There comes a moment in every boy's life when his father takes him up on a mountain to kill him... No, wait. That's not right, is it? And yet, somehow, we have got the idea in our head that God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is a great story about a man willing to do whatever his god asks of him.

That's NOT what this story is about. If it sounds messed up from beginning to end, that's because it is. Which leads (or should) to some pretty big questions about what was happening, what should we make of it, and is there anything in here which we can use to make our lives and our world better? Or is sacrificing our children necessary to sway the actions of the LORD?

There was this group of people called disciples who followed Jesus.
How many were there and who were they and what did they do and was it the right thing or not?

You probably think the answers to those questions are simple, because that's what our Sunday School stories suggest. The truth, it turns out, is much more complex, more rich, and far more compelling of a story...

I don't think Sunday School Teachers set out to lie to their charges - it usually happens because they are passing on wrong things they have been taught. They just don't take the time to research something that they think they already know. Or they teach from their modern point of view, missing or ignoring what the author(s) intended.

Which is how the story of Jonah stopped being a tale of God's amazing grace and became about a man and a whale...

Which is very much is NOT.