Posted on 05/29/2012 7:55:04 AM PDT by Gamecock
Full Title: Did Veggie Tales prove that you can teach kids to behave Christianly without teaching them Christianity?
A very interesting article here. Remember those veggies that sung like helium intoxicated chip munks and told stories from the bible almost similar to bible stories? Now there seems to be a hint of regret. You see…
VeggieTales “convinced kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity.” So says founder Phil Vischer in a new interview.
VeggieTales was a rags-to-riches entrepreneurial success story. Vischer and his counterpart, Mike Nawrocki, left college to pursue their dream of making wildly creative children’s videos. At the height of their success in the late 1990s, VeggieTales videos sold 7 million copies in a single year and generated $40 million in revenue. Though primarily aimed at a Christian market, VeggieTales had a broader cultural influence, pushing forward the boundaries of computer animation and children’s programming
But success brought failure. Though Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber are still around, they aren’t the same. Big Idea Productions went bankrupt in 2003 and Vischer lost ownership and creative control of the whole enterprise. VeggieTales is no longer VeggieTales. The characters still exist – and in some cases are even voiced by Nawrocki and Vischer as hired talent – but the decisions are now made by studio execs who don’t share the vision or worldview of the original founders.
In a recent issue of WORLD magazine, Vischer acknowledged to interviewer Megan Basham that the bankruptcy and subsequent trials have given him perspective. His words reveal a man who’s beginning to see the difference between moralism and the gospel. And a man humble enough to acknowledge his role in confusing the two:
I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, ‘Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,’ or, ‘Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!’ But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality.
American Christian[s]… are drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore. Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make all your dreams come true. It’s the Oprah god… We’ve completely taken this Disney notion of ‘when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true’ and melded that with faith and come up with something completely different. There’s something wrong in a culture that preaches nothing is more sacred than your dream. I mean, we walk away from marriages to follow our dreams. We abandon children to follow our dreams. We hurt people in the name of our dreams, which as a Christian is just preposterous.
["It's Not About the Dream," WORLD magazine, Sep 24, 2011, 57-58]
I’ve been strongly critical of the Christian subculture over the years because I believe it does more to distort and discredit the gospel than almost any external threat or influence. It’s good to see one of the former saints of that subculture putting his finger on the same weaknesses. It’s even better to see “gospel awakening” in a man with such deep wells of creativity and talent.
And now, it’s that time for Silly Songs with Larry.
Just for the lurker, God is indeed wrathful.
If you need proof just look at the cross.
Where are they now?
Larry the Cucumber is in a pickle.
Mr. Lunt was smashed out of his gourd.
And Bob the Tomato just couldn’t catch-up with the rest of them.
Sorry, couldn’t help myself :>)
I agree with you about the layers - I don’t think we can even imagine how many layers there are. I think we will be spending all of eternity learning how all the layers point to our Redeemer.
I agree with you that all of this is provided for our instruction. When we obey Him, we have His peace. When we don’t, well, our spiritual enemies attack us. If we don’t “hack up” our spiritual enemies that we allow to live with us, they will constantly attack us. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul says to throw down (”hack”) all our thoughts that are not of God and instead, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought for us - every enemy for the Israelites. An impossible task, but one we can work on, only in the power of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Israelites could only defeat their enemies through God.
I didn’t think your post was boring at all. I thought it was interesting.
hahahahahahahahahahaha....
http://www.geneveith.com/2012/06/06/veggietales-creator-repents-of-moralism/
he makes some interesting points in the comments section.
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