Sodom and Gomorrah - The Musical
Ya never know what you're gonna find at the grocery store, do ya? Last Sunday, on the way to the bakery to find some nice bread for the spinach dip, I passed the impulse-buy video rack and this practically jumps at my eyeball:
*blink* Yeah, it took me a minute to sink in too.
Y'know, it's just not fair to judge something sight unseen. I mean, it's tempting . . . boy, is it tempting! Just the cover here makes me want to gather up the kiddies so we can watch God visit his wrath upon the homos as a family.
The cover art makes me ask all kinds of questions, drawing me into the story (which is what a good cover should do, right?). Questions like, "Who's the Jesus looking guy? Is that Lot? Abraham? Who's the snakey-looking Egyptian dude? Am I supposed to hate him . . . and by extension all swarthy men of the Middle East? The beard guy, what is he, a genie? Just how are all those stone houses burning anyway?" Well, I'm well-immersed in the story by this point.
Now, I could have bought the video ($5.99 VHS), brought it home, watched it and given a reasoned, balanced review. Sure, I coulda, but I'd rather watch Dexter, "America's Favorite Serial Killer." Ya gotta be fair though. This video is hosted by good ol' Chaz Heston, "America's Favorite . . ." well, something that has to do with shooting people. I felt like I owed it to Moses to at least do some token research on this family title. So I checked out Amazon.
Just because I can't judge this show without watching it myself doesn't mean I can't let others judge it for me, which is where Amazon's Customer Reviews come in so handy. Three and a half stars out of five for an over-all rating. Not bad. And the blurbs people write really nail the product down.
What I like is that all the videos in this series give all the important details of the story, rather than giving a shallow, watered-down version as is usually the case in children's stories. These will entertain preschoolers up through junior high and the script is very closely based on the scriptural account.
Good! I want ALL the details of Sodom and Gomorrah to be brought out for my preschooler. It should provoke some interesting family discussions. Hmmmm, preschoolers up through junior high? That's a pretty broad window, wouldn't you say? The Little Mermaid barely covers that range. This must be a pretty entertaining video.
*sigh* My junior high isn't there anymore. The closed it down the year I moved on to high school. *sniff* There's nothing left there now but a middle school.
This video should have been called "The Story of Abraham" instead of Sodom and Gomarrah; the whole video was strictly about Abraham; Sodom and Gomorrah was only a brief part of this video.
WHAT!?! I feel so LIED to! The cover said NOTHING about it being Abraham's story. Look, I buy a video about Sodom and Gomorrah I want mob scenes and pillars of salt. I don't want some guy out of Ur doing his wife's maid and almost stabbing his son. It's a bait and switch, I tells ya! Call the Board of Trade!
Certain parts of the story were left out which were part of the biblical text; while other parts were inserted which were not part of the text.
Wait a second. That red guy said all the important details were in here. Explain.
When the Angels went to Lot's house to abide, the part where the Sodomites tried to break down the door, etc. was left out. I am not sure why this was left out, but probably because they didn't want to offend Sodomites. I understand that we shouldn't purposely offend people, but to leave part of the text out is just nonsense and compromise.
Well, I certainly agree with that. Since when is it my job to look after the feelings of Sodomites? Fact is when I see Sodomites at the mall I rarely go over to chat. I'm sorry if that offends them, but then again if it keeps my ass from being raped I'm willing to take that chance.
What? I shouldn't talk about ass-rape? What should I say, "etc."? No, no . . . that would simply be nonsense and compromise.
Oo, oo, one more review:
Very Good Story, but there are just a couple of problems. The First being that the story tends to be kind of choppy, but that's understandable. But the other problem is Much More Serious, at least to Me. There is a Really Really Annoying Song that the Narrator Sings in between scenes, and it makes You want to hit the MUTE Button on Your TV, and that kind of defeats the purpose of watching. You can't expect Kids to take something like this seriously, if there's going to be this song that makes them want to barf! The song is Completely Unnecessary, and could be replaced with just instrumental music if needed.
*snort* There's a song? Lord, I may have to go back to the store and buy this just to hear the song. What kind of song are we talking about here?
Don't bugger your friends,
Don't bugger your friends,
Keep your hands to yourself and off of their back-ends.
If you don't behave then God will smite,
Every last one of you Sodomites.
Don't bugger your friends,
Don't bugger your friends.
I betcha my song's catchier than theirs. My song would have added at least two stars to this guy's review.
*sigh* I'm so conflicted. It's a video about Sodom and Gomorrah on the cover, but it's actually about Abraham and has an annoying song. This won't work at all! I mean, we've been using this story to persecute homosexuals for a few millenia now. How am I supposed to help my preschooler through junior higher to hate gays now? Read to them from Leviticus? They HATE Leviticus! You know how hard it is to get anyone who isn't Jewish to read the Old Testament at all these days? Christ! If you can't spoon-feed this stuff via video, how's God's truth ever supposed to reach young minds?
You've let me down, Mr. Heston. I looked to you for animated truth and you handed me nonsense and compromise.
Oh, yeah, I eventually made it to the bakery and grabbed a really fresh loaf of peasant bread that wound up being great with the dip. Too yummy!
*blink* Yeah, it took me a minute to sink in too.
Y'know, it's just not fair to judge something sight unseen. I mean, it's tempting . . . boy, is it tempting! Just the cover here makes me want to gather up the kiddies so we can watch God visit his wrath upon the homos as a family.
The cover art makes me ask all kinds of questions, drawing me into the story (which is what a good cover should do, right?). Questions like, "Who's the Jesus looking guy? Is that Lot? Abraham? Who's the snakey-looking Egyptian dude? Am I supposed to hate him . . . and by extension all swarthy men of the Middle East? The beard guy, what is he, a genie? Just how are all those stone houses burning anyway?" Well, I'm well-immersed in the story by this point.
Now, I could have bought the video ($5.99 VHS), brought it home, watched it and given a reasoned, balanced review. Sure, I coulda, but I'd rather watch Dexter, "America's Favorite Serial Killer." Ya gotta be fair though. This video is hosted by good ol' Chaz Heston, "America's Favorite . . ." well, something that has to do with shooting people. I felt like I owed it to Moses to at least do some token research on this family title. So I checked out Amazon.
Just because I can't judge this show without watching it myself doesn't mean I can't let others judge it for me, which is where Amazon's Customer Reviews come in so handy. Three and a half stars out of five for an over-all rating. Not bad. And the blurbs people write really nail the product down.
What I like is that all the videos in this series give all the important details of the story, rather than giving a shallow, watered-down version as is usually the case in children's stories. These will entertain preschoolers up through junior high and the script is very closely based on the scriptural account.
Good! I want ALL the details of Sodom and Gomorrah to be brought out for my preschooler. It should provoke some interesting family discussions. Hmmmm, preschoolers up through junior high? That's a pretty broad window, wouldn't you say? The Little Mermaid barely covers that range. This must be a pretty entertaining video.
*sigh* My junior high isn't there anymore. The closed it down the year I moved on to high school. *sniff* There's nothing left there now but a middle school.
This video should have been called "The Story of Abraham" instead of Sodom and Gomarrah; the whole video was strictly about Abraham; Sodom and Gomorrah was only a brief part of this video.
WHAT!?! I feel so LIED to! The cover said NOTHING about it being Abraham's story. Look, I buy a video about Sodom and Gomorrah I want mob scenes and pillars of salt. I don't want some guy out of Ur doing his wife's maid and almost stabbing his son. It's a bait and switch, I tells ya! Call the Board of Trade!
Certain parts of the story were left out which were part of the biblical text; while other parts were inserted which were not part of the text.
Wait a second. That red guy said all the important details were in here. Explain.
When the Angels went to Lot's house to abide, the part where the Sodomites tried to break down the door, etc. was left out. I am not sure why this was left out, but probably because they didn't want to offend Sodomites. I understand that we shouldn't purposely offend people, but to leave part of the text out is just nonsense and compromise.
Well, I certainly agree with that. Since when is it my job to look after the feelings of Sodomites? Fact is when I see Sodomites at the mall I rarely go over to chat. I'm sorry if that offends them, but then again if it keeps my ass from being raped I'm willing to take that chance.
What? I shouldn't talk about ass-rape? What should I say, "etc."? No, no . . . that would simply be nonsense and compromise.
Oo, oo, one more review:
Very Good Story, but there are just a couple of problems. The First being that the story tends to be kind of choppy, but that's understandable. But the other problem is Much More Serious, at least to Me. There is a Really Really Annoying Song that the Narrator Sings in between scenes, and it makes You want to hit the MUTE Button on Your TV, and that kind of defeats the purpose of watching. You can't expect Kids to take something like this seriously, if there's going to be this song that makes them want to barf! The song is Completely Unnecessary, and could be replaced with just instrumental music if needed.
*snort* There's a song? Lord, I may have to go back to the store and buy this just to hear the song. What kind of song are we talking about here?
Don't bugger your friends,
Don't bugger your friends,
Keep your hands to yourself and off of their back-ends.
If you don't behave then God will smite,
Every last one of you Sodomites.
Don't bugger your friends,
Don't bugger your friends.
I betcha my song's catchier than theirs. My song would have added at least two stars to this guy's review.
*sigh* I'm so conflicted. It's a video about Sodom and Gomorrah on the cover, but it's actually about Abraham and has an annoying song. This won't work at all! I mean, we've been using this story to persecute homosexuals for a few millenia now. How am I supposed to help my preschooler through junior higher to hate gays now? Read to them from Leviticus? They HATE Leviticus! You know how hard it is to get anyone who isn't Jewish to read the Old Testament at all these days? Christ! If you can't spoon-feed this stuff via video, how's God's truth ever supposed to reach young minds?
You've let me down, Mr. Heston. I looked to you for animated truth and you handed me nonsense and compromise.
Oh, yeah, I eventually made it to the bakery and grabbed a really fresh loaf of peasant bread that wound up being great with the dip. Too yummy!