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Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories Check out the false advertising of the The Bible Story books by Arthur C. Maxwell. Craig Ammerall
The Seventh Day Adventist church has had an ongoing controversy concerning their evangelist methods. From the shroud of mystery surrounding their identity at their large evangelistic seminars, to their inconsistencies in the use of the Clear Word, there certainly is no shortage of head scratching. One mystery that may be flying under the radar is the popular The Bible Story books by Arthur C. Maxwell. The promotion of these books may have an even deeper layer of controversy surrounding them. Historically these books have been promoted in doctors' offices by placing a book and some advertising brochures among the magazines and kid's books in the waiting area. They are published by the well known Adventist publishing company, the Review & Herald. These books aren't a Bible; they are done in a story format using colorful illustrations. This allows the author to take many liberties in his interpretation that don't always lie in scripture. My work requires me to call on doctors. One day I curiously obtained a brochure proudly displayed promoting the books. The brochure's focus in on The Bible Story for kids, but there are smaller promotions on the brochure from The Bible Story for adults. One promotion goes like this: (Any emphasis is mine by underlining). " The Bible Reference Library answers questions about why God allows suffering, what happens when a person dies, whether angles are real, and thousands of other topics." The quote goes on to say,
"Families
raised on The Bible Story" now look to the 12-volume
Bible As one can see, these books are not only for children, their purpose goes much deeper. To further legitimize the quality of the books, the brochure quotes clergy from a myriad of different faiths. I will show the quotes and then point out some of the problems surrounding them.
"It is an excellent work,
true to the Bible and written in an interesting manner. It is without a
doubt the finest thing I've seen in the way of Bible stories covering the
entire Bible." "I find that the stories are well written and adhere to the biblical text in such a manner as to interest children and at the same time present no doctrinal point of view. I heartily recommend it to all." —A Methodist Minister "Our
staff here at the Department of Religious Education is very well impressed
with this particular series…We want you to know that The Bible Story
has received a high endorsement."
The Bible Story
is used by teachers to help them in their Sunday school preparation.
The volumes can be a wonderful aid in family devotions." These are many powerful and glowing words by many faiths, but let's look a little deeper. I was able to secure one book to evaluate its content. The one on display happens to be the first book in the series which deals with creation and other early stories in Genesis. The first part of the book systematically goes through the days of creation. As one might imagine, I was interested in how the seventh day was dealt with. I didn't suspect there would only be a blurb about the Sabbath...and I wasn't disappointed. The seventh day actually had its own chapter called A Day to Remember. This chapter consisted of three full pages. I can't quote the whole chapter do to its length, but I can hit some highlights. One particular paragraph early in the chapter talks about Adam and Eve marveling the beauty of the garden on the seventh day. "Perhaps this is when God told them about the Sabbath. He must have told them. Otherwise, how else could they have known that their first complete day on the earth was to be a holy day?" The story then goes on to mention God resting on the seventh day. This is just an example of the many presumptions the author takes. "He blessed the Sabbath so it would be a blessing to them. He set it apart as a holy day not for Himself, but for them. Even now six thousand years later, all who keep the seventh day holy, find a blessing in it that others never know!" According to the author, God is holding back blessings to those who do not observe the Sabbath! "That first day of rest and worship and fellowship with God was a very, very happy day. Adam and Eve talked about it all their lives." I combed through this chapter in Genesis and was not able to validate this claim. "God wants every Sabbath to be nearly like that first Sabbath as Possible." He then goes on to quote the Ten Commandments as it is stated in Exodus 20 to support this claim. The chapter concludes with the following: "Thousands of years after that first Sabbath in the Garden of Eden, God was still thinking about it. He could not forget it, and never will. Because it was so happy, so beautiful, so truly blessed, He wants everyone else to remember it too. Every Sabbath can be like that one if we want it to be. It can be just as happy, just as beautiful, just as blessed. All we have to do each seventh day is to remember to keep it holy, to walk and talk with God, and to worship Him as the Creator of the heavens and the earth" The agenda is clearly stated early in this book. Those who keep the Sabbath will be blessed more that those who don't keep it, and God wants everyone to continue to keep the Sabbath. Now let's re-examine some of the statements made by the clergy endorsing these books. "It is an excellent work, true to the Bible…"" …no doctrinal point of view" "The Bible Story is used by teachers to help them in their Sunday school preparation" Would these denominational leaders reading these books, in good conscience, truthfully make these statements? No doctrinal point of view? Can you imagine Sunday school, and the teacher trying to justify Sunday church attendance reading this? Is this really true to the Bible? These statements by themselves don't necessarily incriminate the promoters of this book. What had me curious were those church leader endorsements. One thing that stands out to me is the lack of individual names attached to the denominations endorsing the books. That may seem like a minor infraction, but how is one to follow up on these claims without anyone to follow up with. Plus, providing an actual name lends credibility to any endorsement. Another problem in these quotes legitimacy lies in the theology of the churches listed. Not one of those churches who endorse these books is a Sabbath keeping church. The irony of the Catholic endorsement goes without saying. Would a Catholic Diocese really make these claims when they have their own version of the Ten Commandments (include, in their catechism,) which does not include the Seventh day Sabbath? The Catholic Bible has the Ten as in the KJV as shown from the Douay-Rheims Bible. Ex 20:8-11(DRB) 8Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. 10But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. My investigation was almost complete when I felt compelled to e-mail the company who promotes the book. If they could provide some names along with the endorsements, I could follow up and substantiate the claims. Maybe this would somehow validate the promotion of these books. I e-mailed the company about the books, in particular, the lack of identity with the endorsements. This was the first response from the company. (Un-edited response aside from my emphasis) "Bedtime Stories alone sold over 30 million copies in the author's lifetime. And the total sales of all his books as of 2005 surpassed 80 million. The Bible Story, Bedtime Stories and Your Bible and You have been approved by Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, and Seventh-day Adventists to name a few denominations. I'm not sure what you mean by endorsements. Do you mean the book descriptions?" I thought I had been clear about my request so I clarified my statement. I was hoping to get a particular name attached to the denomination. I had told them that I wished to contact these church leaders and get more feedback. The following was the response to my follow-up. " I can go through individual emails sent to the website. some have the names of pastors from different denominations. are you interested?" My response: "That would be great, thanks," I never heard back from the company. My initial feelings prior to e-mailing the company were that they were using some creative marketing to promote their products. I know the story behind the books. Unfortunately, many out there aren't as knowledgeable and are more likely to succumb to the glowing endorsements. For a denomination that prides itself in having the "truth" when it comes to the Bible, one can only wonder if the same philosophy spills over in other facets of the church. There is a quote about truth that rings of irony.
"Truth is
honesty in speech; honesty is truth in action."
How much influence do Uncle Arthur's' books yield? You have already seen the monetary impact. How does that equate to book sales? To date, over 42 million volumes by "Uncle Arthur" have been sold worldwide. (www.thebiblestory.com) Craig Ammerall |
