My Bibles (and what I want in a new one)

 After sharing with you the saga of my Bible hunt, here is my post on the Bibles I already have. First, though, I want to tell you what I wrote to the people at Thomas Nelson (via Facebook). I am sure you will enjoy the giggle. I am surprised they were so nice and patient with me.

So, yeah, I might be asking a lot of a study Bible because they apparently don't make them the way they used to.

By the way, this will mainly be a photo post.

Anyway, Here is my KJV Study Bible from Thomas Nelson that I got back in 2004 and love, love, love for all the reasons listed in those messages. The biggest thing I can say is that everything in this Bible is just so extensive and detailed.

It's tri-tabbed (I guess that's what you call it when books are tabbed by 3's).

The TOC with my top faves marked:

The "How to Use" section breaks down what all the symbols and numbers mean. This is perfect for those of us who aren't used to using the center references or finding the markings on verses for the footnotes.

This is the only Bible I own (or have seen) that gives a list of the doctrinal footnotes. And the list is extensive. In addition to what's shown here, there's another page and a half. I look through some of these in between my Bible readings. 

This How-To section is 6 pages long and goes in-depth on studying by chapter or by book and even shows a way to conduct a family Bible study. Impressive and very, very helpful.

This is a section that is much like a "comfort" verse book. I have a purse-sized Bible Promise book that this reminds me of.

Keep in mind what I said about how extensive and detailed the features are. Almost every Bible I have seen has a sort of introduction to the different books. I feel like I am getting a short capsulized lesson on history and cultures when I read the ones in this Bible.

This is the outline for Genesis

I love the Psalms and I love how this shows in detail the sections of Psalms. There are almost 2 complete pages of this.

See what I mean? Even on the page introducing the New Testament, it's pointed out which of the apostles were Greek or Jewish and what their education and occupations were. It's the details, right?

 Okay, I could go on forever about that study Bible but let me tell you about these others. The NASB is considered to be a really good translation because it stays so true to the KJV. I have read in places that the NASB is actually equal to the NKJV but just lacks the poetics. I got this Bible in 2001 from a Christian bookstore in Anchorage that was the best ever. I hate that they ended up closing maybe 3 or 4 years (?) after I got this Bible.

It's got some good maps and timelines like this. They are starting to come loose from the binding. I will be trying to fix this with some hot glue. Maybe.

This one also does a good job of providing detailed footnotes. The print is not as dark and defined as in the KJV Bible but it's not bad.

As you can see, this one came without tabs of any kind and I had to put them in. 

Now, this Amplified Bible is the one I have had the longest - since 1998. I had a small KJV back then and I remember having so much trouble reading it. One of my friends told me about the Amplified version and gifted me with this copy. I don't know what happened to that KJV unless I re-gifted it to someone else. 

I should prepare you for this next photo. It was a long time ago and apparently, I didn't know nothing bout no tabs! I vaguely remember doing this using stuff from work. It didn't age well. The Bible is in decent shape but has a LOT of wear and tear.

This last Bible was a beautiful and thoughtful gift from my niece. She is artistic and I went through a stage of thinking I had talent. This is a 1-year Bible and that is the only way you can read it. The books are not in the normal order. I am not a fan of the NIV so I never use it. Still, it was from my God-child-niece so it will always be here.

Isn't it beautiful? It's even more vibrantly colored in person.

It does have some aids inside but since I never use it, that doesn't matter to me. I  do like making notes on the sides. I have considered getting a compact Bible with places for notetaking.

This truly is a Bible for an artistic person. Almost every page in it from front cover to back is meant to be colored and drawn on.

So there you have it. And now that you see my love for that old KJV Bible, I want to tell you something kind of funny about it. When I was looking for the same on but in NKJV, I was checking the copyrights and all the details. I learned that this was formerly published as "The Liberty Annotated Study Bible." 'Liberty' as in Jerry Falwell being listed as one of the contributing editors. It was published as "The Annotated Study Bible" and as you can see, it is in a cheaper, hardback version on Amazon. I was making a great salary back when I bought my KJV but I know that I didn't pay more than $40 or $45 for it (which would now be about 100 bucks, I suppose...).

No matter what you might or might not think when you hear the Falwell name, this Bible is the one to have. If I were you, finances allowed, I would snap one up. I understand that they are no longer in print. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing the different Bibles I have and understand what I am looking for in the NKJV now. 

Peace

--Free

Why I Returned the Wiersbe Study Bible NKJV

I was originally going be doing this big review of the Wiersbe Bible. As it turns out, I will mostly be reviewing my KJV Study Bible and what I look for in a study Bible. And I might as well tell you now that I packed up the Wiersbe Bible back up the same day I got it. I only needed to look at a couple of pages to know that it is not the study Bible for me. 

These are the photos I snapped quickly (because I didn't want to crease any pages):

It is a beautiful Bible but, other than a soft and pliable cover, I am not picky about the outside of them.

Comes with two ribbons, btw

Not tabbed at all

Now, this is the first important part...

The font is lighter & more difficult to read.

That was the first thing that put me off. Remember, this was supposed to be in LARGE PRINT. Nope. It wasn't. And because I sent this back and am expecting a refund, I made sure to save this:

As I said in another post, I wanted the NKJV because I hoped to get something easier on my brain than my KJV Study Bible. It's been my companion book for over 16 years, but I no longer have the ability to deal with the old English pronouns. I love my NASB Study Bible for bedtime reading but I prefer the poetic flow of the NKJV. 

This is my old Bible and some of what I love about it. For one thing, those thumb tabs...

The Wiersbe has no thumb tabs but I knew that. However, like I mentioned, not only was the print not "large" but it is also much fainter than that in my KJV as you saw in that previous photo. Since it's hard to imagine how that looks to me in person, let me emphasize it:

Is it me or is the Wiersbe's font even smaller???

Now, my KJV Study Bible is not featured as having large print. When I got it way back in 2004, I wasn't wearing glasses or contacts. I can see it much better than I could the Weirsbe. So, back it went. UPS picked it up this morning, thank goodness

I am still on the hunt for a Study Bible (NKJV) but for now, I am using my other Bibles.  Here are the ones I have that I will be comparing in my next post.

• King James Study 
• Amplified Bible
• New American Standard Study
• One-Year NIV

After you see the next post, I would love to know if any of you know of a Bible that meets my needs. I am sure you won't because I also need the Bible to be in the under-$50 range.

Peace

--Free

Do Bible Translations Matter?

I've heard the arguments before about whether or not Bible translations other than the KJV were accurate. Usually these arguments were nasty, heated exchanges that you would expect to hear in a meeting between the Klan and the NAACP... Just really mean and, well, let's just say that people can get upset over the discussion.

A long time ago, I got it into my head that all my nieces and nephews needed their own Bible. This is back when I was working and making pretty good money. I started going to the Christian bookstore every other payday or so and picking out Bibles I thought were appropriate for each one of my nieces and nephews. I remember buying the Adventure Bible, study Bibles, Teen Bibles, etc. I don't think that I bought any of the Bibles in the King James Version. My intent was that I wanted the kids to be interested in what they were reading and that it be easy to read. Eventually, I bought a Bible for each of them. I believe they all still have their copies today.

For myself - and this is when I was studying the Bible on a more regular occasion than now, even at one point setting myself the goal of reading through the entire Book - I bought various versions: the KJV, NIV, Amplied, NASB Study, John Hagee Prophecy, and Living. One of the reasons I'd given myself for using different versions was that they were easier to read & understand. (That comes up for argument later in a video I'm embedding.) I recently was going through some of my boxes of packed belongings and realized how many versions I had collected. The one I had kept out and available while I was busy moving from place to place (pillar to post?) was the NASB Study Bible. To be honest, I didn't often read it. Every now and then, when something came up in conversation, I would refer to the Bible.

Anyway, I was looking for more teachings on the faith and subjects of the faith when I ran across a video on YouTube that was about the controversy of modern translations of the Bible versus the KJV. I was surprised first that the speaker was not angry or ill-tempered. Next, I was fascinated by the information. Of course, as I listened, I pulled out my NASB and a KJV and began to take notes.

Wow.

In a nutshell, what mainly caused me to consider the argument for the KJV was comparing the Lord's Prayer from my NASB Study version to the KJV. Here is the first video of a series presented on YouTube:



There is another video - short and with a general chart - that more simply explains the sources of the various versions. The man presenting the information, Kent Hovind, can be a little more grating than Gail Riplinger from the first video I embedded, but the information is clear.



At any rate, I have not thrown out the other versions I have because I think it will be helpful to show others the differences, but I am now using the KJV for my study and use. (By the way, I don't know how exactly to explain this, but do you ever feel like, when you have learned something, that it's as if the knowledge was right there in front of you all the time & you were just missing it??? That's the way I have been feeling lately.)

What do you guys think? Do you prefer other versions to the KJV and why? Do you get what Riplinger and Hovind are saying about the other versions?

Peace
--Free

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.