Zondervan Anything For a Buck By Ingrid Schlueter  -  June 12, 2006 http://sliceoflaodicea.com

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This week's Hall of Shame Award from Slice of Laodicea goes to Zondervan Publishing. If you want to see a contributing factor to evangelicalism's demise, you can check out Zondervan's treatment of the Gospel and the Bible in the interest of profits. Young parents cluelessly go out and buy what's in the stores for their children and tragically, the children are never being given the true Word of God.

I have a book on my desk entitled "See With Me Bible--The Bible Told in Pictures". Let's just say they utterly failed in their task (which was dubious to begin with.) Never have I seen more grotesque and repulsive depictions of the great saints of God. Never have I seen the such blasphemous depictions of Mary and Joseph and Jesus. The cartoons are truly hideous. Pity the poor children who are first introduced to the greatest story ever told with this ugliness as their visual guide.

As a child growing up, I have powerful memories of sitting with my mother and reading Egermeier's book of Bible stories. (This was the old version, not the newer one.) The drawings were beautiful and they were reverent. They made the Battle of Jericho come alive as the great Joshua faithfully obeyed the Lord and the walls came down.

Joshua is made to look like a complete fool in this new "Bible" for children. What Zondervan is doing is no less than undermining the authority of the Word of God for the purpose of selling products to a dumbed down and spiritually ignorant evangelical church.

Just as bad is their new Faithgirlz "Bible" for junior high/high school girls. Here's what they say about it:

"Every girl wants to know she's totally unique and special. Here's a Bible that says that with Faithgirlz!™ sparkle! A girl can grow closer to God as she discovers the journey of a lifetime, in her language, for her world. The TNIV translation allows for accurate, everyday words she'll appreciate....

"Inside are features like: Dream Girl: Helps her imagine herself in Bible stories...."

Every girl may want to know that she's "special" but, as a girl, what I really needed to know was that my sin would send me to hell without the cleansing of Jesus' blood. The Bible is not a self-improvement, self-esteem enhancer. Its message is clear -- repent or be damned.

This new Bible apparently has a new, improved and upbeat message for teen girls. They have made the Bible over into a Teen Cosmopolitan magazine and I think it's an evil way to treat the Holy Word of God -- the same Bible for which the martyrs died.