It’s kind of funny how you fill in blanks as a kid. For example, I don’t remember learning much about heaven in church. It sounded pretty great, of course, but the details were lacking, so obviously I let Disney help teach me. You know at the beginning of Dumbo when the stork is delivering Dumbo, and takes a break to check his map while Dumbo keeps nearly falling out of the clouds? Well, I had decided heaven was in the clouds. I was a bit of a nervous, shy kid so I was particularly worried about how I would avoid falling through the clouds. But God would have that problem figured out, so I imagined He installed some sort of handrail, like in a stairwell or a bathroom stall.
Yup, that was my impression of heaven. I guess I could have asked questions, but why would I when my little mind already had it figured out?
Side note: Mom, if you are reading this, it’s ok!
Also, I had this friend in elementary school whose dad was a pastor, so in my mind she must be really, really smart about the Bible. One day on the playground she told me all about demons and how if you aren’t careful, they could write messages in fog on the mirror while you were in the shower. For weeks I made my sister come into the bathroom while I showered or I left curtain open so I could see the bathroom mirror at all times. Remember, I told you I was a nervous kid. After flooding the bathroom one day, I finally told my mom I was afraid of demons. She assured me that the Bible tells us that God defeats both Satan and demons and that with Jesus as my savior I didn’t need to be afraid of them. I can’t tell you the relief and comfort that gave me.
Side note: Look mom, total redemption!
Isn’t it interesting how we avoid some of these more challenging topics with our kids? Even if we struggled to understand those topics as kids ourselves and needed our parents to help set us straight, we still avoid them with our own children. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t relish talking to my kids about demons and I get why many churches are hesitant as well. But we do have God’s word to guide us and the truth is so much better than the fiction the world embraces.
As our team at Harvest House started looking at creating Bible Infographics for Kids Volume 2, we brainstormed how this book could be different than the first and how it could continue to help kids on deeper spiritual levels and with more biblical truths. We started talking about things like heaven and hell, angels and demons (yes, I recounted my myth-filled demon story), light and dark, heroes and villains. We talked about the Trinity, the two natures of Jesus, and other biblical concepts that are hard to fully comprehend as adults, let alone for children. And that’s when we knew we had our direction for volume 2. We really focused in on the theme of light and dark, busting myths and giving Biblical answers using engaging graphics—with some fun sprinkled in as well. (For example, did you know that the KJV of the Bible mentions unicorns?!)
We shouldn’t let Disney (yeah, I said it!) teach our kids about heaven and hell; instead, let’s let the Bible talk to them. Let’s make sure our kids aren’t afraid of demons or Satan because of some misinformation from the pastor’s kid on the playground (no offense P.K.’s). Let’s equip our kids with the knowledge and truth contained in the Bible. Let’s prepare them to recognize the differences between good and evil and encourage them in the knowledge that God has the ultimate victory.
Are you in?
-Heather
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Heather Green has been working in Christian publishing for nearly 15 years, but her true joy is as a wife to her husband and a mommy to three craze-mazing kiddos.
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