The Bible for the Boy in the Back of the Car

The boy and his grandfather are exchanging texts about a psychic who was famous
nearly 100 years ago.
Do you think God really talked to him? the boy asks.
He doesnt seem to be a bad guy, the man says, but I dont think so. We believe God
talks to us through the bible and the Church, prophets and saints but not psychics.
Since he was five or six years old, the boy has been asking his grandfather about God
and heaven, Jesus and creation, good and evil. He has grown into a sturdy baseball
slugger but at 14 he has not lost his sense of the mystery of life. In a few minutes, talk
about the psychic fades away. Neither the man nor the boy has much interest in that
story, but their talk rekindles in the grandfather the memory of an offbeat and longneglected idea.
I was thinking about writing a short version of the Bible, he texts. What do you think?
Yeah, you should, the grandson texts back.
OK. Ill do it.
Cool. Love you.

We believe in miracles
John, we believe the bible is the word of God. Many people wrote the books of the bible
over hundreds, maybe thousands, of years but all of them were inspired by God, and
the story they tell is true.
In the bible, God reveals himself to us. He is not a hidden, faraway, impersonal God. He
gets angry about the evil we do to each other, he weeps when we turn away from him,
he loves us like a father and a mother. He gives his own son to save us.
Not everyone agrees with us. Some people say the bible contains many words of
wisdom but they think it is fiction, not fact. Most of all, they dont believe in the bible
because they dont believe in God. They dont believe in miracles.
We believe in God. We believe in miracles. If you dont believe in miracles, you wont
believe the bible. Our God didnt create the world and walk away from it. He constantly
watches over us. When things go bad, he steps into save us. Thats what miracles are
God working in the world he created. The bible is a book of miracles from the creation
of the world through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

God created the world and each of us -- out of love. He does not stop loving us even
when we turn our backs on him. Again and again he reaches out to us and teaches us
to hope for salvation. Long ago he chose Abraham and his descendants to be a people
of his own. He led them out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.
He gave them the Ten Commandments and made a solemn promise to them the
Bible calls it a covenant to them. You shall be my people, he said, and I will be your
God. Finally, he sent his only son to offer a new covenant to us, to suffer, die on the
cross, rise from the dead and open the gates of heaven for us.
People who do not believe in God say the world was not created it just happened for
no particular reason, an accident life has no meaning. We come from nowhere and we
are going nowhere. We are born, we live, we die, and thats the end. Thats how they
look at life. Their world is cold and sad and lonely. Dont worry about that. Its not true.
We believe life has meaning. Life is a journey along a twisting and often rocky road.
Sometimes we walk through a dark valley of sadness and fear, but God is always at our

side, leading us to the light. We come from God. We are going back to God. Thats what
the bible tells us.

This is how our story begins.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. Now the earth was a formless void,
there was a darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. God
said, Let there be light, and there was light.
Scientists say the world began with a big bang. Who knows? Maybe there was a big
bang when God said, Let there be light. What we do know is that God created the
heavens and the earth in their vast array. This beautiful and mysterious world is the
handiwork of a wise and loving God.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God completes his work of creation, day by day
forming the seas and dry land, placing the sun and the moon in the sky, plants on the
earth, birds in the air, fish in the sea, animals on the land. Then, on the sixth day, God
created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and
female he created them. He told Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, Be fruitful
and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.
God looked at his creation and saw it was indeed very good. On the seventh day, he
rested from the work he had been doing.
Thats how God did it, putting his infinite power to work, creating our world, but why did
he do it? Why did he create man and woman in his own image? We believe he created
us out of love. God is love. Love cannot sit still. Love is constantly on the move,
reaching out beyond itself. Ours is a restless God who does not want to be alone.
God made a home for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a place we call Paradise
where there was no pain or suffering or death and, most of all, no evil. God gave Adam
and Eve the gift of freedom to do whatever they wanted. He gave them only one
command: they could eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, except for one.
Adam and Eve lived happily together in the garden, in the presence of God. Then one
day, the devil came in the form of a serpent and told Eve that if they ate the fruit of the
forbidden tree they would become like gods. Eve ate the fruit. So did Adam. They
werent satisfied living as Gods children. They wanted to become gods themselves.

They used their freedom to rebel against the God who created them, and sin came into
the world.
Suddenly, the garden was no longer Paradise. Adam and Eve had broken their bond of
love with God. God banished them from Eden, but he did not abandon them, and he
doesnt abandon us. That is the message at the heart of the bible. Again and again
throughout the centuries, God reaches out to us and teaches us to hope for salvation, to
open the path back to Paradise.

The voice from the back of the car

Long ago, when the boy was five or six years old, his grandfather was driving him home,
just the two of them in the car. From the backseat came a question. The boy was always
asking questions from the back of the car mostly things like, Do you have something
to drink? or Can we go to the park? But this time was different. Pa, he said, why are
there bad people in the world?
The man tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He wasnt ready for that question. He
had other plans drop the boy off at home and then head to his favorite brewery to
watch a football game on television. Suddenly he had something more important to do.
He didnt know what to say, but he knew he had to say something. He was confused,
but pleased the question had stirred in his grandsons soul.
The grandfather knew the traditional answer: We can sin because God has given us
free will. Like Adam and Eve we can choose to do good or evil, obey God or go our own
way. He doesnt force us to love him. Love that is forced isnt really love. The answer is
true but the man didnt use it. He thought it would ring false to this thoughtful six-yearold. Even very wise adults often find it an unsatisfying and abstract response to the
cruel realities of evil and suffering in the world.
Above all, evil is a mystery. So is goodness, the gentle touch of a mother, the selfless
love of a father. So, the grandfather finally said, I cant explain why there are bad
people, but I know this for certain: We might not be able to stop other people from doing
bad things but we dont have to be bad ourselves. We should do good and not evil all
the days of our lives.
He finished talking just as they pulled into the driveway. The boy hollered, Thanks and
ran into the house, to his mom and dad, his big sisters and little brother. The
grandfather sat in the car wishing he had given a better answer, but happy he had said
something, happy his grandson had asked the question.

When the boy was seven, his voice had come from the back of the car with another
unexpected question: Did you ever feel happy and not know why?
This time his grandmother is in the front seat along with his grandfather. His three-yearold brother is dozing next to him. They are driving back from the Gold Discovery Park,
the place where the Gold Rush of 1849 began. The big boy had taught his little brother
how so skip rocks on the river. He had climbed ten-foot high rocks, running along the
top, disappearing down the back, then racing back to his family.
The park iwas filled with people dressed in Gold Rush era clothes. The little family stops
at what appeared to be a 19th century Wild West bowling alley a single long, rough dirt
lane with three pins at the end. The big boy wants to take a shot but a dozen people are
ahead of him. He stays there with his grandmother. The grandfather and the restless
three-year-old go their own way, wandering aimlessly, looking for a souvenir to buy.
Just about everything looks good to the little guy. After much indecision, the boy goes
along with his grandfathers suggestion that an odd looking $2 rock is just the right
thing. When they get back to the 19th century bowling lane, the big boy is smiling. I
knocked down all the pins, he says. I had the best score of anyone.
Now they are driving home and he asks, Did you ever feel happy and not know why?
His grandparents exchange smiles. The Lady turns and looks at the boy with love.
Yes, John, she says. It happens when youre having fun with people you love, people
who love you.
Just a curious little boy in the back of the car, but he is asking questions that echo
through the ages: Why is there evil the world? More important, why is there goodness
and happiness and love? Life is a struggle between good and evil, and the bible tell us
we are not alone in the battle.

God chooses Noah and Abraham

Adam and Eve toiled on the earth and had children. They increased and multiplied as
God had told them, but over the centuries, the wickedness that crept into Eden came to
rule the world. Amid all this evil, one good man stood out, a man who did no evil to his
neighbor. Noah found favor with God. He told Noah to build an ark, to take his family on
the ark, along with two of every kind of creature. Then God unleashed a flood over the
Earth. Only Noah and his family, the last good people left on Earth, survived.

When the flood waters subsided, God led Noah and his family back to dry land and
offered a covenant to them, a promise never again to flood the Earth. As a sign of this
covenant he set a bow in the sky the first rainbow.
Centuries went by but God did not forget his people. We often wonder why he waits so
long to answer our prayers, but he always does. He has own timetable, his own plan.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways, he says. 1
As he had chosen Noah long ago, now God spoke to a man named Abram: Leave
your country and your fathers house for a country I shall show you, I will make you a
great nation. I shall bless you and make your name famous. I shall bless those who
bless you and curse those who curse you. All the clans of the earth will bless
themselves by you.2
Abram trusted in God. He took his wife Sarai and their family hundreds of miles west
from their home in the land of the Chaldeans to Canaan, the land we now call Israel.
Abram obeyed Gods word and settled in his new homeland, but he wondered how
Gods promise could be fulfilled. What good is this land to me? he said to himself. I
am old and have no children to inherit it,
Do not be afraid, God said to Abram and led him outside. Look up and count the stars
if you can. 3 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand
that is on the seashore. 4 And so it was: in her old age Sarai bore a son to fulfill Gods
promise.
Just as he had made a covenant with Noah long ago, God now made a promise to
Abram, a man of unshakeable faith, and gave him and Sarai new names, Sara and
Abraham. I shall maintain a covenant between myself and you and your descendants
after you to be your God and the God of your descendants.
Thousands of years later, Jews and Christians look back on Abraham as their father in
faith, a man who followed Gods call, leaving his homeland, venturing into the unknown,
trusting in Gods promise. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and lost Paradise. Abraham
obeyed God, and the path back to Paradise began to open.
Sara and Abraham named their son Isaac. God blessed Isaac: I am the God of your
father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I shall bless you and multiply your
offspring for my servant Abrahams sake.

Joseph, Jacob and the Israelites

Isaac had two sons. Esau left Canaan after his fathers death. The other son, Jacob,
stayed in his homeland. God gave him a new name too, Israel. His descendants
became known as Israelites, and the story of Gods plan for mankind continued with
Jacob and his 12 sons.
Joseph, the youngest son, was special. Jacob loved this child of his old age more than
his other sons, and God spoke to Joseph in dreams, as he often does to those who love
him. In one dream, his brothers and father bowed down before Joseph as if they were
his servants. The eleven were already jealous because of their fathers love for Joseph.
When Joseph told them about the dream, they grew to hate him.
One day when they were tending sheep far from home, the brothers saw Joseph in the
distance. They said to one another, Here comes the dreamer, let us kill him. One of
the brothers convinced the others to spare Josephs life and instead sell him into
slavery. They sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver, and told their father had been killed by
wild animals.
Jacob wept for his beloved son.
That should have been the end of the story of Joseph, but Gods ways are not our ways.
God was with Joseph even after he was enslaved in Egypt. Soon news of the wisdom of
Joseph the dreamer reached Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. Pharaoh wanted to know the
meaning of a dream he had of seven fat cows and seven scrawny cows. Joseph told
him the dream meant that Egypt would have abundant harvests for seven years, then
seven years of famine.
Can we find anyone endowed with the spirit of God like him, Pharaoh asked, and he
appointed Joseph to rule the country in his name.
During the next seven years, Joseph ordered the Egyptians to store food and prepare
for a famine. When the famine struck, the Egyptians had more than enough food.
Starving people from other countries came to buy food, among them Josephs brothers..
When they met Joseph, they did not recognize him. It had been years since they had
seen their youngest brother. Joseph recognized them. He broke down weeping and
said, I am Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt, but do not reproach yourselves since

God sent me before you to preserve your lives. As they had in that dream long ago, the
eleven bowed before Joseph.
Jacob, the eleven brothers and their families settled in Egypt. They survived the famine,
prospered and grew numerous. Hundreds of years passed, the memory of Joseph and
his remarkable deeds faded from the memory of the Egyptians. Now they feared and
hated the Israelites. They enslaved them, forced them into miserable lives of hard labor
and finally ordered all newborn Israelite boys be killed.

Out of Slavery

Now, the God of Abraham again entered human history. One of those boys, Moses,
survived, saved as a baby by Pharaohs daughter. As a young man, he fled into the
desert. There he encountered God in a bush that burned but was not consumed by the
fire.
I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, God said. I have come down to rescue
them and bring them into a country flowing with milk and honey. They would return to
the land of Canaan where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had lived. I am he who is, God
told Moses. Tell the Israelites I am has sent me to you. Say to the Israelites I am
Yahweh. I shall set you free.
Moses went to Pharaoh with this message from God: Let my people go. Pharaoh
refused and brutalized the Israelites even more. God responded by having Moses
perform miracles to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites return to their homeland. With
each miracle, Pharaoh became more obstinate. He would not free the Israelites from
cruel slavery.
Finally, God told the Israelites to gather as a community, each family bringing a lamb to
be slaughtered at twilight. They returned to their homes, they roasted and ate the lamb,
but first they put blood of the lamb on the doorways of their houses. That night I shall
go through Egypt and strike down all the first born, man and beast alike. The blood will
be a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood, I shall pass over you.
This day must be commemorated by you. You must keep it as a feast day for all
generations. Even now Jews and Christians celebrate the feast of Passover as the
beginning of their deliverance.

Now, frightened by the power of God, Pharaoh reluctantly relented. He let Gods people
go. The Israelites set off for Canaan, God leading them by a pillar of cloud by day and a
pillar of fire by night. Pharaoh quickly regretted the loss of his slave laborers. He and his
army, chariots and charioteers, chased the Israelites, finally coming near them at the
seashore.
Terrified by Pharaohs vast, well-armed army, the Israelites cried out to Moses, You
have led us out into the desert to die. Moses said to them, Do not be afraid. Stand firm
and you will see what Yahweh will do to rescue you. Yahweh will do the fighting for
you.

Commented [pj1]: Exodus 14:4.

Commented [pj2]:

God told Moses, Tell the Israelites to march on. Stretch out your hand over the sea and
divide it so the Israelites can walk through the sea on dry ground. An opening appeared
in the sea and the Israelites walked on dry land though the sea, a wall of water to the
right of them, a wall of water to the left.
The Egyptians rushed after them, eager to slaughter their former slaves. Then God
spoke once more to Moses: Stretch out your hand and let the waters flow back on the
Egyptians. The waters rushed over the Egyptians and none was left alive.
Safe on the other side, the Israelites sang praise to God: The enemy said, I shall give
chase and overtake them. I shall draw my sword and destroy them. You blew with your
breath and the sea closed over them. In your faithful love you led out the people you
had redeemed.
The Israelites praises quickly turned into complaints as the journeyed into the desert,
You have led us into this desert to starve to death, they said to Moses. God heard
their cries and said to Moses, I shall rain down bread from heaven. And he did. The
people had plenty to eat and traveled on. Three months later they reached Sinai, a
remote and lonely mountain that would become a turning point in their history and the
history of the world
At Sinai God again spoke to Moses. Tell the House of Jacob, he said. You have seen
what I did to Egyptians, how I carried you away on eagles wings. Now, if you are really
prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you of all peoples will be my possession,
for the whole world is mine.
Moses gave the message to the people and they replied with one accord, Whatever
God has said, we will do.

Commented [pj3]: Exodus 15

Gods Rules to Live By

Then God sealed his covenant with them, giving them Ten Commandments at Sinai.

the first three telling how they should worship God, the other seven how they should
act toward one another. For thousands of years Jews and Christians have followed
those commandments on the way to a good and happy life. We still do. Many people
think the commandments are too hard. Jesus didnt. He told people to follow the
commandments and they would find the burden light.
God begins the Ten Commandments by putting first things first. In the first three
commandments he calls on us to show our gratitude to our creator: I am Yahweh your
God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slave labor. You will have no
gods other than me. . . . you shall not bow down to them or serve them. That is the first
commandment. The next two are like it: You shall not misuse the name of God. You
must keep holy the Sabbath.
In those days, people worshipped the sun, their own kings, idols made of gold, all sorts
of odd things. We need to show our gratitude by worshiping him alone. We dont
worship golden bulls any more, but the 21st century has its own idols money, power,
success, sex. Those are all good things. They turn bad when they rule our lives. When
God takes first place in our lives, good things happen because God is good. People
who love God love one another, too. A world where people love another is a happy
world. People who follow false gods wander down the path to unhappiness for
themselves and the people whose lives they touch.
He wants us to respect his name just as we want people respect ours. God wants us to
live good lives every day but we set aside one day a week to gather with other people of
faith and worship God in a special way.
The fourth commandment tells us we should show respect to the most precious people
in our lives, and it is the only commandment that carries a promise with it: Honor your
father and your mother as Yahweh your God has commanded you that you may have a
long life and may prosper in the country your God is giving you.
The fifth commandment tell us You shall not kill. It is always wrong to take an innocent
human life, but we also have a duty to defend ourselves and others against anyone who
tries to kill us. Jesus goes farther. He says we should not be angry or disrespectful to
other people.
The sixth commandment says, You shall not commit adultery. This commandment is
at the heart of the bibles teaching about that place of sex in our lives. That place is in

marriage. A man and woman come together in a lifelong commitment and in their love
they create a family.
The seventh commandment says, You shall not steal. No one has the right to take
away the property of others

Happiness and love are the heart of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said they can be
summed up in two commandments love God, love all people. Sometimes, the going
gets tough but when you live by the commandment, life is easier and we are happy
because we are doing what God created us to do good all the days of our lives.
ve him and to love other people.
Bad things happen to good people but as long as we follow the commandments we will
be able to find our way back to happiness.
Bad people are unhappy. may be rich and powerful but they are unhappy y because
they

After God gave them the commandments, he told the Israelites, Today I call the
heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and
death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
and that you may love the Lord your God. Three thousand years later, people are still
living by the Ten Commandments, choosing life and love for their children.
Its not always easy. As hard as we try to follow the commandments, even good people
sometimes fail. That doesnt mean they become bad people. When we do wrong, we
say were sorry and try to do better.
The first three commandments tell us we must honor the God who created us. The
other seven tell us we must respect the people we live with.
The first and greatest commandment, Jesus said two thousand years later, is to love
God above all things. At Mount Sinai, his Father put it this way in the first
commandment, I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place
of slave labor. You will have no gods other than me.
In those days, people worshipped the sun, statues made out of gold, kings and queens.
God is reminds his people that he is the only God. He created the world, he created us.
We dont worship golden bulls any more, but the 21st century has its own idols power,
success, money, and, most of all, man himself, as if somehow we created the world.

None of that works out well. When the true God disappears, the world becomes a cold
and empty place,
When God takes first place in our lives, good things happen because God is good.
People who love God love one and another, too. Happiness reigns, just as it did that
day at the Gold Discovery Park. People who worship false gods have no one to love
except themselves, and sadness rules the day.
In the second commandment, God says, You must not misuse the name of Yahweh
your God. It is easy to accidentally misuse Gods name, but it is important to work hard
to honor his name, to show respect to the one who gave us life and promises us
happiness in heaven.
The third commandment tells us: Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We
should try to live holy lives every day but we set aside one day a week to worship God
in a special way Sunday for Christians, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday
for Jews.
The fourth commandment is the nicest one. Its about the most precious people in our
lives, and it is the only commandment that carries a promise with it: Honor your father
and your mother as Yahweh your God has commanded you that you may have a long
life and may prosper in the country your God is giving you.
The commandments tell us how the God who created us wants us to live loving him
and all of his people. He understands that sometimes we may turn our backs on him
and disobey his commandments but he is always ready to forgive us. All we have to do
is say were sorry and promise to do better.

Commented [pj4]: Find

Sometimes, the going gets tough but when you live by the commandments, life is easier
and we are happier because we are doing what God created us to do to do good all
the days of our lives.

Commented [pj5]: Check Deuteronomy

More than a thousand years later someone asked Jesus, What is the greatest
commandment? Jesus said, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The
second is like it You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments hang the whole law and the prophets too.
1(ISAIAH

55:8)

2Genesis

12:1-3

3 Gen 15:5
4 Genesis 22:17