90 thoughts on “Todd Friel Warns Christians about Adult Coloring Books”

  2. Only 0:17 into this video and I am absolutely certain that this guy is a closeted homosexual. And I don’t mean that as a derogatory towards members of the LGBT community; just sayin’.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Some can eat meat sacrificed to idols and know it’s just meat. Some can’t because their consciences won’t let them.

    I can color if I want a because I know it’s just a picture.

    Liked by 5 people

  6. This guy’s snarky and condesending attitude is disgusting. He represents a type of entitlement seen in some Christians who believe they are experts on how other people should think, act, parent, spend their time etc. Making fun of other peoples’ creativity and demonizing it will bring no one to Christ!

    Liked by 7 people

  7. Hahaha! Who is this weirdo? Oh my, never heard of him, “wretched” is right. Julie Anne, I sure would like to send the text I sent you last week while browsing at local book store to him. Or better yet order the FU coloring book and send it to him. Gail

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Wow, his powers of logic are astounding. I gave up counting fallacies (and the video) at 4:30.

    Gets on soapbox. It bothers me that logic and rhetoric in “Classical education” are taught by English teachers. You see, logic is primarily mathematics. Rhetoric was an art form, yes, but it was an art form of conveying logical constructs in a way that was easy to understand. Now rhetoric and logic are a way to shock and awe your audience with something that looks rich and meaty on the outside but when you bite into it you get a mouth full of styrofoam. Off the soapbox now.

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  10. BTW: If adult coloring books are sinful, then aren’t kid’s coloring books sinful by the same argument? I’m sending my kids to hell with the Frozen coloring book and it’s Mandala snowflakes… or was that Mandela?

    Liked by 1 person

  14. You know Dash I knew several folks who were evangelicals that were in massive denial or hiding out of fear of being excommunicated or even physically hurt. It was a living hell for them. Thank God a few of them went on to live in the real world a few did not and you can just see how conflicted and in pain they are. I lost contact with them when I left the industry.

    I used these pattern coloring materials for interventions with people who were “autistic” or dealt with other developmental challenges and they worked wonders. There is a meditative type element to it but just the opposite it does not empty the mind sort of like Tod has done with his mind imo it gives a person a central focus when there is too much “chaos” in the environment.

    I wonder why Tod does not put out an article or some info on pastors becoming mandated reporters for child / spousal abuse within the faith community.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. brian, my daughter was given mandalas to color while she was in the mental health ward for a few days last year. You’re describing exactly how they are useful to her: when her brain is disorganized with an OCD and/or schizophrenic flareup, coloring the mandalas helps bring focus out of the chaos. And that’s very comforting for her.

    Liked by 2 people

  19. This guy triggered a memory from the 80’s of a satanic connection to a certain type of doll. Bill Gothard convinced a close family member that the dolls had satanic power to influence our daughters. Some children had to give theirs up and toss them out of the house. I simply could not make sense of it, crazy, like this guys rhetoric. What is repulsive to me is that they claim to be Christian and speak as if God is their source. Such liars!

    Liked by 4 people

  20. Is this a parody? This guy’s gestures, expressions and tone of voice are so tense and over-wrought I keep expecting him to break into some kind of anti-Christian comedy.

    Really, coloring books is an important issue now? Sheesh. What’s the difference with that or quilting or any number of other crafts people do to relax. I suppose he could analyze quilting patterns and find hidden evils in them… Makes me think of this Babylon Bee post- http://babylonbee.com/news/man-accidentally-performs-yoga-pose-is-possessed-by-horde-of-demons/

    Do people believe that they can be born-again Christians but looking at a picture can steal their souls away from God? Very strange reasoning involved here! Religious addiction?

    Liked by 2 people

  21. Bill Gothard convinced a close family member that the dolls had satanic power to influence our daughters. Some children had to give theirs up and toss them out of the house. I simply could not make sense of it, crazy, like this guys rhetoric.

    Celeste, wasn’t it Cabbage Patch dolls? I remember something about that. UGH!

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  24. I knew him almost twenty years ago. He was the local Christian radio talk show host, my wife was directing the metro’s March for Jesus, think they were on some church board thing together, met him through her. We went to the same mega (since imploded). He seemed a decent, normal fellow, a little high strung, but OK, seemed like a fine fellow to be around. Good-looking guy back then, very tall (that hasn’t changed). But something has gone seriously amiss. That isn’t the same guy; this is a parody of the person I knew.

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  25. I agree with him on one thing. I don’t believe in adopting pagan practices and Chritianizing them. I don’t practice the Chrisitianized version of yoga. I attend a regular yoga studio and practice yoga and enjoy its immense benefits.

    Mr. Friel should look into the origins of his own spiritual practices which he regards “biblical.” Frank Viola’s Pagan Christianity does an excellent job of documenting the historic roots of conservative Evangelical sacred cows. The centrality of preaching is one of them.

    Liked by 3 people

  26. What a whack job!! I wish I could color in the lines of these pictures, but like painting the Christmas/winter villages my hands don’t work that way anymore. I will stick with my crocheting. I wonder if he had made something wretched out of crocheting yet!!

    David C–There is a Christianized version of yoga?? The yoga dvd I use is for people with MS. There is no meditation involved…just gentle stretching.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Interesting… Myself, I have no problems whatsoever with adult colouring books, even if I have yet to use one. However, this man seems to be extremely troubled with them, with the supposed Eastern connection, and, especially, with adults enjoying activities that are, according to him, reserved to kids!

    Honestly, what’s the problem with that? I can see how colouring following some pre-defined shapes is not the same as creating the whole drawing yourself… But, still, I appreciate the creativity that may go into it (At least there are no numbers telling you what to do!) and I know it can be rather relaxing and therapeutic. In that sense, it’s not that different to the pottery classes I started recently. The feeling of getting my hands dirty as I model the clay has been very relaxing and has helped me to unwind the stress from work. It’s been a bit childish – In a good way!

    What I find more troubling is that, potentially, these book in principle look like another of those times when somebody sticks the ‘Christian’ tag to something invented elsewhere and makes business out of it… I don’t want to judge hastily as I don’t know what is in the specific books mentioned in the video, but if all they have are mandalas and random patterns, I don’t see how is that different to other books I’ve seen.

    Liked by 2 people

  28. Hard to believe that this is such a concern to this guy (or anyone). Can’t get past his voice to listen too long. Does he think when he puts on that “voice” that he sounds more authoritative??

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  29. Hard to believe that this is such a concern to this guy (or anyone). Can’t get past his voice to listen too long. Does he think when he puts on that “voice” that he sounds more authoritative??

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  30. Does he think when he puts on that “voice” that he sounds more authoritative??

    Yes!! I’ve read and heard teachings on men being authoritative. This is a biggie for them.

    Like

  32. Oh no! We did paint by numbers last year as a family activity. Should I be concerned or are water colors exempt?

    Liked by 2 people

  33. Funny thing is Todd is condemning something that the Bible has not condemned while simultaneously making himself into a pharisee–by inventing rules and standards that cannot be found in the Bible except through the most brazen and cynical eisegesis–which the Bible most definitely does condemn. The only reason to do this that I can fathom is because you can’t pull off the biggies like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control, yet you still want to feel real good about yourself, so you make up something that’s easily avoided and you don’t really want all that much anyway. It’s easy to avoid adult coloring books or to drive past a bar–it’s really hard to love your brother and humble yourself. So guess which ones the pharisees chose to make out their “righteousness”?

    Again, sad to see a former acquaintance become a mockery of what he once was.

    Liked by 3 people

  34. Tim said,

    Some can eat meat sacrificed to idols and know it’s just meat. Some can’t because their consciences won’t let them.

    I can color if I want a because I know it’s just a picture.

    Oh no! Tim is a heretic. 🙂 Quick someone bring the matches, I’ll bring the kindling, so Tim can be burnt at the stake for this infraction! -(Joking)-.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. (part 1)
    Okay, I have just finished watching the Friel video.

    I will confess that my mind zoned out here and there by the mid-way point – my eyes glazed over a little (it was like the phone calls I used to get from my ex years ago, where he droned on for hours about himself).

    But I got the idea.

    I have heard Friel interviewed on the Janet Mefferd show a time or two before. I can’t remember what subject matter she had him on for, but he sounded normal. I don’t recall him saying anything too nutty on her show ,when he was being interviewed on other subjects.

    I do find Friel’s anti-coloring book stance bizarre and as others have pointed out before me here, it’s Pharisee-like and too judgmental.

    The coloring book thing is one of those areas where I think the New Testament leaves it up to each individual:
    If you thinking coloring in a coloring book is sinful for YOU (regardless if it’s a “Mandala,” Eastern / Orient themed one or a Christian one), then do not it – but don’t sit there and condemn other believers in Christ for doing it.

    I don’t want to say what my college degree involves, or what my career was about exactly, but you can say, to a point, that what my career and background is in, this coloring book stuff kind of falls into that area.

    So I don’t appreciate Todd Friel referring to coloring book design, or people wanting to color it in, as “child’s play” or making it sound moronic or immature.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. (part 2)
    I have not owned a cell phone in over ten years. This means I cannot get on a phone and go online when I am bored when I leave home, like 99% of other people.

    I do not use coloring books, but I can see how using one of these things could come in handy, like I have to take my father to the hospital for surgery in about a month (and then back again, for another procedure a week or two later).
    The last time I took my father to the hospital for a minor surgery (about 2 years ago), I was bored out of my mind in the waiting room.

    I am assuming when I take my dad back to the hospital in a few weeks, it’s going to be the same: sitting in a waiting room for 4 to 6 hours, bored out of my mind.

    I can see how having one of these adult coloring books to sit and color while in a waiting room for several hours would help me pass the time.

    Also, as someone prone to anxiety, I can see how coloring in an adult coloring book, with the intricate designs, might produce a feeling of calmness in me, if I were to try it out. It would probably distract me momentarily, which would be beneficial.

    But Christians like him would probably judge me for not relying on the Bible alone, and he’d quote the “perfect love casts out all fear!,” verse at me.

    I hate it when Christians do that. You admit to having a problem (like anxiety), and they think it’s sufficient to quote the “perfect love” type verses at you.

    Anyway, I think adult coloring books are harmless. I doubt many Christians are going to ditch Jesus and become Hindu, or whatever, all due to coloring in a coloring book.

    Props to Been There Done That for:

    If you can get past the melodrama, it’s just spiritual anal retentiveness.

    LOL, “spiritual anal retentiveness.”

    Love that phrase. Very apt. BTDT wins the internet today! 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  37. Ann said,

    This guy’s snarky and condesending attitude is disgusting. He represents a type of entitlement seen in some Christians who believe they are experts on how other people should think, act, parent, spend their time etc. Making fun of other peoples’ creativity and demonizing it will bring no one to Christ!

    I was just mentioning my father in a post above.

    I love my father, and I’m happy to lend a hand by driving him to and from surgeries at the hospital and so on, but my dad has always been an extremely critical, negative kind of guy.
    My dad used to scrutinize, nit pick at, and make fun of, everything my Mom or myself and siblings did, enjoyed, wore, or whatever.

    My dad used to make fun of my mother’s daily TV habit, for example. She would watch soap operas during the day while he was at work. (We moved often, her health was bad, so she was basically unable to go out and about and make friends or hold jobs.)

    My dad used to mock and ridicule my hair style, choice of lip stick color, how much eye liner I wore, the type of clothing I wore, what bands I listened to. He would pick my siblings, too.

    It was non-stop ridicule and snide insults. When Dad wasn’t picking on us, he pretty much ignored us (there were no positive comments, no “congrats, job well done” when we did great at something).
    The constant negativity wore down what little self-esteem I did have, and he wonders why to this day, I am not little miss super self-confident.

    Even after I explained to my dad how his constant criticizing of almost every aspect of my life and person stripped me of self confidence and made me feel worthless-
    He either gets grumpy and refuses to accept that was the outcome of what his parenting did, or he acts like I am a weakling, Doofus, idiot who should have been able to easily laugh off his negative put-downs.

    And my dad believes in Jesus and goes to church every week, too.

    So I don’t tend to react well to Christians such as Todd Friel, who are into this shaming, the Christians who mock or criticize other people for their choice of hobby (such as using coloring books). And he’s doing so in the name of God, which is an added bonus.

    It reminds me of my father, minus the “in the name of God” part. At least my dad doesn’t often invoke God, religion, or the Bible when he goes into critical mode.

    But I was brought up in this household of having everything, even a mundane hobby like using coloring books, as Friel is lambasting, mocked or judged. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    Like

  38. Mark said,

    BTW: If adult coloring books are sinful, then aren’t kid’s coloring books sinful by the same argument? I’m sending my kids to hell with the Frozen coloring book and it’s Mandala snowflakes… or was that Mandela?

    When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my mother got me a Christian coloring book that I enjoyed. I colored in several pictures in it.

    It had line drawings in it of Noah and the animals on the ark, Jesus talking to children, etc. It didn’t have any negative impact on me. I didn’t turn into a Satanist, a Hindu, or become a serial killer.
    I wonder if Friel would disapprove of a kid coloring in pictures of Jesus, or Jonah and the whale, etc?

    Julie Anne said,

    Someone on FB caught the keywords: ADULT coloring books – lol. I don’t think he means porn, though.

    That crossed my mind, too. Usually “adult” (as an adjective) means nudity or sexual stuff.

    Like

  39. There is a meditative type element to it but just the opposite it does not empty the mind sort of like Tod has done with his mind imo it gives a person a central focus when there is too much “chaos” in the environment.

    There was an article a few years ago saying that people who doodled during meetings retained more information. I believe it was because there was less day dreaming and they could actually focus on the words.

    If I sent this guy a coloring book it would be the game of thrones one. I’m sure that would be appropriately horrifying.

    Liked by 2 people

  40. Slightly off topic but still sort of related:
    In my years of skipping around the internet, visiting sites dealing with all manner of topics, I’ve found some funny coloring book pages.

    There was a ‘Sue Storm’ coloring book page on one site: she’s the Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four, so the person left their Sue Storm coloring page blank (because she’s invisible, get it? har har.)

    Recently, I saw a coloring book page of character Kylo Ren standing in front of storm troopers from Star Wars The Force Awakens.
    Here’s a similar coloring page:
    Kylo Ren, Free Coloring Page

    If you know anything about those characters, Kylo is black (that is, his costume is black), and the troopers (their uniforms) are black and white. The only thing one can color in that drawing is Kylo’s light saber (which is red).

    I’ve seen coloring book pages of panda bears – black and white, so there’s nothing to color.

    Here’s an article about the popularity of adult coloring books:
    Colouring books for grown-ups storm the bestseller charts as fans claim they’re the perfect antidote to ‘tech stress’ (Daily Mail)

    August 2015
    Colouring books for adults are selling millions, racing up bestsellers chart

    Sainsbury’s revealed that over £1.2 million of books have been sold since April

    Fans say colouring is relaxing and an antidote to so-called tech stress

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  41. Celeste said,

    This guy triggered a memory from the 80’s of a satanic connection to a certain type of doll. Bill Gothard convinced a close family member that the dolls had satanic power to influence our daughters. Some children had to give theirs up and toss them out of the house. I simply could not make sense of it, crazy, like this guys rhetoric.

    What is repulsive to me is that they claim to be Christian and speak as if God is their source. Such liars!

    I can’t remember the name of the kid, or where I saw this, but a year or two ago, in the midst or reading stories and articles about people who become ex-Christians, I read about this Christian set of parents who were so harsh with their son in monitoring his hobbies and personal music tastes and so on, they drove him to reject the Christian faith.

    These parents were so determined to only let “godly” stuff into their son’s life, they had their church’s preacher come into his bedroom, go through his personal belongings, where the pastor found secular rock and roll tapes, etc. The pastor gathered all the rock tapes, secular books, and stuff up in a bag and threw it in the trash.

    If I remember correctly, that was the snapping point for the kid. The teen son could not take the legalism anymore. He broke. He rejected the faith.

    He then purposefully got into behaviors that were disapproved of by his parents and their church. He did homosexual acts (not because he was homosexual and was attracted to men, but he did it out of spite, because most Christians disagree with it), he confessed to someone that he did sexual acts with an animal, and so on and so forth – he eventually committed suicide.

    By trying to severely limit “worldly” influences in their son’s life, the Christian parents drove him over the edge, and caused him to leave the faith and later kill himself.

    My mother was a “goody- two- shoes” Christians, but I am grateful that she did not go overboard with the legalism.
    My mother allowed me (and my siblings) to do things like wear costumes on Halloween, go trick- or- treating, and when we were kids, she bought us Easter candy, and she allowed us to listen to most secular pop music (provided it did not have a ton of cuss words in it or Satanic / vulgar references).

    When Christian parents become too strict with things like secular rock music, they set whatever it is into the “Forbidden Fruit” zone, and of course the kid will usually want the forbidden thing ten times more than before and will sneak around behind Mom and Dad’s back to get whatever it is.
    I also don’t think most people can live that way, (so legalistic, where everything is deemed wrong and sin and to be avoided).

    Perhaps the dumbest I’ve ever heard of:
    IFB (Ind. Fundamentalist Baptist) churches who consider Janet Jackson’s 1980s / 1990s music evil and wrong.
    Oh spare me. Jackson’s music was tepid. Other than one or two sexualized songs, most of her stuff was HARMLESS.

    However, I read some ex-IFB person say that when he (or she?) was a teen and went to some teen gathering at an IFB church, the guy (maybe it was a pastor?) made them empty their pockets.
    One person had a Janet Jackson tape in his / her pocket. The IFB guy screamed and yelled about how evil Janet Jackson music was, and he stomped up and down on that tape.

    Not only is that ridiculous (Janet Jackson’s music is so benign), but that kid had to pay like six to nine dollars for that tape – I guess the youth preacher – or whoever he was- did not pay the kid back for destroying his or her property.

    A few weeks ago, I saw some site copy the story of a guy who was brought up Christian. His parents kept sending him to Christian-themed youth camps and classes. This guy was a big heavy metal fan as a teen.

    After sitting through another heavy-metal-bashing class by a Christian youth pastor, this guy said he came to the conclusion that Christianity was too judgmental and a bunch of bunk, and I think he said he de-converted and is now an atheist (or agnostic?).

    The more you try to cram this sort of stuff down a person’s throat, the more it seems to backfire.

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Shy1 said,

    Is this a parody? This guy’s gestures, expressions and tone of voice are so tense and over-wrought I keep expecting him to break into some kind of anti-Christian comedy.

    One thing that doesn’t help is that Friel’s video and set reminds me of 1980s / 1990s trashy talk shows, like Jerry Springer, Montel, Maury, or Sally Jesse Raphel.

    It looks like his video is maybe trying to do a satire on those 1980s sleazy, trashy talk shows, like where a guy would come on the set, and seven women were on stage, all claiming that he was their baby-daddy, and huge fist-fights would ensue.

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  43. I was cleaning out a drawer the other day and ran across some old church handouts from our previous church where we had doodled and colored some pretty cool “art” on the sermon notes. I used to do the same to my “pee chee” folders while in school (not sure everyone here even knows or remembers pee chee’s). By the end of the year it was a “work of art” of color ☺ Didn’t realize I was dabbling in danger.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. @ truthdetector142 // APRIL 30, 2016 @ 11:10 PM

    Yeah, as I was just saying in a post above, I’ve heard Friel on Janet Mefferd’s radio program a time or two in the past, and he seemed normal on her show, but then he turns around and does the occasional off- the- wall rant, like this anti-coloring book video, that makes you wonder.

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  45. A “P.S.” to my previous post. I don’t know why, but something about that post jogged this other thought:

    I wonder if Friel’s motivation is to simply comment on whatever is trendy in secular culture and/or that Christians have taken to? And right now, the adult coloring book trend has been in the news a lot since last year.

    Maybe Friel thinks it makes him look hip, on top of things, trendy, and up to current news, if he offers commentary on every trendy hobby that is going around?

    I think that is called a “hot take” or is a form of that.

    You will see Christian bloggers such as Matt Walsh do the same thing.

    Walsh will take any and every current huge topic that is in the news, such as a year ago, actor Robin Williams’ suicide, and he’ll write an op ed about it, and it will appear on his blog and/or on sites such as The Blaze.

    (And Walsh’s ‘hot takes’ are usually insensitive, needlessly inflammatory, and filled with conservative talking points – I’m a conservative too, but I find his writing at times to be lazy, too easy, sloppy, cliched, preaching to the choir, or shallow).

    I’m cool and fine with some blogs jumping on whatever the latest story is, if it’s in their normal purview, or area of interest – like with Julie Anne’s blog, it would be with spiritual abuse and related happenings, so anytime she blogs on the latest idiot preacher who mistreats his church members, I get that, I’m fine with that –

    But guys like Walsh and Friel seem to sometimes leave their topics of interest to opine on something only because everyone else and their grandma is discussing it too. I don’t know why, I just sort of find that annoying and cheap.

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  46. Monique // Re: MAY 1, 2016 @ 12:08 PM

    At one full time job I had, I used to doodle on my note pad during meetings. I always hated staff meetings and other types of meetings.

    One time, one of my co-workers leaned over to see what I was writing, and when he saw I had been making doodles in the margins of my paper, he laughed. I only did it because meetings were SO BORING.

    Our meetings at that job didn’t accomplish anything, either. They were time-wasters. I preferred to sit at my desk doing actual work than sitting around listening to talking heads talk about boring stuff. Doodling helped me keep my sanity during those meetings.

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  47. Daisy, we must have had the same father. Nothing I ever did was good enough. He would take teaching assignments so he was out of the house from 7:30AM to 9:30PM, and he would stay at work even if he had 5+ hours between classes. He forced me to take music lessons for 11 years, but never went to a single recital of mine. He went to three of my soccer games in 8 years.

    When he was home, he was reading a book in his chair or at the table, and he would spit out hatred about the schools I attended and the teachers. I once really hurt one of my teachers by repeating some nasty thing my dad had said, but I was stupid and didn’t know any better. When my siblings started having kids, my parents would (behind their backs) nitpick everything.

    I’ve had to watch my mouth a lot, because I have that tendency, too. Instead, I try to find encouraging things to talk about, but I still get stuck in that rut.

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  49. Julie Anne said:

    Yes!! I’ve read and heard teachings on men being authoritative. This is a biggie for them.

    I didn’t think he sounded authoritative. I thought he was trying to sound like J. Peterman (John O’Hurley) from Seinfeld, and not doing very well at it.

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  50. “I thought he was trying to sound like J. Peterman (John O’Hurley) from Seinfeld, and not doing very well at it.”

    LOL!

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  51. I never heard Todd Friel guy before — but he’s crazy!

    If coloring books are so juvenile and a waste of time, why is he wasting his time talking about them?

    And since when did the words “meditation” and “trance” become evil? Psalm 119 repeatedly mentions meditating on the scriptures. Also, one of the major prophets (I don’t remember which) mentioned being in a trance when God spoke to him. The apostle Peter was in a trance when he had the vision of the sheet being lowered down from heaven, filled with “unclean” animals. The voice from heaven told Peter, what God has cleansed, call not common.

    This situation reminds me of a quote from Jeri Massi’s excellent article about Meat Offered to Idols: “Satan and his armies have been conquered. I can rake leaves with their pitchforks if I want to.” http://jeriwho.net/lillypad2/?p=3821

    Liked by 2 people

  52. Wow, his powers of logic are astounding. I gave up counting fallacies (and the video) at 4:30.

    You’re a better man than I am, Mark. I quit listening before the 3:00 point, because I just couldn’t stand his delivery. Where did he pick up that annoying way of speaking? Is he trying to imitate someone?

    I’m with Brian, too. Evangelical and Protestant churches are clueless about dealing with child sexual abuse and domestic violence, and this twerp is obsessed with colouring books for grown-ups? Get your priorities straight, Friel!

    Liked by 1 person

  54. JA, The coloring book tweet is so beautiful. It could be hung on the wall. I have similar type pictures on my wall that are jigsaw puzzles. They are quite relaxing for me and make inexpensive décor. I am sure this is a major waste of time in Thiel’s view and probably Pagan.

    Liked by 1 person

  55. Wow, I really botched this guys name: Friel not Thiel. Anyone out there with the last name Thiel, my apologies!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  56. I still can’t get past my impression that Todd Friel is Bill Nye’s doppelganger.

    As for the coloring books, I wish those had been around years ago when I was recovering from a broken leg. Hand held Tetris gets old after a while. I did get some books read, though.

    I Corinthians 13:11= misused, in this case.

    Liked by 1 person

  57. I think Friel’s got a point. I drew a swastika once as a kid, and when I grew up I turned out to be a…..pro-Israel guy who has learned a touch of Hebrew. Along the same lines, I have USED a hammer and a sickle, but I’m…a political conservative.

    Never mind, then.

    Seriously, I think Mr. Friel seriously needs someone who loves him enough to tell him to give up the affected old time radio voice. Yikes. Along the same lines, it’s actually encouraging that Christians are doing something artistic–my preferences are somewhat different, but let’s use those mental muscles.

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  58. @Daisy:

    That crossed my mind, too. Usually “adult” (as an adjective) means nudity or sexual stuff.

    Or Incontinence.

    (More seriously, I have to specify “for grown-ups” instead of “Adult” because of the baggage the word now carries.)

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  59. Thanks for posting the link… I needed a good laugh today. The fact that he sounds so terribly serious makes it even funnier.

    Liked by 1 person

  60. I still can’t get past my impression that Todd Friel is Bill Nye’s doppelganger.

    Agree! Bill Nye has always seemed like a conflicted, tormented guy to me.

    JA, I loved that tweet, it’s beautiful. Creating something of beauty is therapeutic and positive. “Whatsoever things are lovely”

    Liked by 1 person

  61. “Along the same lines, it’s actually encouraging that Christians are doing something artistic–my preferences are somewhat different, but let’s use those mental muscles.”

    Yes!

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  62. Todd Friel Warns Christians about Adult Coloring Books

    Todd Friel’s got WAY too much time on his hands.

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  63. He’d better be careful about posting videos on YouTube. Doesn’t he know that Buddhists, Hindus, and even (shudder) Muslims use YouTube to communicate their message? He might catch foreign religion cooties.

    Liked by 1 person

  64. I tried to listen to it. I made it 2/3 of the way through. I COULDN’T TAKE ANY MORE! Does this goober know that the Christmas tree came from a pagan religion? …. Wedding rings came from pagans?

    I love working sudoku puzzles and eating sushi with wasabi and ginger. Does he think that I will turn into a Bhuddist because of that?

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  65. Yes, Christians love the genetic fallacy. If Christians knew that the wedding ring, Christmas tree, Christmas and Easter, etc., arose from pagan worship festivals and rituals, they probably would be horrified how much religious meaning they put into it.

    While we do have to be careful with the worship practices of other cultures, I don’t think it’s appropriate to condemn something simply because some pagan culture somewhere used that as part of their religious system.

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  66. Nancy2: I’m thinking Shinto will be your religion if you eat sushi, no? There are some Japanese Buddhists, some Christians, and a lot who are nothing at all in particular, but when you see what they do when a loved one dies, it generally ends up pretty close to the traditional Shinto beliefs.

    And + a bunch on Mark’s comment. Variations of the genetic fallacy are endemic not only among “fundagelicals”, but in the culture as a whole. What is our political process (either side of the aisle) beyond a nauseating display of ad hominem attacks and guilt by association?

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  67. I started working in architecture before computers, when everything was drawn by hand. We would indicate walls to be demolished by filling them with red pencil, which shows up as gray on blueprints. So my kids found it amusing that I actually got paid to color.

    Animation studios like Disney used to have an entire department called Ink and Paint, in the days before computers.

    I will say that Friel is really good at talking to a moving camera. That’s not easy. But I disagree with his content on many levels.

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  69. #1 This man has absolutely zero authority over me, my family, my life, or my coloring habits.

    #2 Just because he doesn’t like something, doesn’t make it evil.

    #3 There are many, many things the Bible just does not cover. Grown ups coloring is one of them.

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  71. Were people coloring mandalas for thousands of years? If so, I’m unaware of it. The adult coloring book fad is quite recent.

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  73. _Why Adult Coloring Works for Christians_

    by Alicia Cohn

    I mocked the coloring book trend, until I discovered it for myself.

    Last year, sales of coloring books in the US shot up from 1 million to 12 million units. The sales spike quickly prompted a slew of articles asking whether our culture is collectively stressed out and/or reverting to childhood hobbies. I, too, mocked the trend right up until I started coloring this year as a therapy tool and discovered that it settles my mind and helps me focus.

    Now Christian publishers are jumping on board with “Christian adult coloring books” and even Bibles you can color in. Half of the top ten best sellers for May in the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (EPCA) are coloring books.

    The website for book No. 5 on the list, Whatever is Lovely, offers a playlist to “help set the perfect mood for worship, contemplation, and creative expression” when using the book.

    Similarly, Christian writer and Bible teacher Margaret Feinberg wrote the adult coloring book Live Loved. The pages are filled with elaborately designed Scripture verses that she hopes will help users “unleash the creative talents” God has given them. “Color and sketch,” she says on her website. “Whisper the words aloud, commit them to memory, and learn how to live loved in a tangible way.”

    Is this all just smart marketing and an attempt to make money, or can Bible-themed coloring books actually aid spiritual discipline? I think they can, but like any tool, it depends how we use them.

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  74. There you go. An answer to Friel. If you’ve got a friend of family member that is an unbeliever and doesn’t want you to hand them a Bible, you can give them a coloring book. I see this as a positive to his negative.

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  75. Some of the articles I’ve seen about adult coloring books have interviews with people who use them who say they find them helpful in reducing stress and so on.

    I think I may know what Friel’s anti-adult coloring book agenda is all about.

    He was recently interviewed on Janet Mefferd’s show (in August 2016) because has has a book coming out called “Stressed Out,” where he’s telling Christians how not to stress out and how not to worry.

    Maybe Friel wants people buying his book, rather than buying coloring books, because the coloring books are his competition?

    __Aug 19, 2016 Janet Mefferd Interviews Friel about Friel’s New Book

    8-19-16 – Are you worried or depressed all the time? A lot of us are.

    But what does the Word of God teach us about anxiety and how the gospel and our relationship with the Lord should affect it?

    Wretched TV and radio host Todd Friel joins me to talk about it as we discuss his new book, “Stressed Out.” That and more on Friday’s JANET MEFFERD TODAY!

    If Friel is donating all his book proceeds to charity, my apologies for thinking he’s being motivated by money.

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  77. I love adult colouring books. They’re relaxing and fun.

    I found it humouring at number 2, about the Promises of God.

    Was just thinking how he and his Calvinist club don’t believe in the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer (they have JMac and the Institutes, remember).

    Mocking a colouring in book that probably teaches truth… What a clown.

    What I noticed was his fancy looking studio.

    I wonder how much money he is making on these cringey videos.

    How unnecessarily critical.

    Maybe the reason so many Christians but these books is due to the spiritual abuses they suffer in the Reformed Sunday clubs.

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  80. “He was recently interviewed on Janet Mefferd’s show (in August 2016) because has has a book coming out called “Stressed Out,” where he’s telling Christians how not to stress out and how not to worry.

    Maybe Friel wants people buying his book, rather than buying coloring books, because the coloring books are his competition?” – Daisy

    Yep. The first thing I thought of when I saw his “controversy” over nothing was “he has to be making money from this.” Show, articles, blog, traffic, and now…voila a book.

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  81. “Yes, Christians love the genetic fallacy. If Christians knew that the wedding ring, Christmas tree, Christmas and Easter, etc., arose from pagan worship festivals and rituals, they probably would be horrified how much religious meaning they put into it.” – Mark

    A Complementarian espousing man demanded of me on Twitter if I “believed” the wedding vows where I bride says that she will “obey”. He wanted to know if I’d heard them before?

    I said yes. Funny you should mention it. Those “vows” are from ancient Pagan Roman marriage contract law and have NOTHING to with Christianity. Most Christian countries don’t even have those words in their wedding vows, because
    it was a Roman thing.

    I asked why he was defending pagan Roman marriage practices. He blocked me on Twitter.

    LOL.

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  82. think I would do great with coloring books during a sermon. I listen better when I’m knitting, too:)

    Julie Anne, there was an article a while back about how people remember things (from meetings/class) better when doodling so I think you are right on. Apparently it takes just enough concentration for your brain not to daydream, at least that’s what I think the study said.

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  83. Lea, that sounds right to me. Interestingly, my caboose child is one who works much better if he is moving. I’m wondering if this is a similar concept.

    When I was teaching him how to read, he could not sit still. One day, he was sitting on an exercise ball next to me and wiggling on the ball while he was reading. I noticed that he was able to concentrate much better. I realized that I had to give up on this kid ever sitting on my lap like my other kids (which I loved) and give him the freedom to read while wiggling on the ball. The sacrifices we make for our kids these days! Lol

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  86. Lemme be honest. Years ago, I used to watch Friel (he used to be a stand-up comedian before he turned wretched; yes, I know, that means bubblegum), and he had some amazing clips on the “Wretched” show; also, he used to reason intelligently, but as time went on, he changed as his Reformed/Calvinist mindset started to fall out of his mouth and started making noises of their own. (Sorry, Mark, but tis true!). The show, basically, changed overnight into a narrow-minded, condescending, judgmental fest that finds fault with anything that’s not Protestant.

    I simply stopped watching the show the day they knocked women bloggers. Or was it the day they instructed parents what to look out for in a boyfriend for their daughter. Something to do with having to know stuff about Dort and weird stuff otherwise the boyfriend would not be allowed to visit. Imagine that!

    I agree with TruthDetector42 (sounds like you are stationed at Area 51): this Friel is not the same guy; the big C has messed him up, and it’s a pity. What a wasted talent!

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  87. Mr. Friel, unmasking Jesus is something that is not limited to you as a source. You need to get out there, find your son, bring him home, get him and the rest of your immediate family members to a therapist and be the Man of Jesus you profess to be. Jack needs help now. Allowing him to wander around aimlessly without help or direction, well, is not the way. Being concerned about adult coloring books is ridiculous. Incredible.

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  88. Oooook Todd. This is really nitpicking. You compared the two coloring books Christian vs. Mándala …. um there is no comparison.

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  89. I would love to hear you discuss any particular sins you have struggled with in the past, and how God has delivered you from those sins. I would also be interested to know how you handle yourself today when you realize you are wrong or mistaken about something.

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