God vs. Disney

I'll never forget when Daddy told me Santa Clause, the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny aren't real. I was one of the gullible children who had to be told, because I believed it up until the last moment. No matter what kids said, I said, "My mommy and daddy tell the truth." Daddy calmly told me one day that for years they had pretended so that I would enjoy Christmas, loosing teeth, and Easter more. I was mortified. But the question I asked still surprises me to this day. I was little and so with all honesty I asked, "Is Jesus real then?" Daddy was taken aback and said, "Of course He is!" To which I replied, "Well, that is what you said about Santa too."

I was genuinely confused. I didn't understand why certain things my parents said I was supposed to realize was just for fun or cute, but some other things that I had been talked to about the same way was to be what I planted my life on. I went into a head spin. What about this movie or that story? What is TRUE? I was desperate to know.

My family started talking about that last night and I began to think about how people and young people especially do not take the Bible seriously. They, like I began to, think that the Bible is just another cute book of stories. Kandace said she had asked some kids her age how many Gospels there are in the New Testament. They didn't know! Do we know how many books there are in the Bible? Did Paul write Ephesians? Was Luke a doctor? Do we know? Ask around, you'll see that people know little to nothing about the Bible. Yet it is what we say we base our lives on?

For a short while I wondered if the Bible was just another book of stories that can be made into cartoons.

Boy, this looks realistic, doesn't it? *sarcasm*

 When I was googling for that picture, as I typed in "Noah" the first thing that came up was "Noah's ark" and then to my amazement "Noah and the whale." Not the ark... the whale. Wow. But anyway, look at the cartoon below. Then look at the one above again. One is real, the other is false. Can a four year old tell the difference?

I am so afraid that many children and young adults see the Bible as nothing more than another story. They may say, "I'm saved," but their faith is so weak, that if confronted with a crisis of belief, they would crumble. If we believe that the Bible is the living Word of Almighty God, then is treating it no better than the story of Cinderella good enough? No. Why? I am the reason why. I was terribly confused. My parents spent much time after that showing me how the Bible alone stands. They taught me that Esther is a better role model than Ariel (the mermaid). They told me about the walls of Jericho and how they were uncovered showing that they fell flat down as it said in the Bible. They showed me scientific evidence that the Bible is true. Dad and Mom poured into Kandace and me the Word of God. When I saw that it rose to be the highest priority in their lives, I believed that they must think it is true and I chose (I chose on my own) that I too would believe in it and to prove that I did, I would allow it be what directs my life. Many 18 year olds drive off to college without that firm foundation of faith and when told that Jesus was just another man and that the earth was not created by God, they lose what little faith they had. They look back and chuckle at their old churches with their preachers, Sunday school teachers and parents that said that the Bible is true, but never said why. They just remember them holding the Bible saying, how much it means to them but other than that, the Bible didn't play much impact.

Belief in the Bible takes faith, just like belief that the world began by a bang in space takes faith. If we believe in the Bible and the stories it contains then it should be more than another story we get between Toy Story and Cars.

Jesus is more than Santa. Jesus is my Savior and Lord, the one that died upon a cross and rose from the dead. If we believe Him, then I believe that we should know about Him and what He says in His Word. It is so much more than another story... it is my life.