This is heartbreaking.
This series of books, this multi-year project, calls itself a “Bible”, yet is authored and illustrated by a man whose Good Reads author bio currently describes himself as “Elbe Spurling (born September 7, 1973) is an American transgender artist, author, and moralist best known for The Brick Bible book series (published under her birth name Brendan Powell Smith)” later saying that he is “not religious”. Many avoid Christianity today and try and turn a blind eye to it, possibly even saying publicly that they “don’t believe in God”… but few would dare touch a project like this.
The second unthinkable aspect of this is that it is marketed to unsuspecting children. Just let that sink in for a second. Again, many atheists have tried to climb up on a hill of moral high ground and thrown stones at the God of the Universe (something shockingly absurd), but few we know of have tried to funnel this through a medium that targets not only kids, but extremely young kids (just look at the cover and illustrations and format and think what section this book ends up in at libraries and stores). Brendan (aka Elbe) hides behind a wall of “I’m just quoting and showing what’s there”, but the truth is sickening. The Bible is a book that contains endless depth, and that includes capturing the depth of human depravity and sinfulness and rebellion (a topic on our mind concerning this series of books for sure). Christian parents decide what their children are ready for. Messages are simplified and summarized and filtered to what a child is ready for, eventually including the whole of Scripture. No Christian parent would include every shocking detail of the brokenness of humanity to a young child, and yet that is what this author seeks to do, deceptively hiding it behind ‘cute’ pictures. We don’t say things like this much on this site, but it is truly disgusting. There is no other way to describe it. Sometimes strong language is needed.
There is more to say, but honestly, we are too saddened to even write more.
God, please use this to help warn families. We love you and we are sorry for our part in the brokenness. We can never thank you enough for your grace and mercy. We know even this is not beyond your ability to redeem and save. Please help us…