Fred Has Fun: With The Bible

One of Fred’s “Did you hear the one about …?” fun stories.

“Did you hear the funny story about …?” is a phrase used by people who like to share fun jokes and stories. This one today, makes light-hearted fun about The Bible. It’s not disrespectful, but it is fun, I hope you enjoy it.

Have you heard any fun stories about The Bible? …

If you look closely at this picture of a kid and his bible, you’ll maybe notice that he has it opened near the beginning, perhaps at the book of Genesis in ‘The Old Testament’.

He’s clearly having fun. Has someone just told him a funny story about creation and The Garden of Eden? I certainly know a few of those, but they are for another of my biblical stories to be told on another occasion.

For now, let’s look at some true stories of ‘having fun with the Bible’, and it’s not always out-and-out unbelievers who make this fun. For instance, John (Jack) Shelby Spong (a retired American Bishop of the Episcopal Church: Bishop of Newark, New Jersey 1979–2000) in his book: ‘Reclaiming The Bible for a Non-Religious World’, tells a story of his childhood ‘church camps’, where he and his fellow followers of Jesus would sit around the campfire and sing songs about ‘The Baptists’ who were numerically larger than any other christian tradition in Jack’s part of the world, and thus ‘fair game’ for these youngsters.

Jack says: “We used to shout: ‘Baptists are outnumbered only by sparrows’, and the chorus of our campfire song went like this”:

Young folks, old folks, everybody come Join the Baptist Sunday School and have a lot of fun Please check your chewing gum and marbles at the door And you’ll hear some Bible stories that you’ve never heard before!

If the boys were feeling ‘riskier’ they would change the third line of the chorus to say something like: Please check your guns and razors as you come in through the door.

There were numerous verses, some ‘quite naughty’ says Jack Spong. Here’s a couple that focus on two of the Old Testament’s women: Pharaoh’s daughter and King Herod’s daughter:

Pharaoh had a daughter, she had a winsome smile, She found the baby Moses a-floating in The Nile She took him home to Poppa with that same old tale Which is just about as probable as Jonah and the Whale

Salome was a dancer, she danced before the King She wiggled and she wobbled and she shook most everything The King said to Salome, “there’ll be no scandal here” Salome said, “To heck with that” and kicked the chandelier

Of course, these church kids would feel rebelliously sinful, but hey, that’s what kids are like! Maybe adults too?

As the Ira & George Gershwin’s song ‘It ain’t necessarily so’ says:

It ain’t necessarily so; it ain’t necessarily so The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible It ain’t necessarily so

Jack Spong adds:

If religion can be seen to be a quest to find integrity in our spiritual journey, then we can walk together and in this process discover, I am sure, some Bible stories ‘that you’ve never heard before’ (as the old camp-song had it), and even be led to the Gershwin conclusion that some things in the Bible ‘ain’t necessarily so’; or at least, not in the literal sense. … Jack Spong

But does this mean that we leave it there? Leave it at that … is there nothing that’s called ‘truth’ that can be relied on to be ‘true’? If that’s our conclusion then what’s the point of taking things further?

But don’t be fooled by this fun-play with the Bible. Read and study more. Follow the advice of William Sparrow:

“Seek the truth come whence it may cost what it will” … William Sparrow (1801–1874)

Have fun on the way whilst you are sorting the wheat from the chaff, but don’t stop just because there’s a pile of chaff building up. To take this farming analogy further … Plough on!

If you liked today’s Fun article (Fred has fun with The Bible)

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You can find my other FUN Stories via this link to my Family & Fun Collection and this story is also placed in my Philosophy and Religion Collection

Happy reading … Fred

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“Fred Has Fun With The Bible” * is written by Fred: Almost Famous * * * * * © Fred Ogden 2021 * * * * *

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