A few weeks ago I heard that Wal-mart decided to market and sell some action figures based on Bible characters. I decided to check it out online. Apparently, someone thinks that the Bible can be learned better if you can have mock battles between Goliath and Samson. (I am pretty sure that they didn't even live in the same time period, but whatever.) So without further ado, we have over in the left corner, wearing red, hailing from Zorah, strongest man in History, 300-pounds-all-muscle, jaw-bone-swinging, "I-eat-philistines-for-breakfast" Samson the Nazirite and in the right corner, wearing silver, hailing from Philistia, tallest man and hairiest chest in the world, "I-make-everyone-cry-when-they-look-at-me-even-Chuck-Norris" Goliath. Let's get ready to rumble!Is a toy like this even worth buying? Or is it better for a kid to be playing with Bible characters instead of Superman or Batman? I am not really sure. From scripture we believe that the writings of Judges and Samuel are not just stories, but are true events. They contain real people and through them we learn about God. Can we make them out to be "superhero"-like? A few years ago I remember a friend of mine who hadn't been a Christian for a long time and she read the story of Samson for the first time. She was actually appalled at the gruesomeness that Samson was a part of. She wondered why he would be selected to be a judge of Israel since he treated philistines so vengefully. Anyway, as she figured out and we also figure out as we grow older, that the Bible contains a lot of gruesome events and heartless treatment of people, we should probably take those passages seriously and not try and make them marketable. There is no easy answer. If you have an opinion or a comment of some sort please don't be afraid to comment.
From the picture I kinda feel like buying one and putting on my desk at work whereby it would provide a good conversation starter. You can find them online at www.one2believe.com. I guess I will end by saying that I'm glad that the photo at least depicts Samson beating Goliath. Go Samson! Hopefully Goliath doesn't find out Samson's weakness.
1 comment:
I have a feeling that this is going to cause many young kids to get angry. When their other friend has the Jesus action figure what happens? he's unbeatable!
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