Tuning the New Testament to Teenagers

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from US News and World Report, May 3, 2004, with the headline, “A Bible Magazine for Teenage Boys—What a revelation! The latest version of the New Testament tells boys to knock off the nose picking. Apparently, girls find it totally gross. The hygiene tip comes from Refuel, a magazine-sized full-color Bible published in time for Easter that offers the Word of God for teenage guys more accustomed to Maxim that to Matthew.

“The publisher, Nelson Bibles, is betting that Refuel will be as hot as Resolve, the company’s teen girl Bible-zine, which became the best selling Bible of 2003 by looking and sounding like an issue of Cosmo Girl.

“This month, Zondervan, another big name in Christian publishing, officially introduced its own flashy Bibles. While there have been other teen Bibles, none of the old crop relied so heavily on pop culture to sell their message or address girls and boys separately. ‘Teenagers see or hear over 3,000 advertisements a day,’ explains Paul Caminiti, Zondervan’s Bible publisher. ‘If you tell them to buy something, they’re resistant. If you tell them they’ll be a dork if they don’t, you’ve got their attention.’

“Inside Revolution, Zondervan’s Bible for teen guys, ‘heavenly father’ sends instant messages to ‘my son.’ True Images, the girls’ bright purple version, includes a 10-question quiz that promises to reveal whether the reader is a ‘diva, doormat, or dream date.’

“Critics worry that teen Bibles dilute the religious experience by offering pat interpretations of Scripture rather than demanding that teens think it through themselves. That may be exactly what teens are attracted to. Revolution offers ‘matchups,’ professional-wrestling-style smack-downs between warring biblical figures—Cain vs. Abel, for example—with each character’s strengths and weaknesses analyzed and the eventual outcome explained. ‘I love those,’ says Spencer Flory, a 15-year-old from Ada, Michigan. ‘If you don’t get the passages too well, instead of reading the whole thing and doing it in your head, it’s just right there.’

Theologians may sigh, but the teen Bibles do bring up some serious topics. Refuel devotes a full page to explaining date rape, while Revolve’s blab columns address issues like molestation and eating disorders. ‘What you hope is that this is like a preschool entry Bible,’ says Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, ‘and that teens will grow out of it.’”

Tom: Well, a preschool entry Bible. Dave, that’s the same line they’ve been using for years with regard to paraphrases. “Oh, well, it’s introductory. It just…it makes a person less intimidated and more comfortable with all of this.”

Dave: Preschool for teens?

Tom: Well, not only that, but dating—date rape—these are the kind of things…do they draw you into the Bible? Do they encourage you to really want to know what God has to say? Or is this just an accommodation to the culture?

Dave: Tom, it’s just part of what we’re getting. We are turning away from the Bible, and I guess we’ve talked about this in the past. The Bible is God’s Word. And that men would dare to take the Bible, take God’s Word, trash His Word, throw it out, put their own words in His place, and call it the Bible! You know, they used to call it a paraphrase, as you said. Now they are calling it the Bible. The Message, Eugene Peterson—it’s a Bible version, and it’s quoted by Rick Warren, for example. He quotes it many times in his book and in his sermons.

Why would you go to something like this? You have changed—I’m sorry, I get angry! You have changed God’s Word. It is the Word of God that quickens. It is the Word of God by which we’re saved; by which we’re born again. And now we’re going to take the Word of God, and we’re going to change it.

Tom: Well, Dave, let’s go back to this Bible-zine, okay? This Bible magazine. The encouragement here is that, hey, at least the kids are reading it. They’re getting into the Bible. Now what’s wrong with that?

Dave: It’s worse to read this than not to read anything, Tom, because they’re being led astray. They’re being given the impression that this is the Bible, when it is not the Bible. God’s Word—God speaks to correct us, to mature us, to work in our hearts, and now we’ve shoved God’s words aside, and now we’re going cater to the lowest thinking of teenagers or whatever it is, so that we can get down to their level, and God is coming down to their level.

Tom, I don’t know if you remember, I used to get up to Berkeley quite a bit back in the free speech platform days and tried it a time or two of my own at the free speech platform, and so forth. But they came out with a version—do you remember Letters to Street People?

Tom: No, I….

Dave: I kind of liked it, I must confess now. Tom, now you can take off on me now.

For example, it would say, “Rahab the hooker stashed the spies.” Well, I don’t think they changed anything. They put it in slang language. They said, “You believe in God? The devils believe, and it really freaks them out!” Well, maybe that’s doing the same thing this is doing, but not as bad. Not as bad.

Tom: But it seems that way, Dave. When you start using, for example—what does “freak” mean to other people? We’ve got a language here now that some people may understand, but other people don’t understand what they’re talking about.

Dave: Tom, believe it or not, it’s related to this idea that the King James…”Well, who can understand the King James?” We just came back from Europe, and the people over there speak so many languages, and they know Latin, for example. We can’t handle King James English? Beautiful—it’s Shakespearian English—beautiful language. We’ve got to change it into something else.

But, Tom, the point is, what is God’s Word? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God….Thy words were found, I did eat them,” Jeremiah said. “They are unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” You read Psalm 119—it’s all about the Word of God: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.” Now we’re going to take God’s Word and we’re going to change it into human words? We’re going to make it something that will appeal to teenagers and we’re going to call this God’s Word, and this is going to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path? It’s an insult to God. It’s blasphemy, Tom….

Tom: Yeah and it’s….

Dave: But it’s a trap—but, it’s a tragedy!

Tom: Dave, as you say, when the topic of the Bible has to do with social activities of teenagers, whether they should pick their nose or not pick their nose, we have just trivialized God’s Word. We’ve mocked it, I think.

Dave: Yeah. Well, it’s a sad day when this sort of thing becomes popular. And this is what they want to cater to teens. This is not what the Bible is about.