Guest Contribution: Focus on the Family Reviews Genesis

The following is a guest contribution, composed by Son of SWNID.

Focus on the Family Reviews Genesis

The premise is simple. This book purports to tell the story of the creation of the universe and of the lives of its first inhabitants. One critic (Robert Alter) calls it "the most important and influential work in the history of western literature." The staple of Sunday School lessons for generations, our reviewers sought to determine the book’s appropriateness for this audience, and for discerning adults. Now we here at Focus on the Family have been called censors and prudes, but the contents of this book would shock even the most numb secular critics. Read on...

Positive Elements: None. There is no character in this book (God included) who does not engage in despicable behavior.

Spiritual Content: One might think that a book of the Bible would be extremely spiritual, and so Genesis is, but only in the most negative sense imaginable. All human characters in the book disobey and question God, and there is discussion of the pagans gods of other Near-Eastern peoples. However, even God is not an admirable figure. He repeatedly judges characters in the book with violence, and he is inconsistent in his punishments. Some characters are immediately punished for their actions, while others seem to be blessed. After murdering his brother Abel, Cain is given protection from God and told that he will be avenged for any harm done to him.

Additionally, this book does not present the true spiritual message, forgiveness, redemption and eternal life through Jesus Christ. Instead, this book promotes the Jewish faith, though it demonstrates the many flaws in the God of the Jews.

Violent Content: Too vast to document all of it. Out of jealousy, Cain murders his brother Abel. Verses later, Lamech murders a man for wounding him and a boy for bruising hi, proclaiming that God has avenged him. God drowns all men except for Noah and his family in a flood. A group of kings makes war on another. God destroys two wicked cities with burning sulfur. He commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. A man wrestles with God. A girl is raped, and her brothers murder the rapist and the other men of his town. These same brothers later throw their least favorite brother in a pit and leave him for dead. They later decide to sell him into slavery instead. We are supposed to see the brothers as kind because they decided not to commit the murder. Animals are sacrificed throughout.

Sexual Content: Surely deserves an NC-17 rating. In chapter 2, a husband and wife are described as "one flesh." Husbands repeatedly "know" or "lie with" their wives. Noah gets drunk and lies naked in his tent. Abram sleeps with a concubine because his wife cannot have a child. The men of Sodom demand that they be allowed to sleep with two angels in the city. Lot offers his virgin daughters to the men instead. He then drinks to excess and sleeps with his own daughters. There are many more incidents and of polygamy, rape and pre-marital sex, including a disgusting incident in which Jacob finds that his wife is not the woman he had agreed to marry. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph.

Profanity/Crude Language: Use of words such as "ass" and "whore." Additionally, chapter 11 states, "Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words." Obviously, some men of this age swore. If this sentence is true (and it is, as the whole book is true), then it implies that all men swore.

Drug/Alcohol Content: As stated above, several characters drink wine to excess.

Other Negative Elements: Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, after being told by God not to. Characters disobey God throughout. Jacob pretends to be his brother Esau to deceive his father.

Conclusion: This book demonstrates perfectly that while something might be real, it is not necessarily edifying. While everything is Genesis is a factual account, it is not appropriate for children or adults. It revels in bad behavior and its characters are poor role models. Most disturbing is the marketing of these stories to children while parents look the other way. And if this isn’t bad enough, the book even gives nods to Darwinism. 2:7 states that man arose "from the dust of the earth." I cannot reconcile this statement with the account of the previous chapter. Don’t even begin to read Genesis.

SWNID notes: Remember the good old days, when James Dobson just wrote about raising children?