Children’s Bible Songs about Mass Destruction and Other Musings

During my journey as a follower of Jesus Christ, I started to notice things in the media a lot more and be more sensitive to certain depictions of the stories in the Bible. It is interesting because before I came to Christ, I often avoided such topics and movies that had anything to do with Jesus or the Bible. But now, especially early on, I hungered for it. Enjoying such works such as Jesus of Nazareth and the made-for-tv-movie Moses. Both of these works, however, is before we let unsavory characters from Tumblr and the gay community run our society and the mainstream media. Now there is a scarce amount of anything Bible related in the mainstream. And if it is, it is often coated with perversion or paganism. Long are the days of Charles Heston as Moses. 

Still, I have to chuckle a little bit now that I am fully red-pilled, about the absurdity of some of the christian childrens songs I was forced to sing at the VBS. 

Of course, I do not want to totally rag on Arky, Arky or any children’s songs based on a Biblical story. Because indeed, we all need to rise and shine and give God the glory (glory). It is just as a fully grown adult who has studied the Bible, I have to sit back and be at awe at how dramatic, and often violent, some of these Bible stories actually are.

Let’s take Noah’s story, for example (since I am featuring the Arky, Arky Song). The first six pages of scriptures details the most physically destructive and violent event in Earth’s history which is the Great Flood. To someone who is completely new to Genesis, this is a shocking and sobering event. Humanity was at the zenith of sin, with every thought being only evil. The only other description we get of pre-flood Earth is that it was full of violence. But how great that violence was! So much so that it grieved God and troubled His heart! Thus, we get the reasons why God had to mercifully destroy the Earth and start afresh with Noah. This is another story about God judging the world for its sins, yet providing salvation for humanity, through Noah and the Ark so that His plan to redeem humanity may be continued, and was finished by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

While a children’s song may sugar-coat this critical event in scripture with catchy toons and cute cuddly animals, when you extract the sugar out, take a step back, and look at this event, it is horrifying, yet comforting. Dramatic, yet hopeful. It is an epic, orchestrated to depict the awesome power of the one true God. And to give us a mirror of the things that have come to the past, and to what is to come. A children’s song or Veggie Tales just can’t do justice to the Great Flood event of scripture. 

You could say I am just picking on these types of songs just to pick on them, but I don’t know. I guess it is just because as I grow older, and more red-pilled on how the world actually operates, I understand more just how truly screwed we are without God. The more I grow in my relationship with Christ, the more my eyes are open to the nature of sin and how broken the world is, and how corrupt and depraved each and every one of us are. And the more I learn and experience the world through the lens of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, the more the scriptures are opened to me and I start to understand and be enlightened. To be blunt, I completely understand why God had to destroy the world with a flood, and why in the future, He must destroy the world again with fire and make everything anew. It is because humanity is that broken and that depraved. Unfortunately the western man’s mind and heart is full of pride and will point the finger to God’s face about the coming judgement instead of looking around at the filth he is in. 

I guess a part of me is really saddened that no one can see just how epic the Bible truly is and how the average American grug can’t see the forest for the trees. People will often view scripture as just a manual, or even worse, an inconvenient problem for their life with uncomfortable truths and very difficult stories and passages. After all, how can a father explain the nuances and symbolism of Abraham sacrificing Issac when people can’t get past Genesis 1:1 or arguing about old wives tales and some perverted scholar trying to prove Moses did not write the Torah. How can a child know about scripture when the parents don’t know anything about scripture? 

There is a time and place for children’s songs and what not. But as followers of Jesus Christ who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word, we should not shy away from the stories and histories of old and the lessons we can learn. There is rich and epic drama and deep, theological truths in the Bible that a child’s song does not do justice. The Bible has very difficult sagas that are full of drama, violence (physical, psychological, and sexual), sadness, darkness, hope, triumph, redemption, enlightenment, and examples of how we should live out our faith and how to avoid traps laid out by Satan. The Patriarch Saga from Abraham to the twelve children of Jacob is full of twists and turns, highs and lows, and sinful men wrestling with life and in Jacob’s case, wrestling with God. Yet the overarching theme is that God saves and protects. That is what man meant for evil, God meant for good. Judges is one of the most violent books in scripture. Yet the theme in the middle of this violence is God is just and merciful. When Israel rebels and loses its way, God raises a judge to guide them back to Him. Samuel is one of the most dramatic of all scriptures with violence, rape, political intrigue, and tragedy. But the theme is that neither Saul, nor David were the promised Messiah, and that the Kingdom of Heaven will not be ushered in politically or through the sword. But God does give His reader hope, that through David’s line will be the Messiah that will build a house in the name of the Lord, and will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. This is full-filled later by Jesus Christ, a descendant of David. 

And then comes the most violent and shocking moment of scripture, which is the crucifixion of God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus. While the average American mind has a picture of a bloodless event (with a white Jesus), this could not be further from the truth. Almost all, and I mean all, of the pictures, and artwork of the crucifixion of the Christ do not do justice to how bloody and violent the event was and how scourged Jesus became. It also shows how wicked and depraved the mind of humanity is. To violently kill the author and creator of all life, full of grace and truth. Yet Christ laid down His life willingly. It was the will of the Father to crush Him. To give an atonement for our sins. So that all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ shall live. And the sign that all of this is true is that the same Jesus Christ that was nailed to a cross and died, resurrected on the third day. Christ now sits at the Father’s right hand, and all authority on Heaven and Earth has been given to Him. 

As followers of Christ, let’s not take for granted that there is so much more to scripture than what mainstream media spews out. Those kids’ songs just do not do justice to what the Bible tries to communicate to us. We need to be diligent in our studies and ask the right questions. We need to seek the Kingdom and seek Him, especially in regards to the difficult passages and stories the Bible offers.