I just read my son (almost 5) the regular Bible in a clear, simple translation. We have the New International Version, and my dad used to read me the Good News Bible when I was little. There are words and concepts you'll have to explain, but it is no tougher going than the typical chapter book like
Little House on the Prairie, which I've also read to him.
I've looked through some children's Bibles and felt like they were telling only the "easy" parts of the story or actually twisting the Word to put a particular interpretation on it. I want my child to learn real faith, not a dumbed-down, sweetened version that's easy to follow with no moral stretching. Another reason to read him the real Bible is that I learn from it, too!
These are the stories EnviroKid has heard and enjoyed so far:
- Creation (Genesis 1)
- Noah and the flood (Genesis 6)
- How Esau sold Jacob his inheritance for a bowl of lentils (Genesis 25) [This is the first Bible story we read. Part of it had been read in church, and afterward he asked me, "What was that story about lentils?" and I didn't know it well enough to tell it, so I got out the Bible!]
- 1 Kings [He said, "Is it true there are stories of kings in the Bible?" and I figured this was the place to look! We stopped at the point just after King Solomon had asked the Lord for wisdom. EnviroKid grumbled, "I hope when he gets his wisdom, he'll use words instead of sending that guy to kill everybody with a sword!"
We have since read a little more, but I think he's not so impressed with these kings.]
- Jonah [After learning what an interesting, concise story it is, I read it to EnviroKid.]
- Job
- "The story of Jesus" is one I was telling him, throwing in whichever bits of the Gospels came to mind each time, but when I first tried to read it to him he wouldn't have it. After he'd heard several of the above stories, one night he asked to hear "the book of Jesus," and when I explained that there are actually four versions of the story of Jesus in the Bible, he was fascinated and wanted to hear them all. We've read Matthew and Mark so far.
