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| image Harry Baerg |
Because I was convinced that otherwise, Jesus would kidnap and kill me.
The unforgettable little story "Jesus Understood" from Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, a collection of Christian morality tales, is the reason why.
The opening sentence of "Jesus Understood" establishes the tone: "Little Bobby was crossing a busy city street when a big car came and knocked him down." (Although it is not specifically mentioned, there is probably some subtext here containing a Valuable Lesson about looking both ways while crossing the street.) Poor Bobby seems doomed from the start, but then we're shocked to learn he's damned to boot! See, Bobby winds up in the hospital rooming with his old pal Tommy, and Tommy knows who Jesus is, but Bobby does not.
Because Bobby is probably going to die, Tommy tells Bobby all about Jesus and how He'll take you to Heaven if you just ask Him. Bobby remains unconvinced that "a big Gentleman like that" would ever "listen to a little boy like me." Tommy explains that there's an even easier method to capture Jesus's attention: "Just put up your hand--like we do at school--when He comes through the hospital. They say He comes through every evening when the lights are turned down." (This always led me to wonder: if Jesus is like a schoolteacher--raise your hand and he'll choose you--what happens if you answer the question wrong?)
That night, Tommy says it is "time," and, instead of alerting a medical professional, he urges Bobby to put his hand up. Bobby, however, is too weak to keep his hand raised. Tommy fixes the problem by propping up Bobby's hand with a pillow. The last lines of the story read: "In the morning the little hand was still there. Bobby was dead, but Jesus had understood."
Lesson learned:
Always keep your hands down, just in case.
Source: Maxwell, Arthur S. "Jesus Understood." Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1964. 18-20.
Buy Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories: Volume 1 on Amazon
Thank you for this hilarious summary! I have been haunted by this story for decades. Copies of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories were in every doctor's and dentist's waiting room of my childhood. Was it my imagination, or was this story more smudged and dog-eared than the rest, as we all turned to it to freak ourselves out?
ReplyDeleteThis actually comforted me in my childhood and to my dismay in the 70's I noticed at every doctors office, that story was torn out!!!! Now I know why. I was raised Catholic, idk if that's why I didn't get freaked out. I accepted it as written and was glad Jesus understood! But to my shock, mystery of the missing pages solved! Some renegade went to every office in L.A. area and pulled out the pages. Who knows, maybe shrinks told them (the doctors) to tear them out, all over the country. But I finally have a copy. Thank you!
DeleteI’m with you. I read this story when I was little in the 60’s and I took comfort that Jesus would take me with him. I was sick and in and out of hospitals and I think I recall that I practiced propping up my own arm with a pillow to make sure it worked. In the event it was my time, i didn’t want to be left behind. I was raised catholic as well. A coincidence? Anyway the best part of this is that of all the stories in the book, this is the one we all remember! That’s quite an impact- as for me it was 45 years ago. Anyway, Jesus loves us, so if you love Him too you have nothing to worry about. If not I hope we all have a friend like Tommy. 😇
DeleteI certainly read this every time I went to the dentist office the same way I would watch Saturday afternoon monster movies.
DeleteI have not seen this story for 50 years, but the image of Bobby laying with his hand propped up in the air, and that deathly green pallor of his skin was Nightmare fuel to me for years. That image is so distressing that I had it perfectly burned into my memory so that when I saw it on this webpage I was amazed at how accurate my recollection was after half a century.
Worse, I even found myself waking up several times as a kid with my arm in the air! It was terrifying.
The other thing that struck me, even as a kid, was how casually bloodthirsty Tommy was to prop up a kid's hand so he would die. I think it planted within me my first suspicion of anybody who feels comfortable making life-and-death decisions based on religious certainty.
I have told my kids about this ghastly denizen of my doctor's waiting room to peals of disbelieving laughter. They are certain it couldn't be as bad as I was describing it. And they're right. It's worse.
Thanks to this wonderful blog, now I have proof.
OMG OMG That story has haunted me for 50 years! I am comforted to know that other kids made sure their hands were WELL HIDDEN so Jesus wouldn’t kidnap them!!!
DeleteOMG OMG That story has haunted me for 50 years! I am comforted to know that other kids made sure their hands were WELL HIDDEN so Jesus wouldn’t kidnap them!!!
DeleteYES!!!! Why would you put that in a DOCTOR's OFFICE where I was already scared??? I can't believe other people read this story. It is SO HORRIBLE.
Deletesame here dentist office early 70's
DeleteI love the story and there was a card in the book, and I ended up buying the entire series. Or I should say my parents bought it for me but to this day sometimes I raise my hand when I fall asleep just to see if Jesus will come down. But I also think about others that are not fortunate enough to have lived as long as we have and may have passed away accident. But I’m not afraid I raise my hand to the sky and sometimes my wife will laugh for an hour and a half.
DeleteI remember this story as well when I was a very tiny kid and I think it was at the doctors office. But the book came with a card and I asked my parents to order me the book series. And they did and I would read this story very often. I was determined to read all of the stories In the series. When I was in college, my parents sold my series at garage sale and it was disappointed because after got married and race to children now on college, my wife will laugh for at least an hour and a half because sometimes when I try to fall asleep, just raise my hand in the air and I’ll say I hope Jesus understands. Of course, a lot of fun between the two of us. and I feel sorry for people that don’t have faith in Jesus and God and I feel bad for people that lost their lives at a very young age, but we’re around to remember that story and I think that’s how Jesus understands.
DeleteDon't be talkin' smack about Uncle Arthur (: Let's talk about Revelation Seminars. Now THAT would give anyone nightmares
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! I see that you have given special attention to "Jesus Understood" and "Mother Love". Guess I wasn't the only kid who found these to be the two most horribly traumatic stories ever, and I've never forgotten them! I read them in my dentist's waiting room as a kid in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteOMG! My father was a dentist in the '60's and my siblings and I always remembered that story!! It was even creepier because we were Jewish!
DeleteMe too! I was raised NOT religious at all (though Jewish by birth), and I had read that story in a waiting room. Even NOW I make sure my hand isn't up in that position! I wanted to see if I could find the story online, and at least I'm not the only one who was traumatized by the damn thing. LOL
DeleteIm 53 , just had Sergey in october 2020. Brain cancer, a few days after surgery my wife told me when i was in recovery rm. I had my arm up! I couldn't believe it. It made me remember the picture and story i used to read in the doctor's office when i was a little boy. I don't know who proped up my arm, but i believe. Im a Christian. Amazing!!!
DeleteWow... same here! I actually remember reading this as a child, about 35 years ago, in my dentists' office, and wondering years later if this story really existed or if it was a product of my imagination. What a story - and what is the point? Also, doesn't Bobby have parents? So many unanswered questions.... Anyway, it's nice to know I wasn't the only one traumatized by this!
ReplyDeleteYes! Me too! 40 years later I still remember this story ... and remember the need to make sure my hands were not sticking up in ANY WAY, lest Jesus accidentally misunderstand and take me in the night. What a delight to find I wasn't alone--thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to know I wasn't the only one. This is the ONLY story I remember from these books. It's so funny that I would try to sit on my hands as I went to sleep -- just to make extra sure Jesus didn't take me away! It's been 54 years since I read it. The picture was even scarier in the 50's!!
DeleteIt's been 40 years for me as well and I STILL remember reading that while I was waiting to be treated for a broken arm....
DeleteRead this story 45 years ago and was not sure I got it right. I do remember when I was younger propping my hand up so Jesus would take me away. Always disappointed the next morning.
Delete😿I’m so sorry
DeleteThat picture of Jesus coming through the wall like a ghost scared me rigid for many years. Look at poor Bobby--all he needs is a cigarette to go with that blindfold!
ReplyDeleteAs a request, please consider turning your satirical glance at the old "Goofus and Gallant" feature from the Hi-Lites magazine for kids. Uncle Arthur and Gallant were a pretty rough one-two punch for we wayward boys awaiting the dentist's drill.
I was SO in love with young Gallant, yet the only boys who I seemed to attract were all of the Goofus variety.
DeleteBless you, bless you, bless you! I have been looking for Jesus Understood for years, and I love this blog! Great idea. So fun to share with my friends. You have brought back some cherished traumas, errr, memories, for me.. I really look forward to reading through your summaries. Again, SINcere thanks (pun, in honor of creepy Uncle Arthur)!
ReplyDeleteThis story gave me nightmares as a kid. I'm 31 now and I still haven't forgotten it. The story about the dead mother and baby in the fire also freaked me out.
ReplyDeleteOoo which one is that?
DeleteI finally found this story. I read it a few years after losing my 5 1/2 yr old brother. He died on the operating table during surgery. I was told he opened his eyes once and then was gone. It was a comfort for me and I was not afraid. I knew Jimmy was with Jesus and he was happy and well. It has been over 55 years now and still this story will enter my mind.
ReplyDeleteI do understand how it would frighten young children. :) I smile for your innocence, many years ago. I think when it is my time to go...I will try to lift my hand.
God Bless you all.
I will try to lift my hand as well. Big hugs to you, and I hope to meet you and your brother in Heaven one day. :-)
DeleteOh I am so happy to find this blog! I've been wondering about this book FOREVER, I'm in my mid-50's now. Anyone know what volume contains Jesus Understood?
ReplyDeleteJesus Understood is in Vol. 1. I guess Uncle Arthur wanted to scare the bejeezes out of us right off the bat. I am 56 years old and can still not sleep with any body part hanging over the edge of the bed due to the childhood trauma this story caused!
ReplyDeleteperfect
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think your fright and trauma from these stories reveals more about your home life and parentage growing up than Uncle Arthur. The point of this story is that Salvation is not difficult to obtain. It's an amazingly simple story of grace told through a child's perspective.
ReplyDeleteBTW: Uncle Arthur did not believe that Jesus "took" or killed kids like Bobby as many of you suggested, he believed in soul sleep until Jesus' second coming (see http://www.truthaboutdeath.com/ to better understand his theology). I have no idea how you got the idea that Jesus saw Bobby's hand raised and killed him. The story says that Bobby was too week to accept Jesus in any other way because he was dying and that even though he was so week and dying, Jesus understood his desire and honored it. Jesus didn't kill him he died because of his injuries. As a kid, this story reinforced to me how loving Jesus really is.
Oh, bollocks. There was nothing wrong with my homelife. This is a creepy story that should never be told to kids; it's worse than the scary ghost stories told around campfires.
DeleteAnd you're an idiot! You and all these other idiots who see this beautiful story as something dark and sinister must have the IQ of a Potato!
DeleteWow, I don't think Uncle Arthur would like you calling people "idiot" for disagreeing with you. Is that how a Christian brings Jesus to others?
DeleteI'm not a Christian, but I also read this story as a kid (during a hospital stay), and my impression and understanding of it at the time was different from some of those writing here. I found it rather dark, but not creepy. I didn't understand it as saying that Bobbby would die if he raised his hand, but that he was dying anyway and wanted to let Jesus know he wanted to go to heaven (rather than limbo or purgatory or hell or whatever, although I didn't think of all this back then). I'm not saying this in defense of the story--that's just how I understood it.
DeleteI suppose if one hasn’t much perspective on the persona of Christ, this might be a frightening piece of fiction. With that perspective it’s anything but. Uncle Steve and Carl Rosenberg have it exactly correct. I was, perhaps, 12 when I read it; 61 now. I understood it’s message then and wasn’t frightened. Wasn’t interested in being a victim, either.
DeleteI was in and out of doctors offices as a child (hit by a car at 5 years old, now 51). I felt such hope and love in this story. Thank you for writing it!!!
DeleteDoes anyone remember the story of the little girl who plays at the construction site after her mom tells her not to - then gets a splinter, which she breaks off and all seemed fine UNTIL years later when she's a big grown up lady, and her leg swells all up from that buried splinter? "Be sure your sin will find you out." Which volume was this in? Other stories included another version of the mother and the fire (Mother's Hands I think it was), a comparison made between the mother's scarred hands and those of Jesus. And the braggy little boy that kept saying "Watch Me!" and the little girl who gave her new dress money to help the war refugees. I have been trying to find this book again for years, but there are SO many of these, I can't find the one I had. It was old, lots of the stories had a wartime feel, so I would assume 1940-ish. I loved some of the stories, others scared me to death. There was one where a child died ("Joe has gone to sleep, dear"), complete with a photo of people rising from their graves that was extremely disturbing as a small child. the angel was pretty, but the people, including a little boy like me, standing in the open graves was quite upsetting at the time...
ReplyDeleteOMG, this story STILL haunts me to this day...I can't believe they had it in the waiting rooms of hospitals (which is where I read it). I tell my younger co-workers about it and they can't believe it. I think that in the same volume was the morality story "The Hollow Pie" about a little boy who always picks the best looking apples, the biggest piece of pie, etc., so the adults teach him a lesson at dinner one night. When he bites into the biggest apple, it's all bruised, and the biggest pie was hollow, etc.
ReplyDeleteI remember the story about the kid who always wanted the biggest apple, pie, etc., which is how I ended up here. I was looking for the title. :-)
DeleteI remember the story about the kid who always wanted the biggest apple, the biggest piece of pie, etc., which is how I ended up here. I was looking for the title.
DeleteThat story is The Hollow Pie!
DeleteThank You!!! The Hollow Pie scared the bejeebers outta me -- LOL!
DeleteIt only occurred to me much later, as an adult, that it was a sting operation set up by the kid's family. The only reason everything could be so inexplicably bad was if they planned it that way, knowing the kid would go for the biggest.
DeleteThat’s why I’m here! Looking for the Hollow Pie to teach my son not to always pick the biggest and best for himself. Lol.
DeleteWow thanks, its comforting in a way that others suffered from this as i did, I don't really know why i googled it and partly ended up regretting it now i found it again - still makes my heart pound remembering the fear from all those years ago (i'm 41 now) that Jesus was gonna come through the wall and kill me if i got sick or fell asleep with my arm out the bed whatever. What a rotten thing to do to a kid, I think 'uncle arthur' was a monster. Parents please read in detail first anything you give to your kids to read.
ReplyDeleteOh and @Uncle Steve... maybe you could put your brain into gear before judging other folks homelife or parenting, you sound about as nice a person as old testament god.
I remain a bit traumatized by this story, so offer the following sequel as a way to provide a happier ending (I know, I have too much time on my hands):
ReplyDeleteJesus Understood 2: The Family Reunion
A week later, Bobby's funeral took place at a nice church in the town where he lived. Do you remember Tommy, Bobby's friend who was in the hospital with him? Well, he was all better now, and after the funeral, he told Bobby's parents all about how Bobby had trusted Jesus and was now with Him in heaven. Bobby's parents were happy to know that the Lord Jesus had watched over Bobby, and they prayed, "Dear Lord Jesus, we know thou art watching over us as well, and we pray that the day may come soon when we can be with thee for eternity."
A few days later, Bobby's parents were driving home from church when their car stopped on the railroad tracks. A train came along and hit their car, and they died. The next thing they knew, they were in heaven. Bobby was there to meet them. Jesus was there too, and He smiled on the family reunion. Once again, Jesus had understood.
Hilarious! Thank you. I understand too.
DeleteOh, yeah, that's really comforting to kids too LOL. Oh my Zeus! here do they come up with this stuff??
DeleteThank you for publishing this! This was one of the most terrifying stories of my childhood; and now I know - look at the substandard health care! If Bobby was about to die, he should have been in intensive care, not in a lowly bed with no medical equipment around! Looks like everyone had given up on old Bobby!
ReplyDeleteI certainly remember this story and didn't know it as a Christian child as I later was saved in my teenage years - but it certainly didn't haunt me and it wasn't traumatic or scary in any way. If anyone was going to take me from this earth as a child in a hospital I certainly would have wanted it to be Jesus!! Now that I know what I do, I am very glad I have the complete assurance that a Loving Savior would look in on His children whether sick or passing into His arms with love and adoration - This was a profound message in the only ways a child was able to witness to His friend of the love of His Savior - showing to us you do not need words, fancy rituals, works or sacraments to be welcomed into Heaven upon your death - the simple truth is there even though Bobby couldn't himself prop up his own hand - his brother in his strength helped his brother in weakness. A valuable lesson is here for each of us - nothing scary about it - if there is fear then it wasn't because of Jesus coming through the hospital and taking this young child - because "God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power!!" Nothing traumatizing about it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent reference! Thanks you.
DeleteNicely put!! Bless you!
DeleteI once shared a house with a woman who would make sure that her children's hands were not sticking up at night out of the bedclothes. She told me it was incase Jesus came through their rooms at night, saw their hands and decided to take the kids with him. In other words the kids would die in their sleep. It frightened the beejeezuz out of me. I had no children of my own at that time but years later when I did I used to do exactly the same thing. I guess the woman I had shared the house with had read this book as a child. Honestly these books sound horrid and I would never read something like that to my children.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you jump on board with this strange ritual, years later with your own kids? Jesus is not the one you need to keep your kids away from.
DeleteIt gave me a sense of hope and peace as a child reading it. Nothing horrible about it. The love Tommy showed for his friend was inspiring!
DeleteI read this story as a child whilst in the hospital. Imagine the demented healthcare professional who would do this to an already-scared kid! I wouldn't pull the bellcord for a nurse because I'd have had to raise my hand to reach it...
ReplyDeleteSixty years ago for me. I was seven years old, and my parents actually bought the complete set of "Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories." There were five or six 3/4" thick orange-covered books. The stories were 99% religious. This story of Bobby stayed with me, as well as "The Book That Would Not Burn" and others. I think I understood them more as fairy tales than anything else, as my parents never talked to me about any of the stories, and so many of them dealt with miracles brought about by prayer.
ReplyDeleteHey gayspiritwarrior...have you ever looked into the study of Hebrew...I notice and interesting thing in your post....on 1-17 at 11:07....7 in hebrew is sayin...and 1 is aleph. I see that number all the time and ive come to know it means....the sword of the Spirit....you must be carrying it too...let it grow ...it means you are on the right spiritual path that is being carved out for you.
DeleteI'm 65 and never forgot the boy who died with his arm raised. Unfortunately, I was close to letting go of the "trauma" of the imagery until I found this site and, lo and behold, you supplied an image that is worse than the one I had provided my imagination! Thank you and goodnight. Only half kidding. But, it seemed so bizarre as a tale for children that I began to wonder where the elements of the story came from. Thank you for making this site available. I also remember a photo of a thin man sitting up in iron framed bed. His face had disturbingly sunken features. Does anyone remember that?
ReplyDeleteMaybe that was "Knocking Out the 'T'." A guy with polio refused to use the word "can't," and conducted a thriving business from his bed, which they showed in a picture. He had a phone specially built into it, complete with inspirational message.
DeleteAnother favorite: "Little Miss Tisn't," just because I never knew anyone who used the word "tisn't."
No, "Knocking Out the T" was a totally different story. It was about being persistent. The one you are thinking of was called "The Man Who Could Not Move".
DeleteI discovered this story at age 8 while alone in a doctor's office, and was HORRIFIED by it. My parents weren't religious, but I remember talking about it to my mom's church-going friend, and her trying to explain it away to me--obviously if she'd actually read it, she'd have understood my terror. I blocked it out for 32 years, until two weeks ago when my girlfriend was in a hospital room with a painting of Jesus on the wall (Not the illustration from "Jesus Understood", thank God) and suddenly it all came flooding back to me. I can't tell you how relieved I was to find this post. Thanks for reassuring me that, not only did I not make this memory up, but yes, that story was as creepy as I remember.
ReplyDeleteJuly 1978, Prince County Hospital in Summerside, PEI is where I became acquainted with this book and this story in particular.
ReplyDeleteThis one story in particular has always freaked me out.
This story changed my life. I was in third grade when all I had to read as I waited in a doctors office for my allergy therapy was tis book. A bee sting had caused me to go into life threatening anaphyactic shock and I was in hospital for five nights. Afterward my family was aware thartmerely playing outside by the flowers could risk my life. It was this story about bobby that helped me form my relationshiip with my saviour. My plan was that if a bee killed me that I would stay with jesus until my parents came to heaven. Later in life I had another crisis with a chronic illness that threatened my concept of life itself. I felt I had no future and I had to turn to. Christ not in fear of death...but in fear of my future when I felt desparate and hopeless. Jesus came through as he promised and helped me recover and go beyond. In every way he understood., when no one else could have possibly done so.
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of the story was that you dont have to be perfect to loved and accepted by jesus....that was the story....it wasnt creepy at all for child who really did have contempt their morality at age 8.
ReplyDeleteAs a child my mother read Uncle Arthur stories to us and the favourite of my sister and I was the story of the two girls whose first encounter began with an angry pillow fight but in the end it brought them together. I don't remember any of the others or being traumatized by them. So, of course, when my children came along, I reached for these familiar tales. The first story I read to my elder two girls was the one that had been my favourite and it was instantly a hit with them as well.
ReplyDeleteEmboldened, I moved on to another. It was the story of two boys playing cowboy and Indian who got into a terrible fight. Mother sits them down and tells them the story of the real cowboys and Indians and how they had to learn to get along. At the end of the story, the boy playing the cowboy says that since he is the white man, it is up to him to be the noble one - to step out in good faith.
As you might imagine, that story was quickly shelved and I started reading the stories for myself. The amount of patronizing in the tales towards those who were non-white, non-male, non-Christian and non-middle class was appalling. Alas the series of stories had to be relegated to a shelf set aside for the dodgy next to "On Becoming a Man" and "On Becoming a Woman".
I read this at my dentist's office as a grade schooler, then went in to see the dentist and experience PAIN as he drilled my teeth. (Was there an association?) I too was haunted by that drawing above with the boy's raised hand, as I forevermore associated it with death. I avoided that book at all costs. It's been half a century and I recall it vividly. And I still avoid it.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that story at the doctor's office when I was a precocious child, rather advanced in the reading comprehension and rational thought department. I found it morbid, of course, and its placement in a doctor's waiting room inappropriate, but most unforgivably of all, it was illogical. Why would Tommy, but not the hospital staff, know that Bobby was dying? My grandmother was a nurse. I knew that if something was very wrong, there was a lot of activity and noise. If Bobby was dying, where was his family, or at least a staff member? How was a dying boy capable of having such a calm, lengthy conversation? While propping his hand up, why not push the emergency button instead of leaving him there for rigor to set in? Above all, why would Jesus not know when a boy was ready for Heaven? The story was about Jesus, who, as I understood, was supposed to be the son of God. Such a being would know what was going on. It would not be necessary to call his attention to anything. I began to suspect that the story was utter bullshit. At the same moment, I took a good look at that photo, started laughing and couldn't stop. My mother took the book, read the story and her mouth twisted into a hard, thin smile that wanted to be a laugh. She didn't say anything, just pretended nothing was going on. After that, every time we were at an office that had that book, I'd pounce on it, turn to some random story, and laugh while my mother pretended not to know me. I wanted her to buy me those books so badly...they were my taste of the thrill of cynical amusement and horror that truly perverse literature can give us, especially when it's religious. I was destined to be a "Mad Magazine" and "Saturday Night Live" kind of kid. I would never be able to find such a story "moving" or "inspirational", and certainly not believable. Ridiculous, yes, and so sick as to be extremely funny, but nothing more.
ReplyDeleteOf all the comments on this story, yours is the one that most closely matches my experience. I was never frightened by this story. It always made me laugh. All of the Uncle Arthurs stories failed to inspire me. I never got the point that I just needed to be a good, obedient girl. What I usually took from them was that the parents were all pretty terrible. I used to think it was hilarious to ascribe such power to Jesus, but think he couldn't know you wanted to go to heaven unless you raised your hand. I didn't think he wanted to kill me, but I also thought he should know my heart without a hand signal. My mother understood our attitude about these stories, but was afraid it was disrespectful, so we saved our snide comments for the privacy of our family. But yes, we also had Mad Magazine subscription and I remember SNL's very first episode. And Monty Python before most people knew anything about them. A few years ago, I had surgery on my hand and it had to be kept elevated, meaning I had to sleep on my back with a foam block propping it up. I took a selfie and posted it to my siblings with the words "Jesus Understood". My oldest and youngest brothers didn't get it, but the rest of us all had a great laugh.
DeleteOMG. This is the story. THIS is the story. I have been looking for the source of this story fo ryears.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a kid in a small town in the 70s, every single doctor and dentist had this book (or the related Bible For Kids volume) in the waiting room. Need a procedure? Read about little Bobby's death while you wait!! I have been unable, until now, to produce proof of this traumatic tale to any of my bigger-city peers.
I too, have been haunted by this story since childhood. I sought this book out every time I went to the dentist and read it over and over. I've never forgotten the story and just today decided to google the theme and see if I could find it. What a chuckle to see that so many of us were affected by this 'bedtime story'. As a grandmother of 4, I can assure you that - though I love to tell my grandchildren about Jesus - this story is not on my list!
ReplyDeleteI think the main problem with these stories - the primary reason why they can be so frightening - is that they are exactly that. Stories. And lessons about life, death, and salvation are topics WAY too deep, important, and complex to squeeze into a few short anecdotal paragraphs. There isn't enough room there for the definitions and fuller explanations that one would need to read between the lines. A young child just HAPPENING to read something like this, and unfamiliar with the theology, literary style, and denominational subculture behind it, is highly unlikely to understand it the way it was probably meant to be understood. They are called "Bedtime Stories" because they were intended for parents to read to their own children in the home, where they could be discussed, elaborated on, and used as starting points for facilitating a child's religious understanding. I'm sure they were NOT intended to be a child's first or even primary introduction to Seventh-day Adventist theology; the church takes for granted that its parents are doing all they can, in every way, to make every moment a gospel learning opportunity. The fact that these books were scattered like straw in thousands of medical offices, to be read by confused children completely without contextual guidance, is probably a very well-meant error...
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to remember that "Uncle Arthur" was born in 1896, and died in 1970. He was middle aged before antibiotics became widely available. Even in the developed "first-world", children died at rates considered appalling today. Modern parents take for granted that their children will "grow out of" whatever irritating, obnoxious phase they're in, knowing that Neosporin, Lysol, and Motrin are there to fix most problems. They can AFFORD to be more lenient with children's stubbornness, self-will, and disobedience. A few generations ago, though, without the security and reassurance that modernity provides, a tolerant parent might well have proved a negligent parent. Adults frightened the children because THEY were scared - scared of losing them. Even in 2014, we still eventually have to be more blunt with our children about why we want them to do or avoid certain things, when gentle coaxing and reward charts cease to motivate. For the same reasons that lower socio-economic levels tend (in general) to be "harder" or "stricter" on their children: because they don't have the same resources at their disposal to dig their children out of problems with that better-off families may have. Context is SO important, but unfortunately, a kid in a dentist's office reading a story like this in isolation won't have that...
ReplyDeleteThis dreadful story was more nightmare-inducing to me over the proceeding 5 decades than ANY horror movie ever could have been. I read this morbid little ditty when I was 4 in (of course) the doctor's office waiting for treatment for a significant childhood illness. The office had just gotten the book in and I couldn't wait to read it. Until Jesus Understood. Yeah, maybe Jesus understood but I sure the bloody hell didn't.
ReplyDeleteAt my next appointment 2 weeks later, the braver part of me wanted to face my fear and read that story one more time...Curiously, I couldn't find Jesus Understood. Upon closer inspection, I realized the pages were missing from the book. Perhaps another child's parent had complained, because the pages for this story were neatly and cleanly removed entirely from the book.
How unfortunate that through the years I've never been able to so cleanly erase the trauma this story brought to my 4-year-old mind.
I've often wondered if I imagined this entire story and was telling my (now adult) daughter about it for the first time today. Low and behold through the wonderment of Google, I stumbled upon this site and see I'm not the first adult whose childhood was derogatorily impacted by Jesus Understood.
But here is what I don't understand: I can see a 4-year-old child being afraid, but you said you've been terrified for 50 years! Why? Didn't new information (about Jesus or death or modern medicine) replace what you took in at the age of 4? This is an honest question~I hope it doesn't seem snotty.:)
DeleteThe pages were missing from a lot of his books! Someone very angry tore out every page in every doctors office. It was like a conspiracy I wanted to scream I loved this story and I loved Jesus too. I was 5 the first time I read it. By age 13 all the pages were torn out everywhere. When I turned 20, I drove around wanted to find a copy. Every Dr. Had the pages torn out! I'm 60 now and shocked at why.....
DeleteNow this just doesn't make sense to me. I remember the story from my childhood some 40+ years ago, and that's how I came across this site. I didn't remember the title of the story, so I Googled "uncle arthur's bedtime stories boy hospital ward holding hand up" and this site was 2nd on the list for me.
ReplyDeleteThe snippet showed the text " I too was haunted by that drawing above with the boy's raised hand, as I ..." so I clicked it because the drawing really stuck in my memory too.
But how different the reason.
I came here tonight looking for a short story for our church bulletin, and I have always remembered that story, the kindness of his little friend who helped him put his hand up when he didn't have the strength. The simple faith in the gesture.
When the thief on the cross said "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom", his was the same simple faith. He could do nothing else but ask. And his answer was immediate and affirmative.
Staggered that anyone can mistake this story for anything other than evidence of a simple childlike faith in believing that if you ask you will receive.
And this isn't me commenting as a 53 year old, this was me remembering the story read to me by my father as a bedtime story as a young boy before I could read.
I bet after seeing the different responses to this story, you had an even better topic for the church-bulletin story.:)
DeleteHello everyone! I'm 56 and I read this story so many years ago in the orthodontist's office...I never forgot it! So powerful to a child's imagination that by propping up an arm you could..die. thanks for the blog!
ReplyDeleteI first heard this beautiful story when my friend read it to our grade two class. We read Uncle Arthur's stories to our children, and our daughter reads them to her daughter.
ReplyDeleteIt just dawned on me tonight, what if that story "Jesus Understood" was on the internet by some chance. It was one of my favorites when I was about 3-4 years old. I would always ask my Mum, if she could read me that one. My Mother would read it with such empathy, that I would have tears roll down my cheeks. She would say, "Poor little boy ay, but Jesus understood" and I would say "yeah, poor little ay Mummy". So i did a search and low and behold, here it was in story and also your video. LOL, thank you so much, now I understand, Jesus planted the seed of Salvation in my heart all the way back then and concluded with,,,, Tears rolling down my cheeks :)
ReplyDeleteHere is the story on Youtube. Make sure you have brushed your teeth before your bedtime story LOL. ENJOY boys and girls :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6otAwQqtbYY
ReplyDeleteFUCK. Are you kidding me? I read this at the doctors office in the 1970's and I' m still freaked out. I can never put my hand up in bed, and if I do when sleeping I instantly wake up. My husband got in bed laying on his side his hand was on the pillow facing up. I told him don't ever do that Jesus will come and get you. I am 55 and Catholic and nothing I ever learned from church ever freaked me out like this crap.
ReplyDeleteIt's really amazing how many people were traumatized by this story. I was telling someone about it today over dinner, and they were almost in disbelief that a story like this would exist. I went to the wonderful inter webs, searched "jesus stories 1970's doctor's office" and behold, this page popped up first! I'm still stunned that a) this story even existed, b) it was located in doctor's and dentist's offices everywhere, and c) SO MANY PEOPLE SAW IT and felt the SAME WAY I DID! I've been told that Grimm's Fairy Tales were just that in the beginning: grim, before Disney got ahold of them. Maybe Bobby and Tommy need to be "Disneyfied." :-)
ReplyDeleteThis horrible book of stories was in my late 1970s and early 1980s orthodontist's office: Dr. Edward Telch in Manhasset, NY. Even though it terrified me, I compulsively reached for it and read it every time I visited his office. With a nightbrace, followed by upper and lower braces, you can bet I read it dozens of times. As a Jewish kid, the thought of mistakenly having my arm propped up, erroneously signaling Jesus that I wanted to go with him, was terrifying to me. I had nightmares every night after visiting Dr. Telch (who was pretty scary too, not friendly) and for several nights after, every time. To this day, I sleep on my stomach with my arms and hands pinned underneath my body. This story (and Hollow Pie too) remains vivid in my mind, more than 35 years later. Thank you to everyone who posted here. You make me feel better, and reassure me that it wasn't just me who was terrorized by this story.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the dentist and avoiding sweets and treats: don't forget the story about Billy the greedy fat kid who always took the biggest and best of everything for himself.
ReplyDeleteHis mother and teacher decided to gang up on him on his BIRTHDAY no less and teach him a lesson. GIGANTIC bean feast is set up. if you don't know what that is, watch Veruca Salt on Willie Wonka.
Anyway so there was All Manner of little bite-and-a-half size pastries and caramels and bonbons and everyting you could imagine - and then there were a handful of three or four bite sizes of everything.
Everybody else (in on the joke) took small ones and opened them and marveled at the delicious sauces and treats inside.
Our boy Billy, true to form always took the biggest and best for himself - all of which were empty in the case of the pastries - just crust without even any butter or sugar - or made out of bitter baking chocolate and unsalted unsweetened caramel and on and on and on.
In the book of course Billy learns his lesson and goes about his life as a normal well adjusted boy.
Sorry to say that in real life he becomes a Gainer (member of The Society for the Portrait of Dorian Grey) ends up a glutton and entering the Guinness Book as World's Fattest Man or becoming the runners up thereto.
Or he became the same thing but in a factory-worker/blue-collar tradesmen sense who told anybody who would listen `This belly is the only thing in this house bought and paid for. it ain't going nowhere notime soon' or it's kissin' cousin' This belly took a lot of time energy and money to get like this. I sho' ain't throwin all that away NOW.'
Look up under Bariatric Health and Welfare
I read this story in my Mom's doctor's office when I was 10 years old. The story has always stuck with me! While it is haunting, I remember wishing Jesus would "understand" and take me to heaven too! My father had died the year before and my sister and family had moved away. I was very sad and lonely! I always felt God didn't take me because I was not hit by a car or in any physical pain. Crazy what a story can do . . .
ReplyDeleteOmg!! This has haunted me for years too & I just Googled "creepy religious books in doctors' offices 1970" and this popped up!! I cannot believe it. What a freaky horrible thing to put out there & traumatize kids. It was in my pediatrician's office & I was always terrified to have my hands out at bedtime too!!
ReplyDeleteI was just telling my mom about this story and The Hollow Pie, today! All you holier-than-thou people, listen to me: kids reading about kids dying is creepy. So stop with all the salvation and beautiful story stuff. To a kid, this story is kind of scary.
ReplyDeleteI agree and couldn't have said it better! This stupid story has haunted me for years. Young children should not have been subjected to this book of nonsense in doctor's and dentist's offices, or anywhere else for that matter. Why I decided to Google and find that this really was a story I had read and not something I had conjured up in my imagination tonight is because as I was trying to get comfy in my bed, I still to this day make sure that my arm isn't propped up in the air some way,somehow. It is something of a relief to see so many people have the same reaction and bad memory of it.
DeleteThank you! I couldn't have said it better. This stupid story has haunted me for years and like many of the commenters, I thought perhaps I had made it up in my imagination. For the umpteenth time while I was trying to get comfy in bed tonight, there I was again stopping myself from having my arm propped up or laying funny. Those books were a cruel thing to do to young children in the waiting rooms of dentists and doctors. At the age most of us read them at, we were not equipped whatsoever to understand any supposed context. I decided to Google and see if I could find anything about it and was so happy to come across this blog. Again, like so many others I was convinced that maybe I had just imagined the whole thing. Uncle Arthur has apparently traumatized several generations of children. :(
Delete"Train up a CHILD in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 At what arbitrary age would YOU tell us parents it's okay to teach our children about death, and heaven, and the gift of salvation? Unfortunately, kids DO die, at all ages.
DeleteOMW as soon as I saw the image in google looking for hospital beds, I remembered this story, Yes, it haunted me for years, and as a kid, I would prop my hand up on a pillow in case I died during the night. What really were we teaching our kids....works, check lists, you have to DO something to get Jesus to notice you, He was pretty busy with important things. Thanks for the memories.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. I'm going to see if I can find a copy. These comments are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteLike a lot of people here, this story has haunted me for years after I read it in a doctor's office as a little kid. I liked being scared, but this creepy story was too much even for me.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that "Uncle Arthur" was apparently a 7th Day Adventist. I had a friend in grade school who was a member of that faith and he would give me a magazine called "Guide", published for pre-teens in the late 70s and early 80s. While none of the "morality" stories were as horrifying as "Jesus Understood", many of them were similarly morbid and creepy. The intention of giving out this magazine may have been to proselytize, but for me they were entertaining in a pre-Stephen King sort of way!
It's probably no coincidence that I'm thinking of "Jesus Understood" on Halloween!!!! ;)
When I was a grade-schooler, this book was in my pediatrician's waiting room. What an inappropriate, horrifying story! But I was drawn to it every time I visited the doctor - I had a morbid fascination with it. And yes, I agree with many commenters, the story didn't make much sense. I knew that one needn't have to prop their hand up for Jesus to find them. He's omniscient, after all! But the propped-up hand sure makes a creepy illustration. I hadn't thought of this in 40 years, but for some reason it came to mind today, and I Googled it immediately. Smother Goose was at the top of the search results! So great to find so many other traumatized individuals!
ReplyDeleteSo funny to read your synopsis of this story. I grew up on Uncle Arthur's. I still have one of the original books of my childhood, but unfortunately not the book that has this story. I have never had the urge to read any of these stories to my own children, because I feel like they gave me a very skewed view of Christianity when I was a kid. Growing up, my mom stressed that I should act in a way that would want other people to be Christians, though I don't think she ever concerned herself much with the image of Christianity she was teaching me. I associate Uncle Arthur's with that sort of manipulative pretense I grew up with. It's a particular way of manipulating kids to stay in line. I talk to my own kids about God. And I expect a reasonable amount of obedience. But I've never felt comfortable mixing the two, by discussing God as a way of promoting their obedience to me. BTW, have you seen what these books sell for on Ebay? They're worth a fortune.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I was wondering how many people who grew up on Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories also grew up listening to Unshackled? Going from Uncle Arthur to Unshackled kind of skewed my thinking about Christianity as well.
ReplyDelete"Unshackled" was awesome! I think it is still played on Family Radio. How do you think it skewed you?
DeleteI also read this story in a Dr.s waiting room. It has followed me for over 40 years in my mind during some pretty bad times. I can personally say, that if you feel like giving up, and you prop up your arm during the night, you just wake up with a sore arm.
ReplyDeleteYEP. I experimented pretty heavily with arm-propping after this story. I figured: either Jesus takes me to heaven — for the "win" — or as consolation, I can be smug at my cleverness. Early tries all failed, come morning always woke with my arm elsewhere in the bed come morning. Maybe a year later, smarter, heavier, I tried again. Don't prop the arm, prop your *body* against the arm, that's the trick. Next morning I woke and sent the usual telepathic summons for my hand to come up and pick my nose. Astonishingly — my hand neither arrived nor replied. My eyes popped open to see lifeless bloodless droopy hand like a flag of, of, droopiness, still raised to call Jesus. Struggled to sit up, failed, the arm toppling with a dull unfelt bang against the wall. Oh "Jesus Understood" me alright, took my arm to heaven and left my cleverness to live. Then ... "pins and needles" began, but these were no pins, these were thick Roman nails, attaching just my arm to the crucifix, pounded in by contestants at the XII Imperial Legion lumberjack-days hammering contest. Jesus tumbled out of the closet, doubled over in his own agony of laughter. Or was that my brother. Whatever.
DeleteYou put a smile on my face! Are you a writer? You should be.
DeleteOh man.. I am 62, and never would have imagined that so many others would have been so overwhelmed by that story that even 50 or more years later, it remains in place in the mind. I read it in the late 60s, early 70s. There were times following that when I really had some illness that I felt it was my time, and truly tried to prop my arm up, The fact that it never worked.... hmmmmm. Amazing they let people read stuff like that. Nowadays, the opposite, too many things censored, even for adults...
DeleteI didn't read it until I was 16 and I have to say that I never found it scary; just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. It made me feel secure knowing Jesus loves me. :-)
DeleteMe too. This is how it made me feel.
DeleteI first read this story at age 8, and it helped me to have hope. It is when I first loved Jesus, for in my world adults were abusers and sexual predators, and I longed to leave this earth. When I read the story,Jesus was my hero, my savior come to take me home. The story bought me peace that even should I die in my violent surroundings,I would be safe and loved with Jesus. And, when I die, I hope my hand is raised high.
ReplyDeleteI have asked countless people if they remember this story. All I could remember was that it was in some kind of Bible book at the doctor's office. I really thought I imagined it. I have always slept on my hands as a result. Thank you for validating my sanity about this. At least I know it exists.
ReplyDeleteLike so many others I read this story as a child in a doctor's office. I found it very depressing. But now it's reassuring to know I wasn't the only child who found it traumatizing.
ReplyDeleteOh my god, I was telling my wife about how my brother and I always looked at this creepy story about "Jesus Understood," I Googled it to see if I could find the creepy photo, and HERE WE ARE!!! THANK YOU! Now people believe me about the creepy story! I never felt compelled to sleep on my hands, but the validation of a childhood memory is priceless!
ReplyDeleteOh my god, I was telling my wife about how my brother and I always looked at this creepy story about "Jesus Understood," I Googled it to see if I could find the creepy photo, and HERE WE ARE!!! THANK YOU! Now people believe me about the creepy story! I never felt compelled to sleep on my hands, but the validation of a childhood memory is priceless!
ReplyDeleteHi! I was also traumatized by these guilt-inducing morality tales as a child. I wrote a post about it on my blog and linked back to your two reviews. In the story "A Little Child Shall Lead Them," Donald tells his sister Margaret after a spanking to pray for Jesus to make her a good girl. He comforts her by telling her that she won't be spanked again if she keeps Mother happy with her good behavior.
ReplyDeletehttps://thegirlwhowaitedweb.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/uncle-arthurs-bedtime-stories/
What is "guilt inducing" in the summary you just gave? A brother comforting his sister, and reminding her to ask Jesus to help her be obedient? And obviously she won't be punished if she behaves well. Is it the praying you're opposed to, or are you one of those people who think parents should not be allowed to spank their children? If it's the latter, please remember the books were written in the 1920s or 30s.
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to find this, I've been looking forEVER!!! I loved this story so much as a kid. I've wanted to die since I was old enough to understand what it meant, a little before age 5. I wanted to be any where other than here. I slept with my hand raised for 4 YEARS. Ages 8-12, every night, Now I lay me down to sleep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. I was convinced that even though my pain was internal rather than external, he'd know how God awful it was and come for me. Sadly, I'm still here. 4 years, Damon.
ReplyDeleteJesus! ...Pardon the pun. Wow. I thought I was the only one! They had this book at my dentist's when I was a kid in Nova Scotia, and I must have gone back to that story a dozen times. And yeah, it scared the shit out of me. All the same reasons. What if my hand's in the wrong place while I'm sleeping, and Jesus goes, "Oh, Todd's ready to cash in his chips..."? But I wasn't! A month shy of 50, I'm still not! Joking aside, this story really did affect me at a visceral level till around the time I was 13, when COSMOS was running on PBS (living in Ontario by then and caught it off WNED in Buffalo), and Carl Sagan finally convinced me the universe made sense without there necessarily being a god or gods. But really... what was "Uncle Arthur" thinking when he wrote this one? What a ghoul.
ReplyDeleteI remembered reading this story at the dentist's office when I was about 7 or 8. And it certainly stayed with me!
ReplyDeleteYears later I read a biography of Charlotte Bronte who wrote "Jane Eyre". She spoke of reading too many frightening old Methodist tracts about dying children when she was a small girl, and I immediately thought of little Bobby.
So I researched it, and found there was a Methodist tradition of writing stories about the deathbed conversions of small children that had been around for over 150 years before Uncle Arthur wrote "Jesus Understood". He didn't invent the genre, but he sure proved that it still had power!
I’m a completely committed Christian, and I was totally traumatized by Uncle Arthur as a child. Creepy on so many levels. I thought I was the only one; I am 55 years old an just now starting to really understand the level of irrational fear some of these stories instilled.
ReplyDeleteI am looking for the name/illustration of a story about boys who smoked being in the hand on the devil. If anyone knows where to find it I would be thankful.
I too am thrilled to find the name of the book that I read in the doc's office in Nova Scotia. I asked people if they remember this book and they think I've dreamed it The weird thing is that I remember the Hollow Pie being about a greedy girl and this story being about "Betsy". Maybe I made them into girls in my head. I wasn't scared by them so much as believing that karma would settle the score. The Jesus bits made me associate him with death. Not at all the intended lesson! Today Im Christian with an M Div no thanks to these stories...off to find my own copy to add to my scary pamphlet collection!
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking "But what if he wanted to put his hand down? He can't, because its propped up!" I had a whole horror-movie scnario in my head about Tommy going around propping up kids hands who didn't *have* to die.
ReplyDeleteI try to explain his to people in my book study at church, and none of them grew up with these in every doctor's office! IT must have been very regional.
DANG!! I am blown away by how many people were "horrified" by this story. In no way am I saying that I am better than anyone else, but I am thankful that I understood who the Savior was as a kid and that death was not the worst thing in the world. To me, this story is just about a young boy explaining to another young boy about his understanding of Jesus. Yes, the Savior isn't going to worry about whether a hand is up or not, but my takeaway is that the Savior understands what is in our hearts and that His love is infinite.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Thank you for using some common sense.
DeleteI agree with you! When I read the story back in 1951 I was in awe of the beautiful picture of Jesus walking down the hospital ward. In fact I awoke the next morning with my limp right arm raised! Who would not want a lift to heaven with Jesus by your side. I am 77 now and still await the day when I can be pain free in God’s mansion in the sky!
DeletePretty amazing to find this, and all of you, out there with shared experiences after my google search "children story 1960s child dying heaven". I have totally surpressed this one for about 50 years. In my mistaken memory there was an angel carrying the boy's lifeless body heavenward-- so I guess I was trying to sugarcoat it! Seeing these pages snaps me back to 1968, Dr. Reilly the pediatrician, in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Like so many of you, I was morbidly drawn to it visit after visit. My mother never read anything, so I'm not surprised it wasn't noticed or censored. HORRIFYING.
ReplyDeleteWell, it certainly scarred quite a few of us over 40 years ago! But you are right for some bizarre reason I'd read it every visit!
DeleteFunny how as i referenced this story from what i remembered it brought completely different feelings. Funny how most of you felt the way you did because you neither know the Lord Jesus or the power of his love. I read this as a child and understood it entirely. I did not "freak out" over it, what it did do was give me a deep love for the savior and made me consider his love for all of us. It was not the hand raised that was the issue it was the trust of this little one. I truly do not think any of you have a clue as to what i am referring to. How utterly sad. Please seek him while he may be found. He will change your life for eternity.
ReplyDeleteDeeply sick crap. Scared me out of my mind when I was a kid. On the other hand, it may have knocked religionism out of me once and for all at an early age and for that I can only be grateful.
ReplyDeleteThing is, the Uncle Arthur Maxwell stories are not an anomaly. As a Victorian era Englishman he would have been surrounded by these kinds of moralizing horror stories. The English had them, the French had them (the Countess Segur), and the Germans had them.
ReplyDeleteRead a story called "The New Mother," by Lucy Clifford. The message is that kids are cruel and ungrateful to their parents and deserve unearthly supernatural punishment.
I'm so glad to find this. I have a slightly different experience with the story. I was in part horrified when I read it as a precocious 5 year old in the mid 60s, and for a few nights I was obsessed about keeping my hands down. At the time, I was being groomed by a pedophile and was suffering trauma psychologically and physically. Part of my loss of faith at that age was a deep desire to make it stop and knowing I was powerless to do so. Shortly after reading it, things becausem unbearable, and I figured that if Jesus really understood, he would take me away from all this, so I propped up my arm every night but continued every morning to wake up and after a while just gave up. Around that same time, I asked a Sunday School teacher what she would do if something bad was happening to me. She said that I should pray "Jesus help me" which I must have prayed over and over again during that time.
ReplyDeleteNo help came.
It is hard to think of a caring God in the context of my life experience and this story.
What happened to you was terrible. Those who have said they found God after adversity, often tell that they asked God from a broken and contrite heart sincerely to take all their experiences and use them for good. God's word says he can give 'beauty for ashes' and that it works like this: Those who come to God must believe that he IS (exists) and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. It sounds like a tough deal; but if he IS real and we pass up such an opportunity, what a loss!?! He loves you and gave himself (in the form of the man Jesus) for you, just so those hurt and despondent could call on him - in expectation - and have their lives changed by him for the better. It's a possibility worth suspending our hurt and disbelief for. Jesus loves you, and all. God bless you.
DeleteRead it every. single. time. I wonder if my mother knew.
ReplyDeleteWow, I found it! When I was a kid back in the '60s, I read this story at the dentist's office and it terrified me. I thought I was going to die in my sleep and get taken away. I've never forgotten it, and have told skeptical people about it. Looking back, I am angry that something like this was thought to be suitable reading for small children. And from what I've read above, it scared quite a few of us. It's really sick that stuff like this was inflicted on us.
ReplyDeleteI have remembered this story all my life, 62 now. I guess I was likely about 7 to 10 years old reading it in a Doctors Office. Very profound story. I grew up with a very dedicated Baptist Mom, Dad was Baptist also, but not active in the Church like Mom. This story didn't make me fearful at all, it actually was comforting knowing the love of Jesus. As a gesture of my dedication to my faith, I hope when my time arrives, I'll be able to raise my arm as a symbol of my desire and commitment to be with him, and in hopes he will assist the transition without distress and suffering. It's a very special yet simple gesture, it embodies immense power and affirms ones faith. I was surprised it terrified so many, a very sweet short story - yes sad as well. It's reassuring in so many ways. Just my take on it and how it affected me personally.
ReplyDeleteI read this story as a kid...I still sleep with my arms under my pillow to this day.
ReplyDeleteThis story info unfortunately may be used to harm children. I understand the explanation but as a child I was read this story every single time I went to the Dr by my so-called mother. She made a point of saying there was a room in the back of my pediatrician's office for sick kids. Please be mindful of reading this story to young children, when read repeatedly it sends a message to the child that they are ready to / want to die, I was not sick. To this day this story haunts me and I'm in my 50's. It can actually cause mental harm when missused and not read as it was meant to be 🥺
ReplyDeleteTo everyone, THIS Story was Very comforting to Me. It shows the compassion between friends, as young boys. there's nothing about this story that should make you fearful. What I find terrifying is that, y'all are walking around with Mercury fillings in Your teeth!
ReplyDeleteMy sister stilll remembers from the mid 1960's how I warned her that she would die if she fell asleep with her hand in the air like that! She was terrified! Yes, we saw it in aour doctor's office in Gallatin, Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteSo much of my own wrestling with fear based faith and a very unhealthy view of God came from Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories. So many stories of putting fear into little kids to “do the right thing or else some terrible consequence will happen”. Follow that with years of an unhealthy patriarchal church life, and it’s only by the grace of God I still have a relationship with Him. My mom has fond memories of this series, they bring back nightmarish memories for me!
ReplyDeleteYup, another traumatized adult. Horror movies, can't get enough of them! The creepier the better. But this story, yeah I still make sure I don't have my arm up at night. Dentist office, I had to pick this to read. None of the other stories stuck in my brain for all these years. Not being able to sleep I thought I'd Google one of the most terrifying stories of my childhood. Bedtime stories! Oh, yeah, these are soothing to go to sleep to.
ReplyDeleteI remember this book as a lil girl about 5 or 6yrs old in 1967 or so. My mothers Dr had it in his waiting room and I use to read it while I waited for her..the msg has always stayed with me. Now at 61 it just popped into my head to find out the name of the book. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThe author, the illustrator, the publisher, and the medical center, should ALL have pay for therapy for all of us!!! This story haunts me nearly nightly, if my hand wants to be in that position I am terrified that Jesus will swoop down and kill me. Not rational for a 54 year old woman
ReplyDelete..that picture still sends chills down my spine!!!!!!
I was really shocked at many of these posts and took many hours thinking of how to respond. I had not seen this painting before nor heard the associated story. I am puzzled and wondering how your picture of Jesus has been formed.
ReplyDeleteI have known Him personally as my Lord and Savior from the time I was 9 years old, now 51 years. To me, Jesus is the kindest, most gentle, humble, winsome forgiving, infinitely merciful and most attractive Person in the Universe.
Three years ago, I lost my connection and relationship to Him due to an extended period of not listening to His voice or following Him. I went through a divorce, frightening parenting issues, and breast cancer.
These last 3 years have been the saddest, loneliest, most desperate years of my life. My joy was gone, my purpose was gone, and I believed I would never be reconnected to Him. I pleaded and prayed, and the Lord, in His infinite mercy, He accepted my prayer.
I became baptized again to commemorate my decision. Immediately, upon coming out of the water, I felt the joy of Jesus flood my soul, like the sea billows roll, as the old hymn says…. I cannot wipe the smile off of my face!!🥲🥲💞💞🥳🥳 Just as I had felt at 9 but that had been missing those 3 years.
I count myself infinitely blessed to have been given another chance with Jesus, to be granted eternal life and heaven with Him forever, rather than the raging lake of forever fiery torment I (and we all) deserve for our sins.
I would challenge each of you to read the Gospel of John in the Bible….. the 4th book of the New Testament and get to know Jesus for who He really is…. Before rejecting Him outright.
He loved us all so much that He died a brutal and humiliating death on a cross, so we could be spared hell forever and receive the gift of everlasting life. John 3:16 May you all find and experience the joy of Jesus and Heaven forever with Him. 🙌🏻✝️✝️🙏🏻🙏🏻💞💞
I was freaked out by this story and so were my Christian school classmates. I used to chase the other kids with my arm up like Bobby.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! I have felt this fear for years! Ha! And so thankful to know other people have had this experience as well. Whewwwww….
ReplyDeleteYes!!! I hadn’t thought about this in years. Something my daughter and her friend said made me think of it. I described the picture and the story and they couldn’t believe it. Just a second of googling found the picture. There it was, just like I remembered!! I mean, WTF? I definitely slept with my arms down!
ReplyDeleteAs I sit here the first day of 2024 I found myself thinking of the story ,”Jesus Understood “. I read it as a child and always felt that was a warm testament to how Jesus Christ would care for the children as he looked upon them. Having thought about the story I searched it and found this blog made up mostly of people who apparently have been traumatized in their lives and blame a harmless story for their mental illness. It’s easy to see just by how much profanity is used in the comments… also I’m sure there’s a bit of Christianity hate going on here. People get some help and stop blaming stories for your illness. If you do, you’ll see, everything will be okay…
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to find out the name of this story for years. I always remembered it, not because I was traumatized but moved how Jesus took Bobby because his hand was raised, like he was telling Jesus he was ready. My mom thought i had made it up but I read it at the dentist office many times in a large hard covered book until one day it wasn't there any more. Thank you
ReplyDelete