As part of our "church on the couch", we've been going through "What's In The Bible with Buck Denver" with the kids. Great series of programs by Phil Vischer, the creator of Vegietales - it's been his major project after an enormous change of direction, away from telling stories and into trying to really seriously teach sound doctrine (meaning Phil's understanding of sound doctrine of course, but he's actually pretty good, it's basic mainstream Protestant teaching and you can discuss any variations you see fit with the kids after the episode). Don't be put off by the start of the series if you're big on creation. Phil's an old-earth creationist, but tries to take a neutral stance on this though, his message is "people disagree on the details, but the key point is that God created everything, so He is sovereign". Which is entirely reasonable. This is the best resource we have yet found for teaching kids the basics of scripture and fundamental theology, in an incredibly fun way.
Get it online for a very reasonable price (without having to buy a whole boxfull of DVDs at Christian bookstore prices), and a free 7 day trial period, from his website: www.jellytelly.com
When it comes to David and Solomon, he actually does a brilliant presentation on their sins. He never once, in the entire episode, ever says that polygamy is a sin. He states very clearly what David's sin was (adultery, which he defines correctly, and murder). When it comes to Solomon, he says he sinned by multiplying wives AND multiplying horses, which he explains as getting "more wives than he needed", just as he also got "more horses than he needed". And he then goes on to focus on the real, fundamental problem - his later idolatry that his wives led him into. I was absolutely stunned, to be honest, this is far more solid than virtually any preacher would say to an adult audience. He never goes so far as to say polygamy is acceptable - but he also avoids saying anything to the contrary, just sticks purely to the actual text. Note that we haven't finished the series yet, these comments apply only to that episode.
As @rejoicinghandmaid shared earlier, the below video is Phil's testimony, and is really valuable to understand where he's coming from. And, if you sign up to jellytelly.com, look up "Galaxy Buck: Mission to Sector 9" for the children. That's Phil Vischer's same testimony, but projected onto his puppet Buck, whose motto is "God wants you to do Big Things", and has to have everything fail in his grand mission to learn that the truth is simply "God wants you", before he can actually start truly working for God. And it uses the jellyfish analogy extensively also.
Get it online for a very reasonable price (without having to buy a whole boxfull of DVDs at Christian bookstore prices), and a free 7 day trial period, from his website: www.jellytelly.com
When it comes to David and Solomon, he actually does a brilliant presentation on their sins. He never once, in the entire episode, ever says that polygamy is a sin. He states very clearly what David's sin was (adultery, which he defines correctly, and murder). When it comes to Solomon, he says he sinned by multiplying wives AND multiplying horses, which he explains as getting "more wives than he needed", just as he also got "more horses than he needed". And he then goes on to focus on the real, fundamental problem - his later idolatry that his wives led him into. I was absolutely stunned, to be honest, this is far more solid than virtually any preacher would say to an adult audience. He never goes so far as to say polygamy is acceptable - but he also avoids saying anything to the contrary, just sticks purely to the actual text. Note that we haven't finished the series yet, these comments apply only to that episode.
As @rejoicinghandmaid shared earlier, the below video is Phil's testimony, and is really valuable to understand where he's coming from. And, if you sign up to jellytelly.com, look up "Galaxy Buck: Mission to Sector 9" for the children. That's Phil Vischer's same testimony, but projected onto his puppet Buck, whose motto is "God wants you to do Big Things", and has to have everything fail in his grand mission to learn that the truth is simply "God wants you", before he can actually start truly working for God. And it uses the jellyfish analogy extensively also.
