What's In the Bible? By Phil Vischer - MY REVIEW & GIVE AWAY

You can visit Tyndale to learn more about the first two What's In The Bible DVD's HERE.

You can visit Phil Vischer's site HERE to learn more about the entire series.

You may watch the video trailer HERE.

You may leave a comment on this post to be entered for a gift certificate for a FREE copy of one of the first episodes. (I have two certificates - one for the first episode, one for the second) I will choose two winners next week.

MY THOUGHTS:

Phil Vischer is well known for his Veggie Tale characters, and he is now launching a new series of puppet-like guides to teach kids – What’s In The Bible? I approached this review opportunity from Tyndale with fond memories of sharing veggie tales with my own children when they were small. I expected to like this series as much, and while the creativity and fun is still very much present, I did not like the overall presentation and would not feel comfortable recommending this to young children.

The one thing I disliked throughout both review episodes – more than two hours of video – was the constant bickering and disrespect between the characters. The “puppets” were rude to each other, disrespectful to Phil Vischer and argued almost constantly. There were type-cast caricatures that didn’t appeal either. For instance, the Sunday School lady is an old grey-haired know-it-all, the African-American pastor wants to yell a lot and “scat” the episode, the white pastor is a jazz musician who talks like a dictionary and the pirate and his parrot teach church history in a tavern like setting complete with frosty mugs on each table. Humorous? Perhaps at times. But not appropriate examples to use while teaching young children about God’s Word.

I was very disappointed with the way Vischer handled creation – blowing off the literal creation vs. the Big Bang evolutionist argument as just “something Christians disagree about” – and then making a JOKE about God’s voice sounding like a big bang. Throughout the entire show Vischer would be very specific about names, dates, definition of words ect… but would argue about or blow right past very crucial issues. If this was his way of presenting his truth – so be it. But I would not trust this to teach my children. Too many questions are posed with no clear answers on major doctrinal issues.

Overall, I was left very disappointed and quite alarmed. My teen sons, who now have their own personal relationship with Christ, were mature enough to spot error in some of this, and they even said to me that young kids would not pay attention or understand a lot of it. They thought kids would be turned off by the long explanations and definitions. In short, this just didn’t come across as suitable for teaching young children.

I am only one person, and this is only my opinion. I have two gift certificates to offer that will allow you to have a FREE copy of What’s In The Bible, and you can make up your own mind. Leave a comment to be entered to win this give away.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
In 1990, 24-year-old computer animator Phil Vischer sat down to create a group of characters that could teach Christian values to kids in a delightfully weird way. Hence, a tomato named Bob and a cucumber named Larry were born. VeggieTales would go on to revolutionize Christian filmmaking, selling more than 50 million videos and placing Phil's faith-filled stories in one in every three American households with young children. Phil is highly respected by key leaders across the Christian landscape, from Joel Osteen to James Dobson. His company, Jellyfish Labs, provides faith-based daily programming via the Internet at jellytelly.com. The characters from the What's in the Bible? series are featured, but the content is not specifically from the DVDs. Phil continues to pursue innovative ways to integrate faith and storytelling through Jellyfish Labs. He chose the name Jellyfish as a reminder to remain pliable to God's plans and not his own. Phil lives with
his wife, Lisa, and their three kids in Illinois.