Preaching From Dr. Seuss' Books?

Preach from the Bible and no one will come to church. Preach from Dr. Seuss' books and that is considered relevant, culturally attuned and is guaranteed to draw a crowd.

The Oaks Fellowship, the church that brought you the Fear Factor Sermon, Dancing with the Stars and the Biggest Loser now brings you Theologgins for Noggins - Deep Spiritual Lessons from the Books of Dr. Seuss.

Comments

[Lola]

No offense to Dr. Seuss - his books are fun to read and full of good messages for children and grown-ups alike. Still, I would have thought the messages were pretty obvious, at least to anyone old enough to pay attention to the sermon in the first place. I can't think of anything antithetical to Christian morality in any of his books that I've read, and I can see how Gertrude McFuzz or Yertle the Turtle could serve as decent examples for children of how "Pride goeth before a fall," but I can't imagine that this sermon series will have much in the way of real spiritual depth.

[Bill]

They could continue the theme in the Lord's Supper and replace the bread and wine with green eggs and ham.

[Nick]

It's sad that one might find more lessons for life in Dr. Seuss' books than the Bible itself... Are there not enough examples from Moses, Abraham, and David that we need the Grinch?

[Lola]

Todd I am, I am Todd.
Would you like to meet my God?
You can meet him in the church.
He won't leave you in the lurch.
You can meet him in the street.
(Clap your hands and move your feet!)
You can meet him on a boat,
Walking on the sea, afloat.
You can meet him in the air,
When he raptures you up there.
You can meet him on a mountain,
Or by a magic healing fountain.
You can meet him as you wish:
Jonah met him in a fish!
Jacob met him in the night.
Moses saw his blinding light.
Cleopas met him, breaking bread.
Lazarus met him, four days dead!
Matthew met him, served him food.
Adam met him in the nude!
Paul met Jesus on the road,
Martha, in her own abode.
One Mary found him in her womb.
Another met him by his tomb.
You just might like him, if you tried.
Into your heart he'll come inside.
He'll mend you up where you are flawed.
Yes, raise your hand, receive my God!
I am Todd, Todd I am.
Jesus wants to heal you. BAM!

[Linda]

See, what doesn't make sense to me is how hard people work to develop studies and sermons from such cultural icons as Dr. Seuss and cite the reason for doing so is to make the Bible "come alive." If they would invest all that time and energy in actually studying scripture, they might be amazed how relevant and applicable scripture can be.

[Christy]

I will not preach Him in a box
I will not preach Him with a fox
I will not preach Him here or there
I will not preach Him anywhere!

[MentalChick]

Why do you need to use Dr. Seuss to make the Bible come alive when it is already filled with intense life? Let me see if I can convey my meaning here without getting too long winded:

the feeling of awe that Abraham must have felt when God told him to look into the stars and made such a glorious promise

How the ground must have trembled underneath David's feet as the Philistines marched and thundered on the other side of the ravine

What it must have been like to be inside a fish

How Andrew must have felt when Jesus spoke to deeply to his spiritual hunger

to see Lazarus walk out of his own tomb still bandaged

To be in the crowd when the woman with the issue of blood was healed, to see the syrophenician woman plead for her daughter, to witness the sermon on the mount, to witness Jesus carrying his cross for me, to see the tongues of fire on the heads of the members of the upper room...I could go on.

I remember one time sitting and listening to some music and it mentioning the execution of John the Baptist. I thought for a moment how I would react if that happened to one of my friends/family/associations and I felt a clap of guilt come over me. John the Baptist WAS my brother in Christ...he WAS MY FAMILY. We fail to make the accounts found in scripture personal by failing to see them as they are...accounts of our brothers and sisters not just bedtime stories. These accounts are there for our instruction, teaching and edification. They are a small handful of accounts by those who have lived and died, succeeded and failed, loved and lost before us. These are not the ONLY saints that followed God. Nor are they just random, chance happenings that a few were blessed to receive! If it is written in there for us, there is meaning relevant to today, tomorrow and yesterday...and it is the same for all!

Praise be to God who ensured that His precious promises, encouragements, warnings and love were never lost to us through all this time. Praise Him that His Word is alive and powerful today, just as much as it was in the time of our history it documented.

[A Slave Of Christ]

@MentalChick

Amen!

[Phil]

This church has a "classic" service at 8:00 a.m. geared for age 50 and up!! What??!?! So, it's only 50 and up who don't want to be entertained? I remember in youth group thinking that I didn't want to be entertained back then. All I wanted to hear was truth from God's word. Yes, I'll be 50 next year. Maybe it just hit too close to home. Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon if I want to hear truth.

[Brian]

What a nifty message title, so outside of the box.

Maybe we could offer some more suggestions for future Doctrines of Seuss series...

How about, "Heresisms for your Egocentricisms"

or maybe, "Blaspheme-a-doodles for your Carnali-toodles"

[Shrewdy]

I can haz relevance...

This hurts my head a LOT....

How can this be....I mean HOW? And well...words fail me...in fact this is so bad that maybe my brain will fail.

Must.....stop.....thinking....about....this......internal...organs...combusting...

The only good thing is the title...which is pretty catchy...

Dumfounded of Hull, UK.
(And it takes a LOT to be dumbfounded when you are in the UK!)

[jacqui]

At last the seeker sensitive movement have found a "bible" that perfectly preaches their religion. Hooray! they can stop using ours and mangling it to fit. All they need now is a new name for their movement, any suggestions???

[Sarah]

To: Lola, That was HILARIOUS! How creative!
I actually know a couple people that go to this deluded church, I will be praying that their eyes will be opened. This church always has a gimmick going and the new building they built is ridiculously huge because more and more people are being deluded all the time by their junk. They have a THREE story playland inside, it's better than McDonalds. Ugh.

[walksbyf8h]

I just finished listening to the radio show related to this post. The recording of the titled 'church service' was absolutely, the most ungodly, unholy, blasphemous dreck I've had the displeasure to hear.

That congregation would have been totally justified in dragging the 'pastor' from the pulpit and applying a theologically righteous attitude adjustment.

[Michael: I Love Dr Seuss]

I can't believe this. It's so unusual to be teaching from Dr Seuss books. I mean, I guess The Bible has already been covered enough, so why bother covering it again, right?

I don't understand this at all. Oh well. More power to them if they think this will get more confused people in the door.

I can hear it now.

"What did you learn in church today, Johhny?"

"We learned that The Cat In The hat parted The Green Eggs and Ham Sea to Escape from the Mean Old Grinch!"

*rolls eyes

[Lola]

Thank you, Sarah. I'm glad you liked it!

[Cody]

Why? Because the bible is boring to little kids. I know when I was a kid, I played with toys or drew during church. This makes it exciting for kids. I think it's great.

[Glenn E. Chatfield]

2 Timothy 4:2-4

[kendall]

people may not think that the dr. seuss books are not acceptable, but i think any way that we can show children christian morals is AWSOME!!!! Lord knows chrildren now days arnt getting taught enough about God. i think the books are a steping stone . You never know some morals may stick with them the rest of thier life.

[Christy]

Actually, I didn't get the impression this was for the kids but was a sermon series for the adults. Did I misunderstand?

[James]

I used to attend this church until they fired '14' people so they could secure a 17 million dollar loan for a new building. Talk about a church turning into a corporation. They fired 2 single moms, one which had at the time of her firing, major medical issues. They also fired a women who later lost her house. Within a year of the first layoffs almost 50 staff members were either fired, stepped down, or left. The church known as the Oaks Fellowship in Red Oak, TX, man, it's bad.

[Tom]

"Within a year of the first layoffs almost 50 staff members were either fired, stepped down, or left."

What?!? How did the church even stay a float if 50 staff members left? Are you sure it was that many? I don't know many churches with more than 10-15 staff members.

I need some proof of that many staffers leaving.

[Michael]

I can confirm that at least 35 employees left their post within the first year of the initial layoffs.