Critique of "Most Important Story Ever Told"

Dear WorldServe Publishing personnel:

My name is John Shorack. I am a missionary serving in Venezuela and a member of a mission called InnerCHANGE, which is a division of Church Resource Ministries (CRM). I deeply appreciate your commitment to getting God’s word out to all peoples, in all the world. I, too, want to see children saved from every tribe and nation.

Recently I came across the English-version of your evangelistic booklet entitled, “The Most Important Story Told”. The reason I’m writing is because when I read the booklet I was left with two very strong impressions about how God is presented in the booklet, namely that:

1. God is the one that withdraws from relationship with us (thus, the problem becomes God’s disposition more than our rebellion), and,
2. God is more concerned about our moral conduct than about having a relationship with us.

Let me explain.

God hates sin…sin separates us from God.
This statement gets repeated about three times in the booklet. I assume that you intend to communicate that our sin gets in the way of a relationship with God. Nevertheless, the implication in the booklet is that as a result of the fall, God withdraws his presence from man. From the statement that God “sent them away – out of the Garden of Eden,” the booklet makes a huge leap to God’s sending of Jesus, as if this is God first and only action toward the wayward human race. Moreover, the comment by the mother to the children when discussing the fall of Adam and Eve reads… ‘they didn’t know how awful separation from God would be.’ This gives the reader the impression that they were regretful of the separation and would have returned to God, if only God had been willing to receive them back. Thus, as I wrote above, the problem seems to be God’s disposition, more than our sin and rebellion.

The Old Testament is, in fact, a catalog of testimonies that teach us that God continuously relates to sinners after the fall. God drew near to Abraham and called him. Was Abraham a sinner? Of course. Was Abraham separated from God because of his sin? No. At least Abraham’s sin didn’t prevent God from having a relationship with him that included conversing, giving him great promises, committing himself to fulfilling those promises, guiding Abraham throughout his lifetime and those of his children.

In Egypt, God draws near to the suffering, sinful people to save them. Did the people’s sin separate them from God’s saving act? No. God had compassion on them.

I know that I’m preaching to the choir. You and I, and millions of evangelical believers know from personal experience that God’s loving action toward us was precisely while we were lost in the world. It troubles me that in spite of the biblical evidence and our own personal experience with God, we continue to promote literature that presents God as the one who withdraws and is unwilling to restore relationship because of our sin.

In the New Testament the religious leaders of Israel operated under the theological grid that God hates sin…sin separates us from God. When they looked through this grid at Jesus of Nazareth…getting baptized alongside sinners…having table-fellowship with outcasts…then getting executed as a criminal between two other criminals…they could only conclude that this man was a dangerous influence and a deceiver of the ignorant masses. Their God was too holy and too pure to act so acceptingly toward such irreligious folks.

Paul affirms this, too, when he states in Romans 5:8 that “God demonstrates his love for us because Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.” We were far away, rebellious, morally bankrupt when God came into our world – personally, in Christ – and won us back.

Yes, God can “hide” his face from us because of our sin (Ez 39:23-24; Is 59:2), and no doubt a quality of intimacy with God is (temporarily) lost. Yet, even so, we know that God is slow to anger and that his anger is short-lived, when compared to his mercy (Ex.34:6-7). Thus, the overwhelming testimony of the Old Testament is like that of the father in Luke 10 whose disposition and affections toward his wayward son never change and, in fact, eagerly awaits his son’s return. The good news is that God is not repelled by our stubborn, rebellious ways. Instead, he sent Jesus to “seek and save the lost.”

Moral conduct vs. Turning to God
Having pictured God (as presented in the booklet) as withdrawing from us and the pursuit of relationship with us because of our sin, it’s quite natural for the reader to also feel like God’s greatest concern is that we conform to his moral standard. This is very different from portraying a God that longs for relationship with his wayward people. Yet the wording in the booklet lends itself to this kind of conclusion…”we all sin when we do bad things” (the father to the children). “God just needed one perfect person.” “Dear God, I know I’m a sinner. I made wrong choices and did bad things.” The message becomes God wants me to be good, rather than God wants me.

Because his desire is that we return to Him, the sin that most concerns God is the sin of not trusting Him, rebelling, following our own ways, etc. When we articulate the nature of our sin in these kinds of relational terms, we also communicate something about God and his will. Biblically, I’m sure you would agree that Jesus’ “perfection” was not simply a conformity to a moral standard. His life was perfect also in the sense of having lived out fully the covenant relationship that had escaped Israel.

Alternative readings
The work you’ve done in bringing deep theological meaning into the simple language for children to understand is not easy. And it would not be fair for me to critique your theology without proposing some alternative readings of a few select portions of your booklet.


1. Current reading (section entitled: Adam and Eve Sin): “They had sinned by choosing to disobey God.”
Alternative reading: “Instead of trusting God and what he told them, they went their own way, thinking they knew better.”

2. Current reading: “Whoa, slow down! God still loved them. But he hates sin. Sin separates us from God.”
Alternative reading: “Whoa, slow down! God still loved them. In fact, even though people continued to turn their backs on God and choose their own way, God never stopped giving people opportunities to return to him.”

3. Current reading: “Why did God put the tree there, then? God loved Adam and Eve. He wanted them to have a choice, to choose for themselves to love and obey him. But they chose to disobey God. They didn’t know how awful separation from God would be. And, because they chose to sin, everyone who came after them was born sinful and separated from God, too.”
Alternative reading: I would delete this portion.

4. Current reading: “When everything was ready God put his plan into action. It began with a baby!”
Alternative reading: “In fact, one of the promises that God gave his people was that he would send a very special person to save us from our rebellious ways and restore our broken relationship with God. God fulfilled this promise when a very special baby was born 2000 years ago.

5. Current reading: “And he never sinned.”
Alternative reading: I would delete this. It’s redundant. It puts the weight again on moral conduct.

6. Current reading (page entitled: Jesus Dies on the Cross): “Hey, is Jesus the person in God’s plan? Right, Tony. God sent his own perfect Son, Jesus.”
Alternative reading: “Hey, is Jesus the person that fulfilled God’s promise? That’s right, Tony. God sent his own Son, Jesus.”

7. Current reading (same page): “And he died to take the punishment for our sins.”
Alternative reading: “And he died to take away our sins and heal our broken lives.”

8. Current reading: “That’s great, Tony! This is the most important decision you’ll ever make! The Bible tells us our sin separates us from God. And it says, “if you confess…”
Alternative reading: “That’s great, Tony! This is the most important decision you’ll ever make! The Bible says, “if you confess…”

Once again, my brothers and sisters at WorldServe Publishing, I want to thank you for your dedication to this kind of literature. Your efforts at publishing God’s word for children is no doubt bearing much fruit for God around the world. Thank you also for taking the time to consider my thoughts and concerns regarding “The Most Important Story Ever Told.”

May God bless you richly in His service,

John Shorack
InnerCHANGE (CRM)
Caracas, Venezuela