Early this spring, I started gardening for the first time in my 58 years. The prevailing feelings toward the garden included a mixture of wonder and cluelessness. Wonder over placing a tiny seed in the ground, and weeks later watching the plants spring up like a magic trick! Cluelessness over all things gardening.
As our little vegetable patch began maturing, so did the weeds. Weeding became an exercise in discernment. Some weeds— thistles, for instance— were easily recognizable, and we quickly pulled those up and threw them out. Other weeds were more nebulous. They had the appearance of good plants. Some resembled plants we’d sown, and some even sprouted lovely little flowers. Because I was ignorant of the tenets of gardening, and lacked knowledge about what the “good seed” looked like when it became mature (Matthew 13:24), I sometimes failed in discerning the true plants from the destructive ones. So some of our plants either disappeared beneath the deadly copiousness of the imposter weeds or were unwittingly pulled up and discarded.
Beautiful Weeds
The enemy sows beautiful weeds. A less discerning Christian, that is one who neglects being “filled with the knowledge of (God’s) will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9), may not be able to ascertain the difference between the true plants of sound teaching and the weeds of plausible arguments (Colossians 2:4). Parents, especially, must be on their guard against subtle false teaching that the enemy will endeavor to sow into their children.
Such is the danger of a sweet new children’s series put out by Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream Publishing, called Zen Pig. Author Mark Brown created this very popular, multi-volume series for his little son, with the intent of sharing with readers life lessons he learned after sensing a lack of inner peace in his life. The antidote for his unhappiness was found in the principles of Zen Buddhism.
Zen is a Japanese sect of Buddhism that uses meditation to achieve enlightenment. Intuition and “one-ness” with everything in the universe are the means to the end goal of profound insight and wisdom, which are the pathway to personal happiness.
Urban Dictionary defines Zen this way:
A total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind. Zen is a way of being. It also is a state of mind. Zen involves dropping illusion and seeing things without distortion created by your own thoughts.
The rhymes and illustrations in Zen Pig are winsome and charming. A Christian parent with an undiscerning ear may find the lessons helpful and even aligned with the teachings of Jesus. After all, one of the first lessons the Zen Pig teaches is to “care for others as much as yourself.”
But Satan is a cosmic plagiarizer. The virtues taught by Zen Pig are above reproach. In addition to “The Golden Rule,” they include gratitude, forgiveness, kindness, and compassion. But the book makes no effort to point children to the Author of these virtues. In fact, the concept of Zen subtly and deftly steers the reader away from truth to a path where self is the destination. Zen Pig, harmless and even wise as it may seem, is a beautiful weed.
Authentic Seeds
The Bible teaches virtue in the context of acquiring the very mind of its author, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Loving others, kindness, compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness all stem from and are indicative of our identity with Christ. The Bible teaches Christians to die to self in order to convey them. Our life in Christ is found not in the finding but in the losing of ourselves (Matthew 6:25).
While Zen Pig cites loving others as a means to “seeing the wonder that we are, our great connection; even with the stars,” the Bible teaches that loving others is a means to show them the wonder of Christ and our connection with him (John 13:35).
While Zen Pig teaches that the virtues readers are encouraged to acquire will provide “everything you need to walk through happy’s door,” the Bible teaches that happiness is found in knowing God alone. Happiness is God himself (Psalm 16:11).
While Zen Pig teaches that “every plant and every being are intertwined,” the Bible teaches that God is set apart, humans are created as unique individuals in his image and positioned above the rest of creation in order to subdue it (Genesis 1:26), and the universe was created from an overflow of the love shared within the Trinity (John 17). We stand alone before God, and only fold into him through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Creation’s purpose is to convey our thoughts and affections toward the preeminent, transcendent, ultimate, supreme, incomparable, superlative, and autonomous love that exists between and among the three persons of the Trinity, and to be warmed by the overflow that is lavished upon those of us who believe in the power, grace, and salvation that comes from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.
Zen Pig is meant to be an inspiration to children and their parents. Indeed, the books are appealing and beguiling, and they do stir heart warming emotions. But the times we find ourselves in are dangerous to the hearts of our children. Satan will not appear to us as a thistle. He’ll invade the garden of our mind with flowering plants that smother and choke the true plants we want to sow into our kids.
Jen Wilkin wrote recently, “We dare not love that which is inspirational in place of that which is inspired.” The inspiration of Zen Pig may temporally warm our temporal hearts, but its teachings will not achieve lasting joy. Indeed, they cannot compare to the abiding, indelible, and redeeming joy found only within the pages of the inspired Word of God.