Customer Reviews

Illustrated Stories From The Bible

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Anyone who's ever wandered into a doctors office or dentists office as a child or with a child will be instantly familiar with those 'illustrated stories from the bible' books that show children the wonders of god by telling all the "good" stories from the "good book" with exciting pictures and paintings.

This book is the perfect antidote to such books. In fact, I know a few doctors and dentists who might end up finding a copy of this book "mysteriously appear" in their office...

The shear genius of this book cannot be praised enough. The idea here is simple: Make a book that takes some of the most idiotic, brutal, sexist, racist, and moronic stories that are contained in the bible and tell those stories with artist renderings and modern language and then provide a commentary on those stories that includes chapter and verse quotes and the Christian "reasoning" for the brutality, murder and rape that their god has seen fit to include in the Bible.

The end result is a book that showcases the shear ignorance of many theists out there as to just what exactly is contained in "the good book." For every good story, there are countless others that can only be described as EVIL.

This book is not perfect, but it's damned close.

The illustrations, while funny and brutally honest to the writings of the bible are mostly black and white sketches, so there are no glorious renderings in oil of the 70,000 people slaughtered by God in the Books of Samuel and Chronicles. This is a pity because the mental image of a glorious oil painting of 70,000 rotting corpses laying on the ground under god's out-stretched hand leaves me giddy with school-boyish joy.

The author has an obvious bias and lets it leak into the examination of the stories outlined in the illustrations, and his commentary on those stories often includes word-for-word redundancy. Meaning that, in many cases, the author tells the story two or three times... It can be a little off-putting to read the same story three times in the space of three paragraphs.

Aside from these minor issues, this books a glorious addition to any agnostic or atheist book collection. I know that if/when I have children of my own, this will be the first book I use with them when the subject of religion and god comes up.

A very valuable collection and discussion of the juicy parts of the holey book. Not for the very young (or the sensitive soul - it could upset both), Illustrated Stories From The Bible tells stories in the style that such stories are usually depicted in children's bibles, only the selected stories are those most believers wish weren't in the Bible (or have conveniently skipped all their lives), and the explanations tell the stories as they are - with all the gory (Biblical) detail.

Don't be surprised if this book makes you look at the Bible in a (deservedly) new and more critical manner.

The book has its faults: it could have been in a better format, the critiques could have been better written and the printing style could very easily have been improved (using different font styles to separate story from discussion is probably not the best idea). But despite these shortcomings the book is a very valuable addition to the thinker's bookshelf, and would make a great trick if passed to a teacher at the right moment for reading to her class (as unfortunately still happens in South Africa).

The books deserves to remain in print, and perhaps future editions can contain better type and even colour sketches.

Once upon a time, when Yahweh's nice Spokesman, Elisha, was about to enter Bethel, a gaggle of 42 children laughed at him and jeered at his bald head. So Elisha, in righteous indignation, called on his god to inflict appropriate punishment on the perpetrators of such irreverence. Yahweh promptly summoned two bears, and the bears mauled the 42 children to death.
Since the obvious moral of that exemplary tale was, "You don't mess with Yahweh's Spokesmen," it does not take a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that its author was a shop steward for the Spokesmen's Guild.
Following his retelling of the "Elisha and the two bears" fable, Farrell asks, "Could this story really be true? ... Well, if one accepts the Bible as literal truth, then it most certainly is true." He goes on to explain how defenders of religion try to rationalize such biblical horror stories by arguing that "the Bible doesn't really mean what it says."
Farrell next spells out another biblical myth that no child has ever been taught in Sunday School, of how Jephthah vowed to Yahweh that, if Yahweh granted him victory over the dirty heathens guilty of peacefully occupying land that Jephthah's tribe coveted, he would offer up the first living thing to emerge from his house after the battle as a burnt sacrifice. That turned out to be his little daughter, and Jephthah obediently fulfilled his vow.
By the time Farrell finishes describing the incredible and incompatible rationalizations offered by upholders of biblical "truth," the reader is left to wonder, "What color is the sky in these people's world?"
This is a book that all bible believers, including older children, should be required to read. Of course that is not going to happen. But at the very least, anyone bothered by uninvited door-knocking missionaries should have a copy handy. If nothing else, asking the missionaries to explain why Yahweh's own official biography portrays him as so much less than a nice guy, should stop them from ever returning. That should be worth the purchase price.

This book brings some welcome balance to bible understanding that I think belongs in every home. My main regret is that the book is soft cover and I really would have liked such a valuable addition to my book collection to be hard cover. I also think that color would have added significantly to the book. Over all a short but valuable book. An eye opener.

This book should be required reading at every Sunday School class. I know that when I was a kid and forced to attend these boring and unbelievable classes that none of these stories were ever mentioned. If they had been, it would have been a much more interesting way to spend a Sunday morning.

If I could afford it, I would buy this book in bulk and put one in every doctor's office, laundromat, hotel, or other waiting area where we find the Illustrated Bible Stories books or Gideon bibles put there by Christian organizations.

It is a great book, with interesting illustrations. My one problem with it is that it is too short. I know that there are many, many more stories in the bible that demonstrate the incredible character of this "god".

I held off on buying this for some time, thinking it would be amusing (in a sick way) but rather skimpy, and I read it was in black and white. I'm sorry I waited so long. There are three parts to the stories told.

First: the illustrations- Yes, Kathy Demchuck's illustrations are line drawings with no color. And yes, they are very well done. I liked them much more than I expected! Some are quite amusing, while others express the emotion of the stories very well. One example of this is the story of the man who picked up sticks on a Sunday and was murdered on god's orders for doing it. The drawings really make you feel his fear.

Second: the stories themselves: Paul Ferrell brings them to life by rounding out those bare bible words and presenting them as the actual stories they are. He has to add a few rounding details to a couple of stories, but those don't interfere with the story as the bible tells it. For instance, he gives a reason why the man was picking up sticks on a Sunday. The only other real additions are in describing the emotions of the characters. Where the original text says someone was upset, for example, Ferrell uses words to describe/illustrate these feelings (their crying, fear, etc.). Having read the originals of these stories myself, I can honestly say he hasn't changed anything of substance. I imagine that literal minded christian who read the excerpts online (there is a web site) would be VERY disturbed and threatened by the way the pictures and words make the stories real. It's easier to explain away something like god sending a bear to maul children when you don't have to see it happen or hear exactly how the victims and their parents would have felt.

Third: The commentary after the stories. These are not a mere one skimpy page of comments, but several pages per story of serious discussion. Ferrell highlights common apologetic arguments made by those who defend these barbaric tales, with clear and sensible rebuttals to those pro-bible arguments.

Why do christians stand by these stories? Well, the more liberal christians (like my family) don't. The see them for what they are: stories meant to illustrate a point. Or stories from another time and culture that are so outdated that sometimes no one can even figure out the point. (Which is why preachers the world over fight about what they mean.)

More literal christians face a conundrum: how can they reconcile these stories with the teaching that their god is all good, all loving, and all merciful? Almost all christians believe the myth that "god is love" because that's what they were taught as children. The Jesuit quote says, "Give me the child, and I will mould the man." Almost no one comes to chistianity with no previous knowledge of it, reads the bible in full, studies it well, and then decides, "god is love." Usually, a person is brought up christian, fed cutsie bibles, children's christian TV and movies, and censored Sunday school lessons. They have it driven home - "God is love! God is merciful! Jesus loves you and all the little children! You owe him for everything!" By the time they read/hear the truth, they have that thoroughly driven into their heads, forcing them to defend the cruel parts of the bible, ignore them, or move past christianity.

Therefore, a lifelong, literal minded christian must either defend the bible in any way possible or admit that they were taught a load of baloney. It's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Cognitive dissonance at it's finest! God killed David's son in order to punish David? Well, there MUST be a GOOD reason! No, there isn't. And that's the point of this well done book. No one wants to admit they were wrong about something big. That can be really frightening! I've been there myself.
(Although in my case it was admitting to myself, my family and all my friends that they were right - my fiancée was a total worthless jerk - and I had to tell them all I had figured it out and broke off the relationship. It was the hardest thing I had ever done. Losing my religion took a lot more baby steps, pegs in holes, and cognitive dissonance to happen. )

So, this book serves it's purpose well. It highlight's some of the bible's dirty secrets and explains the arguments for and against them.

I originally got this book because of the cover art; the concept of a "children's illustrated" version of parts of the bible Christians like to ignore just cracked me up.
It is also an interesting, if short, book on parts of the bible that frequently get glossed over. If you have read these portions of the OT (and one reference from the NT) you realize that there is no way to put a nice spin on many of these stories. For example, the story from the cover is very clear: god commanded bears to tear young boys apart for teasing a bald guy.
I wonder if there will be a sequel. There are some other passages I know of that could be added.

Paul Farrell's book is enjoyable and thought provoking. Each illustrated bible story is followed by Farrell's common-sense commentary. I highly recommend this book to anyone who honestly questions the wholesome goodness and wisdom of the Old Testament Lord. Though the book is published by an atheist group, Farrell's overall message is not anti-God. Instead, Farrell's work shows that the O.T. Lord is a man-made tribal deity, created by barbarians to impress and scare other barbarians into giving them power and property.

Farrell is open to the possibility of an all-wise True Creator, but the capricious blood-thirsty O.T. Lord isn't it. I certainly hope Farrell and illustrator Kathy Demchuck are working on a sequel. I suggest they include David's dowry payment of penis foreskins to King Saul, or the "good" man Lot who offers his virgin daughters to be gang-raped by the Sodomites. I would have never believed such things were in the Bible, but they are! Kudos to Farrell & Demchuck for retelling the stories in plain language and illustrations.

Finally an honest depiction of true, loving words straight from the good book we all know and love, illustrated for easy reading. My favorite part are the depictions of bears eating nasty children after a monk asks God to punish them. I shared this section with the children of my church group whilst partaking on a weekend camping trip in northern Alaska. The smell of fresh cooking salmon wafted through our noses as the children were regaled with some of the more moving, yet less told stories from our bible. I fell asleep to the sound of children chortling with joy at the thought of the Lord's vengeance!

This is one of those books that has you purchasing a couple of extra copies for gifts.

One has to imagine the looks on faces where a copy has been made available for scrutiny by certain factions of the religious right:-)

These brief stories depict certain Bible stories in a light that most religious advocates had rather not admit too or even focus on existing. The concepts of typical theistic thought are dashed on the rocks of reality. This is a must read for anyone who has ever questioned the usual fundie's fumings and a great book to celebrate Darwin Day with.