What Do I Tell a Child Who Feels Guilty for Not Wanting to Read the Bible?

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What Do I Tell a Child Who Feels Guilty for Not Wanting to Read the Bible?

September 19, 2024

Questions about what to tell a child who feels guilty for not wanting to read the Bible because he finds it boring and confusing, what Bible was printed before King James published his version, and whether or not the original versions are available in English.

* What do I tell a child who feels guilty for not wanting to read the Bible because he finds it boring and confusing?

* Was King James greedy and power-hungry, and did he have a version of the Bible written to support the royal kingdom? What was printed before King James published his version, and are the original versions available in English?

Transcript

Hello, listener. Thank you for joining us on Stand to Reason's hashtag-str-ask podcast. I'm Amy Hall, and I'm here with Greg Koukl.

Hello, Greg. Did you say hello listener or listeners? I don't remember. Well, I think it was listener, but that's because we're just talking to one person at a time.

That's right. I like that. Okay.

Listener. Listener. Listener.

Oh, okay. The listeners are getting restless now, Greg. It was the plural.

Okay. Okay. This question comes from Jason.

What do you tell a child who's being honest and feels bad for not wanting to read the Bible because it's boring and confusing? He feels guilty because of what his teacher is telling him. I haven't to agree and was forced to read it as a child. Well, I think this is a challenging situation.

I'm not sure if Jason is not going to read it as a child. Well, I think this is a challenging situation. It looks back at the hardship and now is aware of a resentment that developed as a result.

Not sure. And I think there are some things that we read in the Bible that are boring, principally because we don't understand all that's going on at the time, which is, I have a especially difficult time with chronicles. I read through kings.

Okay, got it. That's all these interesting occasions. Counts of the kings.

You get to chronicles and all they're doing is counting all the time, all these names. And it's like, oh, please. So I'm sympathetic to that.

I think it's useful if we acknowledge that sometimes this stuff can be hard. Maybe an analogy that you can draw with your children is it's something like eating. No kid likes to eat everything that their parents put before them on the table.

I think it's sound parenting to make them eat what's been prepared for them. Okay, that may be controversial a little bit, but nevertheless, people who learn to eat what's put before them, even though they don't like it at the moment, turn out not to be picky eaters and it helps them later in life. Now, kids don't always understand that, but but they will understand the analogy.

Honey, sometimes things are good for you that you don't like. This is why a mom and dad make a meal for you. That's good for you.

Even if you don't like something, why we want you to eat things or maybe not even eat at all, but eat some of you can have small portions, but we want you to eat everything because we know in the long run, it's going to be good for you. So I think providing an analogy like that that maybe helps them to see this in a different light. We don't want you to hate the Bible, but we understand that sometimes it's not that much fun to read.

Okay, but it is part of what's required that part of growing up in a good way. I'll think of any musical instrument and you're a flautist or a flutist or whatever is the appropriate thing, flutist American. Okay.

That's the first time I've ever heard that. I saw a movie about Jesse Owens and they had a Jewish American phrase in there and that was totally anachronistic because this happened in 1936 at the Olympics in Munich. I mean, yeah, in Germany, in any event, I'm making reference to this because you had a period of time where you had to do probably a lot of dolphins.

I mean, I think it's the first time I've ever heard a lot of things in order to develop the skill to actually enjoy in its fullest the capability you now have because you practice down on on on on on on on on on on over again doing what you need to learn how to play the flute. Okay, and so maybe maybe that kind of instruction would be helpful to a child. Proverbs talks a lot about in general things like this.

You are teaching children things that they don't understand, but you're telling them this is a good thing. Okay. And I want you to see this is a good thing.

I want you to understand it is a good thing. And over time, it will begin to bear fruit. So that might be a parallel either an instrument playing an instrument if your child plays an instrument or even a sport.

I mean, there are times when when you play sports and you start out because you like it, but if you're in a competitive sport, you got to put in a lot of extra work that's not fun because you're looking down the line for the benefit that it will bring you. I just almost finished with Andre Agassi's autobiography. The famous tennis player now retired for over 20 years, but one of the best ever and he hated tennis.

But there were all kinds of benefits that accude from from tennis that he actually realized later in life that he was able to build all kinds of good things from it. I mean, he built he's building schools in Nevada and doing all this this charity work because he's able to do that because of his celebrity. And now he realizes, oh, that all paid off.

So, so here are a couple of analogies, whether it's food or whether it's a musical instrument or whether it's a sport. There are there are there are there are downsides to all of these things that we pursue for a later benefit. And I think that might be a way of communicating to a child.

We're going to do these things because ultimately it's going to be good for you. And it's going to make a difference. Now, you want to be sensitive in any of those things that the person who's pursuing this doesn't end up hating it because of the pressure.

And that was a struggle for Agassi, for example, most of his life he hated tennis from the time he was eight years old. But that was because of the environment which he he was forced to learn. So that's something you want to be aware of.

But we're trying to teach children that sacrifices made at one point in time will bring benefit later that you will be thankful you have because of the sacrifice early on. Yeah, that was one of my thoughts, Greg. Sometimes we have to do boring things.

I mean, that's just in life. Sometimes that's the case. But one thing I want to say about the teacher, I mean, if the teacher is making him feel guilty for not wanting to read the Bible, all I can say is you don't get someone to like something by shaming them into it.

That's not how that works. You have to show them what's good about it. You have to reveal to them what the Bible is about.

Like you said, Greg, sometimes if you don't understand it, it's just not interesting to read and it can be boring. So show him the Bible. Talk to him about the overall story.

Help him understand where this part of the story is in relation to the whole story. One thing I thought of, there's a ministry called Walk Through the Bible. And they take people, they'll take an audience, and they'll take them through the entire Old Testament or New Testament.

And they'll give you, they'll really explain to you the story so you have kind of a framework. I think that would be a great idea. Walk Through the Bible is the name of the organization.

And they have, they have events all over at different churches. So you can go to their website and check and see if you can find a church near you that will be doing that. You could take your child there.

And I, I promise you, it'll make a lot more sense to him after that. But do your best to explain the story. Give them, give them that framework, give them that bigger picture.

And show that you love it. I think he'll pick up on how you think of the Bible. You reading it or not reading it or the way you talk about it.

I think he'll pick up on that. So maybe you need to develop a love for the Bible also. By the way, this same issue applies to adults.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. Sometimes it's a discipline that you learn and then you're consistent at it and it has a different levels of personal payoff in the moment at different times.

Sometimes you do it. And I find myself reading, I'm just going to keep working through the Bible. I'm almost done with the Bible.

Take me four years to read through it and I'll start again when I'm done. But, but it's amazing how often I'll read something. And within 24 hours, I'm drawing on that, which I read for some purpose.

Yes, that happens to me over and over all. So Greg. And then finally, there's a spiritual element to this.

I can remember the way I read the Bible before my whole heart was changed to love God was different than after. I had I had a much greater desire to read after that. I got I got much more out of it after that.

So there is a spiritual element happening here. Your child might not be a Christian yet. And so this is where the scales idea comes in, Greg, about learning how to play an instrument.

So you're giving him the skills for later and you're giving him the framework for later. And like you said, like we we do the things that are good for us, even if they're boring. So maybe you can find fun ways to do it.

Maybe have him memorize a whole chapter. And then he's got a sense of accomplishment and how he's meditating more carefully on the text and will make more sense to him. So there are other things you can do to kind of get there.

This idea of delayed gratification or doing the things that's boring because it's good for us. Even if we don't like it, this one of the most important lessons any young person can learn. And there's a whole bunch of grown-ups who haven't learned this.

And it's sad because it detracts from their capability of being effective in a whole range of life elements. And effectiveness brings satisfaction. It brings satisfaction.

But the satisfaction has to be earned after a fashion. You have to learn to do the things that will bring satisfaction. I know you love to play with the orchestra.

You do your practicing. Then you do presentations, you do events and concerts. And that's deeply satisfying for you.

But you wouldn't be able to enjoy that satisfaction unless you had done that which enabled the delayed satisfaction. That satisfaction to take place. And I think, again, the more you can make the bigger picture clear to your child, the more you can include theology as you're reading this.

So they get an idea of where it's coming from, where it's going, and the God that it's talking about, I think that will help it to make more sense for him. Okay, let's go to a question from James. My daughter asked me this.

We have a lot of quick questions. We do. A lot of quick questions.

Was King James greedy and power hungry? Did he have a version written to support the royal kingdom? What was printed before King James published his version? Are the original versions available in English print? Oh, there's a lot going on there. I don't know about King James's motivation. Can't tell you about that.

That might be available. I don't know. The idea was to get a Bible in the vernacular.

That is the language of the people at that time, which was English. And I know it sounds funny when we read it now, but that's the way people talked back then. Read Shakespeare.

Okay. And there were Bibles available before that. I think there are copies of the original King James.

Actually, there's multiple versions. They had a couple of mistakes. You know, in some of the things they had to correct them and fix some things.

So there are a couple of different King James's where people say, well, the King James only, which one are you referring to? But that's somewhat inconsequential. The earliest versions are probably available somewhere, if that's what the question was about. I think that his daughter is asking, are the original versions of the Bible available in English print? Not the King James.

Well, yes, there's, well, again, what we have is we have manuscripts from all through the last 2000 years. Actually, a manuscript is actually a written manuscript. I mean, that's the way they think of it.

So what we're talking about here is from up to the time of Gutenberg in the printing press before that everything was written out. So we have all kinds of copies of that. We do not have the originals.

They're gone because these things get destroyed after time. The chances are pretty good. They lasted for a long time though and could have been resources that people could draw from this or continue to copy.

We have copies of those and we have copies of copies, et cetera, et cetera. But you can compare all the copies and look at the differences and be able to compile what the, I mean, what the original actually said, what it looked like, okay, you can't even do that with Shakespeare, even though that's just 500 years, not 2000 years. So, I mean, there's all kinds of variants in Shakespeare's works and, you know, whatever.

But the Bible before the King James, the main Bible was the Vulgate, the Latin Vulgate that Jerome had translated from the Greek because the Latin was, what we call the lingua franca. That was the trade language of the time. That was the vernacular.

But of course, fewer and fewer people were able, they weren't educated in Latin and so they couldn't read the originals. The Catholic church had kind of a market on that and they explained what they wanted to explain and so they got a second hand. And there was a movement then to try to get the Bible in the language of the people in order.

So the average person could read it and the King James accomplished that. But I think there were some, I'm trying to think maybe Wycliffe might have come before him. I'm not sure there were a couple of... Ten-dale.

Maybe ten-dale. Yeah, again, I'm kind of mixed up. Yeah.

A little fuzzy, but producing an English version for that purpose. But those people who tried to do that came under a lot of persecution. The benefit of the King James Bible is that King, the King was the sponsor of the project.

So you can't draw and quarter the King or burn him at the stake like others were treated. And the irony is that it was the religious hierarchy at the time, the leadership at the time, that was resisting allowing the Scriptures to get in the hands of the rank and file. And so there were lots of Christian saints who were trying to do that that just were simply martyred.

They were hewn down. They were burned at the stake or they were killed and then they were burned at the stake. I think ten-dale's bones were unearthed and then burned.

Or one of those guys, maybe Wyck, if I'm not sure, but the point was... Yes, there was a Bible available before that. The Latin version, also known as the Vulgate. But King James wanted to get the Bible in English for the people of the time.

And that's what was really significant about the King James Bible. And I think I've heard before, because Tyndale was before then. And I think what I've heard is that there's still to this day a lot of his language used.

And I think a lot of his language was used in the King James. He even invented some words. And so I think what might be behind this question is a little bit of fear that the King had some sort of special Bible written and to accomplish a certain purpose.

But the truth is it doesn't matter what his motivation was, because they were going off of the manuscripts that had come down. It wasn't that King James was saying here, I want you to write about this and about that. Right.

In that case it was called the Texas reception. Exactly. So that's how the translation works.

People work from the original languages, and then they get a translation into whatever language of the people. So when the question is what was printed for King James, that was the Latin Bible based on the Greek manuscripts. And then the question are the original versions available in English print? The answer is yes, because we're all going back to the early Greek manuscripts that we have.

It's not that we are taking like there was one Bible and then that was translated into a language and then that was translated into a language and on and on and on. I think sometimes people think that's how it works. But in actuality what it is, is that there are these Greek manuscripts and they use what's called textual criticism to determine the original Greek readings.

And then that is translated directly from that original language it was written into the language that you're translating it into. Yeah, in our case for English. Now sometimes they're going to take the versions like the Vulgate or the Syriac or Coptic or something like that because these were translations from Greek manuscripts.

And if there's some question with the Greek manuscripts that have survived now that we have sometimes going back to these translations, these versions like the Vulgate will give some clarification where clarification is needed. So they do use the translations to help out, but these translations are not the translations are to help. The Greek is the underlying language from which all modern translations work.

So you are reading the original version in English. If you pick up any Bible, you pick it up, it's translating from that. Now Greg mentioned that the originals are gone, but that doesn't mean we don't know what the original said because remember a text is non-physical.

It can be expressed in all sorts of ways. It can be written down in all sorts of ways on all sorts of materials. So the fact that we've lost the original materials doesn't mean we don't have it passed down through a multitude of copies.

And because we have this multitude of copies, we can compare them to each other and determine what the original said without going into how that all works. That's actually a whole discipline called textual criticism. And that's how they determine the original reading.

And then that's translated directly. So hopefully that will help your daughter understand a little bit better how Bible translation works and what we're translating and how hard it would be for one person to come in. And change everything in the Bible because you have all of these copies all over the world and they're all being copied.

And it's very hard to change all of those, which is why it's actually better that we have all of these copies to look towards rather than one original that anyone could mess with. All right. Thank you, James.

Thank you, Jason. If you have a question, you can send it on X, the hashtag STRASK or go to our website at STR.org. This is Amy Hall in Great Cocoa for Stand to Reason.