This is a good question Joseph - thank you for asking it. My short answer is "no, we don't!" I use the Godly Play approach with children and adults - most of whom would not take the Bible literally. The idea is that we do not "teach" but just tell a story from the Bible and then open up the response time (both in verbal and non-verbal ways in the circle of participants and as individuals) - to allow people to wonder about what they liked, what they didn't like and where they are in the story. And so to allow the stories - even the really difficult and unbelievable and stories in the Bible - to change us and our communities. I personally find this story quite horrific - that "God decided to send a flood of water to wash everything clean and make it new again." I think we must look at the stories of faith and not be afraid to question them (and allow them to question us) and this is what Godly Play - when it is does well - enables. It is very difficult to see this process working from just watching a UA-cam video of the story. I would add that my personal view is that there are some stories in the Bible like the Flood that - if taken literally and with a view of the Bible as inerrant - are so damaging to our view and the stories we create of ourselves, others, our universe and God that I would not share them with young children if I feel they might take such stories literally.
What nonsense. The Genesis Flood story contains many literary clues that its writers (and original audience) were not intended to narrate an actual series of events. The story employs the literary device known as “hyperbole” throughout, describing a massive ark which holds representatives of “every living creature on Earth”, and a flood which flows over the tops of the highest mountains in the world. These are not meant to challenge readers to figure out the practicality of such descriptions, but rather they are important clues that we are dealing with a theological story rather than ancient journalism.
Are you seriously teaching kids that people can have children when they're 500 years old, then live another 450 years after that??
This is a good question Joseph - thank you for asking it. My short answer is "no, we don't!" I use the Godly Play approach with children and adults - most of whom would not take the Bible literally. The idea is that we do not "teach" but just tell a story from the Bible and then open up the response time (both in verbal and non-verbal ways in the circle of participants and as individuals) - to allow people to wonder about what they liked, what they didn't like and where they are in the story. And so to allow the stories - even the really difficult and unbelievable and stories in the Bible - to change us and our communities. I personally find this story quite horrific - that "God decided to send a flood of water to wash everything clean and make it new again." I think we must look at the stories of faith and not be afraid to question them (and allow them to question us) and this is what Godly Play - when it is does well - enables. It is very difficult to see this process working from just watching a UA-cam video of the story. I would add that my personal view is that there are some stories in the Bible like the Flood that - if taken literally and with a view of the Bible as inerrant - are so damaging to our view and the stories we create of ourselves, others, our universe and God that I would not share them with young children if I feel they might take such stories literally.
@@kathrynlord8168 Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply.
What nonsense. The Genesis Flood story contains many literary clues that its writers (and original audience) were not intended to narrate an actual series of events. The story employs the literary device known as “hyperbole” throughout, describing a massive ark which holds representatives of “every living creature on Earth”, and a flood which flows over the tops of the highest mountains in the world. These are not meant to challenge readers to figure out the practicality of such descriptions, but rather they are important clues that we are dealing with a theological story rather than ancient journalism.