Wal-Mart (WMT) is about to bring religion to the toy aisle.
Early next month, 425 Wal-Mart stores nationwide will begin carrying faith-based toys from One2believe that target parents who would rather that their kids play with a Samson action figure than a Spider-Man action figure.
Religious products have become a multibillion-dollar business, and the toy move comes as it targets a younger audience. Fox recently created FoxFaith, a 20th Century Fox unit to distribute family movies with Christian themes. In January, Universal Pictures will release The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything — A VeggieTales Movie, based on the spiritual characters by Big Idea....
I have a difficult time understanding how Deuteronomy 4:15-18, Exodus 20:3-5, Matthew 22:19-21 and below work together?
Exodus 28:33 And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:
Exodus 36:8 Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim they made them.
Numbers 21:7-9 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
Deuteronomy 4:15-18: "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:..."
This means toys, pictures of "Jesus", movies made about Jesus or Bible characters, crucifixes or crosses, fish symbols, and so on...
I have to say I very much agree with the "naysayers." First of all what a contradiction for a store to carry "faith based" toys and use those dollars to sponsor a gay convention. Walmart is not making a stand here except for the stand of another way to make LOTS more $$$. Personally, the idea of a toy that is in a figure of a Bible character, I don't see a problem with that. My girls have dolls and they have played that one was Baby Jesus and once that one was baby Moses. Children will play and I would much rather them reenact a Bible story they recall than well anything else(not that I would purchase the other action figures). I do, however, have a problem with someone making mega dollars to pocket using Christianity. Let's say it cost them $4 to make a doll they sold it for $8 and used the profit to send Bibles well???, they could have kept the original $4 and just done it that way. I don't much think that this is the idea in marketing these dolls anyway. All that to say, children pretend, it's part of how they learn. To pretend they are a Bible character is great, but for someone to fill there pocket book up for it isn't. Do like my kids do, get a bunch of pipe cleaners and make your own.
Children should be taught Christianity in a serious manner and not try to make a game out of it—always trying to entertain instead of seriously considering the reverence that should be given to God and His holy word.
The bottom line is MONEY!!! "The love of money is the root of all evil."
Wow John, what a naysayer. I'm stunned that you're so eager to bash a mega-retailer for the idea of offering children toys with a religious theme.
Walmart - Way to go! I appreciate your stance on mature games (not carying console games rated M) and I appreciate that you offer this choice to parents who wish to hold the influence of the world at bay as much as possible.
Yeah. Sure. They could market action figures of David on his palace with Bathsheba in the shower--or how about a levite's concubine action figure (Judges 19) which can be *divided* into 12 parts.
Step right up and get yours today before they're all sold out!
But seriously, folks, I think the Bible (for the most part) is WAY too profound to be adaquately represented by mere toys.
I first learned of Daniel in the lions' den from 1970's-era Sunday-school flanelgraphs (those of you old enough to remember know what I'm talking about).
I remember Daniel being saved from the lions but I don't remember my teacher mentioning the fate of Daniel's accusers, torn assunder by the very same lions Daniel was rescued from. I wonder if the Daniel's lions' den toy incorporates this. I doubt it.
I suppose parents could still use the toys, but I would hope that they would (carefully, of course) tell their kids the rest of the story, not represented by the toy itself.
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bless god: "
precision
'after this manner...' does not mean using these exact..."
