Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this Bible for my 5-year-old because I wanted her to have "her own" Bible, it had received a plethora of positive reviews, and I loved the cover illustration. I also really liked that each story brought Jesus into the picture. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the liberties that were taken with the very first story, and things never improved from there. What I like about this book: 1) The illustrations are beautiful. 2) There is a nice, poetic ring to much of the text. One example: "And Adam and Eve joined in the song of the stars and the streams and the wind in the trees, the wonderful song of love to the one who made them. Their hearts were filled with happiness. And nothing ever made them sad or lonely or sick or afraid." 3) The Bible is presented as one unified story pointing to our Savior (the Rescuer). 4) In the nativity story, the wise men actually come later (to a house) as opposed to coming to the manger. Most nativity stories get this wrong. It's nice to see it done correctly. Despite these positives, I am unable to keep this book in my home because I feel it distorts the truth of the Bible too much. All of the things I appreciate about this book could have been done while remaining faithful to the Biblical text, but the author chose to add her own alterations. One example: In the very first story of Adam and Eve, the book reads: <As soon as the snake saw his chance, he slithered silently up to Eve. "Does God really love you?" the serpent whispered. "If he does, why won't he let you eat the nice, juicy, delicious fruit? Poor you, perhaps God doesn't want you to be happy." The snake's words hissed into her ears and sunk down deep into her heart, like poison. Does God love me? Eve wondered. Suddenly she didn't know anymore. "Just trust me," the serpent whispered. "You don't need God. One small taste, that's all, and you'll be happier than you could ever dream..." Eve picked the fruit and ate some. And Adam ate some, too. And a terrible lie came into the world. It would never leave. It would live on in every human heart, whispering to every one of God's children: "God doesn't love me."> This whole thread of "God doesn't love me" is carried throughout the book. The problem is that this is nowhere to be found in the Genesis account. That is not what the serpent said, and nowhere in the Bible does it say that every human heart is crying out because God doesn't love it. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that before we were saved, we were "by nature objects of wrath." This book completely removes the concept of hell, and instead presents every human being as a child of God. This is not biblical. (See [...]) A number of times in this book, the author states that Jesus has rescued "the whole world." One example is at the end of this book where Jesus says, "Now everyone can come home to God. Death is not the end of you. You can live forever with your Father in heaven because I have rescued the whole world!" If that were so, then everyone would be in heaven. That isn't what the Bible teaches. Some other problems I have with the text: At the end of the story of Noah, we are told the following: <And the first thing God did was make another promise. "I won't ever destroy the world again."> 2 Peter 3 and other texts tell us that God will indeed destroy things again, this time by fire. The author could easily have communicated what God actually said here: "Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." Later in the book, we read the following: <Sometimes people couldn't understand things very well. So Jesus helped them by telling them stories called "parables."> Actually, in Matthew 13 Jesus said just the opposite when his disciples asked him about it: The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them." In the story of the prodigal son, the following text appears in the book: <Once upon a time, there was a boy and his dad. Now, one day, the boy gets to thinking, Maybe if I didn't have my dad around telling me what is good for me all the time, I'd be happier. He's spoiling my fun, he thinks. Does my dad really want me to be happy? Does my dad really love me?> We see again here the "Does God (my dad) really love me?" theme. And, again, we see this completely absent from the biblical text in Luke 15: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them." That's it. Where God doesn't speak (or write), we should tremble to put words into His mouth (or book). Biblical truth is very important to me, and I want to communicate accurate information to my children about the God I love who saved me. In keeping this book I would be agreeing with what it says and, unfortunately, that I cannot do. "Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:2