Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

19 January, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Worldliness   Inside The Biblezines: A Look At Revolve - Part 2 Al Mohler is right, this is not your grandmother's New Testament, it's a response to the teen girls who say that regular bibles are just too "freaky looking". The problem with Revolve is not heresy or a denial of the Gospel. But it is one of those issues that requires the church to use its critical judgment about what makes evangelistic methods (or formats for the Bible) appropriate or inappropriate. He goes on to say: ". . . packaging the New Testament as a glamour magazine crosses an important line. That line represents the trivialization of the biblical text and confusion about God's design for happiness and wholeness in our broken lives". This is a continuation from part 1 of my look at the wildly successful Revolve 2 Biblezine for teen girls. As a reminder, these are the fashion magazine look-alikes containing quizzes, blurbs called "Guys Speak Out", beauty secrets, and tips on doing something for the good of the community, such as participating in the local cancer or AIDS walk. And oh by the way, it also contains a full version of the NCV New Testament. In addition to giving you a sneak peak at some of the sidebar commentary and graphics of Revolve, I want to address one of my biggest concerns regarding the content of the commentary: So much of it has to do with a full range of dating and sexual issues. There were even a few items that I felt would be inappropriate to display here. Suffice it to say, this is not something that I would want my two daughters reading. A big problem for me is that, Revlove 2 is not written from the standpoint of whether or not teens should 'date', but instead, simply assumes that they will. For example, their commentary note for 1 Corinthians 15:33 warns the teen reader to choose friends wisely. But then goes on to say "If a friend talks you into betraying your boyfriend, deceiving your parents, or dumping your homework, that's not a healthy friendship". Seems like good advice on the surface, but in the background of that statement is the message that you can have a boyfriend, or perhaps "why DON'T you have a boyfriend?", and maybe some girls would interpret things like that as "you SHOULD have a boyfriend!". In Revolve's assumption of what "most teens do", they end up setting a lower moral standard for the teens who don't go with the flow of MOST teens. A large percentage of the "Blab" Q&A's that are scattered throughout this Biblezine, also deal with boyfriends, flirting, and sex. Here are some sample "Blab" questions, to give you an idea of the types of issues that their sidebar commentary spends it's time on: I just found out that I have a sexually transmitted disease that I will have for the rest of my life. I am so ashamed. Will anyone ever love me now? I met a great guy in a chat room. We've had some really good conversations, and he says he is a Christian. Should I meet him in person? I really, really like this guy and he said he likes me too. My friends say he's just a player. How can I tell? One of the guys in my class keeps touching himself. It totally grosses me out. What should I do? My friend just had plastic surgery done on her nose. It looks so cute and perfect now. Now I want to have my nose done. Is there anything wrong with that? My cousin's boyfriend kissed me last week. Should I tell my cousin? I like my best friend's boyfriend. I just can't help it. I feel terrible, and she'd kill me if she knew. What do I do? I got a little drunk at a party last weekend and drove home. I had promised my parents that I would never get behind the wheel if I had any alcohol. I got home okay and I don't want to be grounded. Do I have to tell them? I agree with Al Mohler in suggesting that important questions revolve around Revolve and a similar product for teenage boys. When it comes to Revolve, perhaps we should remember Marshall MacLuhan's warning: "the medium is the message". Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.158   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism