Under-age Bible readers?

I can just picture it now. A seven-year-old boy pores over a book under his covers, in the hope that his latest habit will go unnoticed by his mother. His mother who notices everything, spots her son reading late at night, and lifts up the covers. Her worst nightmare has just happened. Her son, her sweet innocent son, is reading.... THE BIBLE.

If Hong Kong residents have their way, you won't be able to purchase a copy of the best-selling Bible without showing your ID card at your local bookstore to prove that you are over eighteen. The Bible will be sealed in a wrapper with a statutory warning notice, in the spirit of cigarette warnings: WARNING - THE BIBLE CONTAINS INDECENT CONTENT THAT WILL JEOPARDIZE YOUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH. EACH PAGE THAT YOU READ WILL NIBBLE AWAY AT YOUR HEART AND SOUL.

Maybe, as there are for cigarettes, they will even come out with a "Lite" version of the Bible. An abridged or amended version.

Alright, I will put you out of your misery. Seventeen lines into this post, and you still have no clue what I am talking about. Sooo, according to an article I just read, over 800 Hong Kong residents have called on their authorities to reclassify the Bible as "indecent" due to its "sexual and violent content," including rape and incest. Apparently, Hong Kong's Television and Entertainment Licensing authority (TELA) received 838 complaints about the Bible. TELA said it was still undecided on whether the Bible had violated Hong Kong's obscene and indecent articles laws.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? How dull must life be in Hong Kong if people are complaining that the BIBLE, of all works, is indecent?

A Hong Kong local protestant minister was asked to comment. His response was:

"If there is rape mentioned in the Bible, it doesn't mean it encourages those activities," said Reverend Wu Chi-wai. "It's just common sense ..."

Profound words from our minister. And you wonder why church attendance is so low. If the Bible is classified as x-rated material, it's an ingenious way of attracting people to religion. You can't beat reverse psychology - forbidden fruits are sweeter, and all that...

Barbara

18 years ago

Dinah was raped in the Torah - and went on to marry her rapist.

However, my children are reading versions of the Bible tailored for younger readers.

Maybe you are right - selling the Bible as porn might just work. (OY!)

Sorelle

18 years ago

Barbara: Thanks for stopping by. Truth be told, I remember as a teenager, when I attended an ultra-Orthodox Jewish high school, our teachers would race by those verses that contained some rather graphic descriptions. At the time, it seemed pretty lame to be picking and choosing those aspects which they thought were appropriate.