Wednesday, January 5, 2011

THIS was in a Christian bookstore? Yes...

This email came into Living Waters with the picture below.

"I saw this sign at the Family Christian Store in North Olmsted, Ohio and my jaw dropped. I included the original picture and a darker version so that the text is easier to read. The scripture is supposed to be Luke 2:40, talking about Jesus, but they felt that it would be okay to change a few words. When I asked the store associate about the sign, she just said that the scriptures vary based on the translation. I kindly informed her that ALL the translations put the gender of Jesus as male. Beware of what lies inside the "Christian" Bookstore!" Ryan
Sign reads: And the child grew and became strong; she was filled with wisdom , and the grace of God was upon her. Luke 2:40

What the bible says, "The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." Luke 2:40

20 comments:

Rev. Gerald Collins said...

This is so very disheartening. I expect this sort of behavior in the world, but in a Christian store?? It is a tremendous shame. It falls right in line with a story I heard the other day about people wanting to use Jesus and God without capitalization. The premise was to not alienate or offend those outside the faith. So sad that some individuals will want their own name capitalized and then deny the God of the universe the same courtesy.

Jeremy said...

Translations may very but the original doesn't (at least not in this case). The level of ignorance that is allowed to persist among those who call themselves "Christians" is staggering.

I can see how this mistake might get made in production. But to make the mistake, and then defend it? That's just blatant ignorance... no two ways about it.

Bob Sorensen said...

I will not touch Bible "translations" that want to be politically correct and change the gender. Sorry, but God is the Father, and when the original says "he", it should be translated "he", and so forth. It's a bit too close to the JWs, who "translate" the Bible to suit their own peculiar doctrines and preferences.

marusha said...

Wow. Some more theology being discarded. It is important to refer to God in the masculine gender and keep it that way in the Scriptures because it is theological.

Ian said...

FCS has been less and less of a true Christian store and more of a Je$u$ Junk store for a long time and more of a secular store focused on peeling away money from Christians. I was in a Lifeway last year that had Gift bags emblazoned with Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." and barbeque sets with the first half of Psalm 34:8: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!".

If anything, it was only a matter of time before they started twisting scripture to meet their needs. Now I just buy all of my stuff through CBD or Monergism.com.

JoAnna Hess said...

Hey! that was me, in the picture ... and if you think the sign was big you should have looked around the whole store. It seems bad when you have to filter things when you go to a christian bookstore. It's a sad time when Christ is taken out of a christian store, it's disheartening. That sign, to me, was blasphemous because it's not only taking away from Christ but adding a false perspective of that verse to the buyer that may or may not understand. If they didn't know any better they would have gotten it thinking it to be about any child, when it really is about Jesus. There is just one example on how these people are taking the Word of God and molding it and making it mean something that it is not suppose to mean. We need to use the Word of God the right way, as it was meant to be instead of making it say what someone wants to hear.

Heath The Blogless said...

It is because of things like this I have started buying most of my Christian books from people like amazon. At least they are more honest about what they are, they sell books and want your money. When a store claims to be Christian they need to step up and be discerning about what they put on there shelves, even if it does cost them in sales, either that or just call them self a book store that specializes in religious books. Not a Christian book store.

James said...

Presupposition error #1 - Family Christian Store = Christian Store...

#familyheresystorefail

Brenda said...

I saw this a while back at a christian bookstore by my mothers house and was about to buy it for my little girls room, then it dawned on me, "Which girl is this scripture talking about" so I went to there bible section, picked up a bible, and looked up the verse. at that very moment I put the sign back and walked out of that bookstore empty handed.

Unknown said...

I think this is sick, and blasphemous.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

I hope this msg I sent them wasn't offensive...
Though you are but the Internet Coordinator for this site, I pray you will pass this msg on to the business owner(s).

Your comment "the scriptures vary based on the translation" has lost you much web-based business (mine and everyone I know anyway) because of the changes you made to a Holy Bible scripture. I will, never the less, keep you in my prayers and pray for your salvation.

André Binette

Please tell me you didn't do and say what I read you said and done.... (but then, you don't have to explain this to anyone but God, for only HE can forgive you).

Re:
Hard to Believe This One!
When someone saw this sign in a Family Christian Store in North Olmsted, Ohio, he could hardly believe his eyes. It quoted Luke 2:40, but had replaced the "he" referring to Jesus with "she." When he asked the store associate about the sign, she just said that "the scriptures vary based on the translation." Maybe you would like to send them a polite email to (removed address for this post)

Fish With Trish said...

Really good news: we received this email into Living Waters yesterday about this sign from Aaron K:

Thought you might like to hear this news I received from my sister who is in upper management in the Family Christian Stores regarding the in...correctly quoted verses in the article released by Living waters named "Hard to Believe This One!" Newsletter January 10, 2011 regarding a product quoting scripture wrong.

Here is the email I received form her...

Thought you'd like to see this. Just got it in my work inbox...

The following announcement was just posted to the Intranet - please ensure all stores comply immediately. 

Title: 01.11.11 Store Announcement - Immediate Action to remove product from sales floor

Body: Due to Scripture being incorrectly quoted, on the products below, all stores should immediately remove them from the sales floor and hold in the back room for further instruction:

SKU 1157640 - PLQ-For This Child-Blue 24x7.5

SKU 1157641 - PLQ-For This Child-Pink 24x7.5

The top of the plaque says "For This Child We Prayed". The Scripture quote from Luke 2:40 reads "And the child grew and became strong; he/she was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him/she". This quote from Luke refers to Christ, not to any infant.

Fish With Trish said...

An update on the plaque issue: if you emailed Family Christian stores you should have received this response from them:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the plaque “For This Child We Prayed.” This children’s room decoration at the center ...of this controversy is a good example of what happens when one plaque tries to communicate too much information.

First, and most importantly, Family Christian Stores is absolutely committed to the Bible as the word of God. We can assure you that we would not support or promote any translation of Luke 2:40 that changes Jesus’ gender.

The plaque “For This Child We Prayed” is made for boys and for girls and the gender in the blessing, which is based on Luke 2:40, is changed as appropriate. Of course, the boy’s blessing would look like it is the verse from the Gospel of Luke and not based on the verse from Luke. So, it would not raise the same concern as the girl’s plaque. The girl’s blessing is confusing because adding “Luke 2:40,” the source of the blessing, at the bottom of the plaque makes it look like the blessing is intended to be a scripture reference when it is not. When we purchased this product, we saw the words on the plaque as a blessing and not as an attempt to “re-translate” scripture. We now see how the plaque could be interpreted both ways. If we believed that the plaque was an attempt to change scripture, we would not have carried it in our stores.

There is wisdom in many counselors and we appreciate that this potential for misunderstanding has been brought to our attention. We have removed the plaques from our chain of stores and will not be selling this product. If you ever have concerns about our product, you should feel free to call our Customer Service department at 1-888-319-0319 orcustomerservice@familychristian.com. We take our customers’ comments very seriously.

Sincerely,
Family Christian Stores

Petra said...

I can't remember how I happened upon your blog, but I'm glad I did. I've linked back to this article in a mixed bag post of my blog. Hope you don't mind. Blessings!

Fish With Trish said...

penned pebbles, glad you found my blog. God bless you!

Gregg Metcalf said...

The first mistake somebody made was in the mis-labeling or identification of the "store." We are very few truly Christian bookstores in existence any longer - the last in Portland went out of business last year. What we have here and throughout our land are Holy Hardware Stores that sell hardware that has been "christened" as Christian.

Blessedwifenmother said...

We as Christians reference scripture to guide prayer. Pastors and Christian writers do this often. This sign was created as a prayer for a little girl. My husband and I were blessed to find it. It hangs in my disabled daughter's room, and "for this child we have prayed". We speak life over her everyday believing that she will become strong and filled with wisdom. The grace of God is upon her. I am saddened by "Christian" bloggers taking time to discredit something meant to bless. Go out into the world and win souls! Find something better to do.

Fish With Trish said...

Dear Blessedwifenmother,

Thank you for the kind manner in which you wrote and for the encouragement to go share the gospel.

I hope you recognize that it is very important not to tamper with scripture this way. The Christian bookstore did. They removed this item from their stock and sent apologies out.

Fish With Trish said...

To Blessedwifenmother,

One more thing, if you get time today, check out www.trueandfalseconversion.com and www.hellsbestkeptsecret.com

These are great messages that will encourage you to share the gospel (which is seems you have a passion to do).

And if you havn't seen 180movie.com yet check that out too. There are 33 minutes that are shocking.