What is in the Bible : In the Beginning [DVD]

As a father, I'm always looking out for wholesome programming for my children. My kids have enjoyed VeggieTales, so I was intrigued when I heard that VeggieTales creater Phil Vischer, had developd a new series: "What's in the Bible?". When I got my review copy, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect to like the series this much!

The new episodes feature muppet-like puppets, animation and interaction with Phil personally. The characters are varied including, a "Sunday School lady", an anchor man "Buck Denver", and more. Phil and the characters teach the storyline of the Bible.

In the Beginning, focuses on what the Bible is, and the first half of Genesis. Let My People Go covers the call of Abraham through the end of Exodus. The varied segments, enjoyable characters, unique settings, and the fast-paced teaching combine to capture the attention of kids. Several puns are appreciated by older viewers as well. My kids were spellbound.

More important in my estimation is how the emphasis is on the Bible's overall story, rather than the heroics of the Biblical characters. The DVDs don't hone in on how much faith Abraham had and the suffering of Joseph. Instead they tell the larger story, the meta-narrative, of the Bible. This is the "story of redemption". Important themes are also addressed. Salvation, redemption, atonement, forgiveness- these basic Christian doctrines are explained.

At times, difficult questions (like canonization and the Apocrypha) are explored in a somewhat simplistic manor. But the fact that the show would address such matters gives insight into its aim. These DVDs aren't about simple entertainment, they aim to instill an affection for the "story of redemption" in the hearts of our children. I recommend them highly.

My thanks go out to Tyndale House providing me with an advance review copy of the DVDs. I was not obligated to provide a favorable review.

Our three children (9, 7 and 3) are in love with this new series. It provides exceptionally solid teaching on Biblical principles that are often overlooked or difficult to explain to children (or some adults, for that matter!) We watched it as a family over Thanksgiving (adults ranging in age from 86 to 35) and all agreed that it was creative, entertaining, and concise. The first DVD (right now there are only 4) will be where the most people have a problem: the issue of creation. Phil Vischer makes the point that there are two beliefs held by Christians - the day/age belief and the literal day belief. He goes on to say that what really matters is that we believe that GOD created the universe. Many parents will have trouble with this and there may be those who feel they should avoid the whole series as a result. THIS WOULD BE A MISTAKE!!! After seeing this DVD, our children have a clear understanding of many terms, historical facts, concepts, and stories that would have been difficult for us to explain. At no point does Mr. Vischer assume that this series is solely responsible for teaching our children - it is our responsibility as parents! We used this opportunity to explain to our children that others may believe differently about the story of creation, and it's not the end of the world if they do. Salvation is NOT conditional upon our creation beliefs - it is based only on God's grace and mercy through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Use this series to begin a discussion with your child/ren. We are looking forward to adding to our collection when the next DVDs are released!

This week, we've been reviewing Phil Vischer's latest release, "What's In The Bible?" After the disaster of Big Idea Productions, he decided to get back to what he wanted to do all along: to help parents by providing resources that will teach children about the Bible. He's created a new cast of puppet characters to tell the story, led by one of his old standbys, Buck Denver, Man of News. There's also "Pastor Paul" (who looks like Stephen Baldwin in a clerical collar) and "Cap'n Pete" who teaches `A Pirate's Guide To Church History' (from Jesus Christ to Billy Graham). There's "Sunday School Lady" with her friend "Magic Flannelgraph" and "Clive and Ian," two British adventurers. There's "Chuck Wagon," a country and western music singer who's smarter than he looks (his answer to the question, `What is sin?' - "sin is when we tell God we are going to do things our way instead of his way"), and a couple of ladies modeled on Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets. Some hit me stronger than others (I didn't like Pastor Paul very much; he makes preachers seem even more boring than kids already think they are), but most are laugh-out-loud funny, and some are just brilliant (I love the Fabulous Bentley Brothers)!

In Episode One, In The Beginning, the characters tackle three questions:

What is the Bible?
Who wrote the Bible?
What's Genesis about?
Each of these questions is taken very seriously - what impresses me most about this series is Vischer's deep respect for the intellectual capacity of children, their vast ability to consume and retain information, and their voracious curiosity. They CAN learn and understand big concepts, if we'd stop being afraid to teach them! While there is a "Magic Flannelboard", this is not a cartoon to keep the kids quiet. This is a powerful learning tool, where children are exposed to orthodox narrative theology, Christian history, and some of the challenging questions of faith. How many kids' resources have you encountered that try to explain why different Bibles have different numbers of books???

Yes, that's how seriously they take answering the question, "What is the Bible?" Their answer: "The Bible tells the story of God, and what He's done for us." But the depth with which they answer the question, introducing the concept of Christian history and explaining why different Old Testaments have different numbers of books, establishes a modus operandi for the rest of the series - that they're going to give real answers and not avoid difficult issues.

After talking about how many different authors we believe wrote the Bible, Buck Denver notices that we don't have any idea who wrote some of the books. He asks, "How can we trust them if we don't know who wrote them?"

Phil answers, "We don't trust the books of the Bible because we know exactly who wrote each one; we trust them because they're in the Bible. God not only inspired the authors who wrote these books; we also believe he inspired the process that picked which ones should be in the Bible and which one's shouldn't."

What's Genesis about?
Primeval History and Patriarchal History, of course! (the big words are defined by Pastor Paul) And they don't dodge the volatile Genesis question of, "When did God make the world?" which introduces the segment, "Tricky Bits with Phil!" Phil discusses the different potential interpretations of the word "day," as well as the idea that Christians don't agree on everything, and that sometimes, it is okay to say, "I don't know." He's doing narrative theology here, and he's got one of the best responses I've heard so far.

"So which is it? Which is right? We don't know - and sometimes, that's okay. You see, the book of Genesis wasn't written to tell us the how of Creation. It was written to tell us the who of Creation. `In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'"