem associating with nice folks who are skeptics and
atheist “freethinkers”, how else are Christians suppose to reach out to
them with the Gospel? But, isn't the invitation a bit odd? And, if the
book is being marketed to this kind of audience, shouldn't it at least arouse some curiosity?
Commenting on one of his chapters, Smith posted a blog titled, “Abraham willing to
kill own son for God”, Smith asks, “How morally vile an act would
you be willing to perpetrate if you were convinced God told you to do
it? Would you steal someone’s wallet? Would you punch a random
stranger in the face? Would you hijack a plane and fly it into a
skyscraper? Would you slit your beloved son’s throat and burn his
corpse? These are the sorts of questions that the faithful must ask
themselves, for one never know when they will be tested. And lest you
imagine that, as in the latest set of illustrated stories at The
Brick Testament website, God will always shows up at the last second
to tell you it was all only a test…keep in mind that sometimes God
actually wants you to go through with it.”
Perhaps you have read some of the
praises associated with this work. Rev. Wanda Lundy, professor of
Ministry Studies at New York Theological Seminary calls it, “A
spectacular twenty-first century Biblical art masterpiece.” “A curiously powerful graphic novel.” - Publisher's Weekly. Wired.com says, “From the pew warmer to the geek dad, this book is the perfect gift.” Can people really be so gullible? Maybe they don't really care.
Remember, as the subtitle states, “A New Spin on the Story of
Jesus.” Here's Smith's commentary on his adaptation of
Armageddon, “God has a plan. Our pathetic, puny human minds cannot
comprehend the utter and sheer brilliance of God’s plan (and God
made sure of that by only equipping us with pathetic, puny human
minds), but rest assured that God does indeed most certainly have a
plan. And here’s one thing we can know about God’s plan: it
involves torture. Lots and lots of torture. Sure, torture is
generally regarded by us comparatively dim-witted humans as the most
morally vile, reprehensible, and cruel behavior possible. But this
must only show our lack of intelligence, because God can’t get
enough of the stuff. In our latest four illustrated stories from
Revelation, God continues to pour down wave after wave of horrible
torments on mankind.”
Now I ask you, does this sound like
the kind of person who believes in God? Obviously Smith doesn't think God is trustworthy. He certainly doesn't rely on
exegesis and hermeneutics to aid his understanding of Biblical texts and cultural contexts; neither are of any concern or consequence to his agenda. As a matter of fact, it
wouldn't surprise me if he was reading through this blog, laughing all the way: the thought of Christians using his “Bible,” he probably
never even imagined it would be such a hit. His is the work of pure sarcasm. He's actually contending against Christianity, mocking the Bible. There's better works out there. If you have kids who like illustrated books, then I recommend,
The Action Bible, illustrated by
Sergio Cariello. Another great Bible story book that is out of print is
God's Story: The Bible Told as One Story by Karen Henly.
Footnotes / Sources
