One of the most striking developments in Bible publishing is the Biblezine, developed by Nelson to appeal to teenage girls. Resembling such magazines as Seventeen or InStyle, an issue of a Biblezine called “Revolve” features such catchy cover lines as “Top 10 ways to make an impact on your world,” “Beauty secrets from the inside out” and “Guys speak out on faith, love and much more.”
Inside, the text of the New Testament is broken up with highlighted quotes and short articles, illustrated with photos of smiling teenage boys and girls.
I get that you want to reach people where they are, but …
Seriously? We need to trivialize religion for teenagers by making sure they know it’s about boys and beauty? That’s how we want young girls to begin experiencing the word of God? We want to make sure they know it’s just like reading any other magazine, that they don’t have to make any more effort than they ordinarily would? If I was the target audience for this, I’d be insulted. I can’t handle the big words, just tell me how God says I should dress and what kind of boys He thinks I should date.
All I really want to know is if Jesus thinks I’m his special princess or not. You know, this might be my ingrained childhood Catholicism speaking, my need for religious authority figures, but I don’t want God to be instantly accessible to me. I prefer to think of God as someone/something you’ve got to put a little effort into. I want to work for it, not just get it in my mailbox with hot-pink ink on glossy pages.
On the other hand, this I wholeheartedly approve of:
Zondervan’s audio production “The Bible Experience” features an all-black cast, including Blair Underwood as Jesus and Samuel L. Jackson as God.
Motherfucking AMEN.
A.