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4.66 AVERAGE
4.66 AVERAGE
I read through the New Living Translation this past year. It's been a good year for insight and I feel that the more and more I read the Bible, the more I understand. This version is pretty easy to understand, but as always it's good to compare with other translations.
In 2018 I'll be reading The New King James Version.
In 2018 I'll be reading The New King James Version.
I have this in hardback and have read through it various times. It is an easy translation, not a paraphrase, but thought for thought. It is not good for serious Bible student/study, but wonderful for personal reading or devotion. I have recommended and purchased this version for many people.
I wish I would have read the Bible sooner. I'm so glad I did read and will continue to read it to understand His word better.
Once again, The Bible has helped to shape my life. I love this layout of the scripture, allowing me to read a Psalm or Proverb, one piece from the Old Testament and one piece from the New Testament.
2012 Reading Resolution: I'm doing the chronological reading plan on biblos.com to read the Bible in the year. I'm using the New International Version after a minimal amount of research*, and reading a bit of Albert Barnes' notes on verses that strike my curiosity.
I'm also using a pamphlet called "Friendly Bible Study" by Joanne and Larry Spears as a guide for reading. It has a set of questions to keep in mind while reading:
1-What is the author's main point (and possible biases)?
2-What new light do I find in this particular reading of this passage?
3-Is this passage true to my experience? (with the explanation that it's okay if it's not!)
4-What are the implications of this passage for my life?
5- What problems do I have with this passage? (If there's something that makes the reader uncomfortable, that's also okay, and it's ultimately good to examine why.)
So yeah. Let's see how many stars the Bible gets.
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Genesis: OK, I can finally say I've read the story of Creation & the subsequent Flood for myself. This is my reaction: it reads like a sci-fi/fantasy paperback, and not even really a very good one. I can't understand how anyone could take it literally. That's not to say that you can't find some theological/philosophical merit in it, but come on. "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) Genesis 2:10-12." And east of there is Winkie country, where the Tin Man rules. Early God gets pissed off a lot, and is kind of a drama queen. Actually, so is Noah, who, despite being one of the holiest people on Earth, got drunk & passed out naked & then when his son Ham found him and told his brothers (we have to assume in a mocking tone or something, cause there's nothing else that Ham really does wrong), Noah curses Ham's line to be slaves forever. Okay, then. The first part of the book of Genesis is clearly not where the great moral lessons are contained.
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By January 7th, I realized I needed a more readable text. The NIV is good for line-by-line Bible study, and maybe for praying, but for large chunks of storyline, I really need a contemporary translation. The New Living Translation is working a lot better, although I'm also looking over the "God's WORD" [oh, Lord] Translation, another contemporary language version. There are times when one catches the original better than the other, or one twists it just a little too much. If I run across a line that stands out, I look it up in the parallel translation page, and look through all the versions that biblos.com offers, including any commentary.
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I'm also using a pamphlet called "Friendly Bible Study" by Joanne and Larry Spears as a guide for reading. It has a set of questions to keep in mind while reading:
1-What is the author's main point (and possible biases)?
2-What new light do I find in this particular reading of this passage?
3-Is this passage true to my experience? (with the explanation that it's okay if it's not!)
4-What are the implications of this passage for my life?
5- What problems do I have with this passage? (If there's something that makes the reader uncomfortable, that's also okay, and it's ultimately good to examine why.)
So yeah. Let's see how many stars the Bible gets.
********
Genesis: OK, I can finally say I've read the story of Creation & the subsequent Flood for myself. This is my reaction: it reads like a sci-fi/fantasy paperback, and not even really a very good one. I can't understand how anyone could take it literally. That's not to say that you can't find some theological/philosophical merit in it, but come on. "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) Genesis 2:10-12." And east of there is Winkie country, where the Tin Man rules. Early God gets pissed off a lot, and is kind of a drama queen. Actually, so is Noah, who, despite being one of the holiest people on Earth, got drunk & passed out naked & then when his son Ham found him and told his brothers (we have to assume in a mocking tone or something, cause there's nothing else that Ham really does wrong), Noah curses Ham's line to be slaves forever. Okay, then. The first part of the book of Genesis is clearly not where the great moral lessons are contained.
************
By January 7th, I realized I needed a more readable text. The NIV is good for line-by-line Bible study, and maybe for praying, but for large chunks of storyline, I really need a contemporary translation. The New Living Translation is working a lot better, although I'm also looking over the "God's WORD" [oh, Lord] Translation, another contemporary language version. There are times when one catches the original better than the other, or one twists it just a little too much. If I run across a line that stands out, I look it up in the parallel translation page, and look through all the versions that biblos.com offers, including any commentary.
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Who reviews the Bible? It’s the Bible. The NLT version is fairly easy to read.
