Discussing
How the Berenstain Bears enhance the Ten Commandments

This is wonderful, and oh, so true. And you give me hope for the wriggly little boys that gleefully yell "Jesus!" when I ask them why they shouldn't lie...then skip off to punch a brother.

Sounds great, generally, but I'd skip "The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question"- their perfect opportunity to address who God is. It's utterly wasted, and the book ultimately creates more questions than it answers. The church service is nice people reflecting on nice things and happy to know a nice God. At some point you should really go beyond nice.

Interesting thoughts, though I would like to challenge your statement that some kindnesses are banal. If I treat real virtues like honesty ("don't lie") and humility ("don't exclude, because it hurts people") as banal goodness, I think I would be taking good graces for granted.

I agree the Berenstain Bears dramatize good & evil in everday situations. I think this is valuable, but as for me, ALSO bring on the cosmic stories! I would contend that if the only stories we read are the comfortable ones, we're apt to lose sight of the more cosmic dimensions of our reality.

Thanks for sharing this, Joshua -Adam
(Full disclosure: I'm an employee of Zondervan, who publishes Berenstain Bear books, but I'm not answering as a representative of Zondervan or any of its affiliates. These are just my personal opinions.)

One last thing - sorry I called you Joshua, Robert! I must have been thinking about your "horns and fighting" comment...