A model Christian-Muslim discussion

Prof. James Anderson recommends a debate or discussion (or two) between Dr. James White and Imam Muhammad Musri: "A Model Christian-Muslim Discussion".

God wrote a book

A wall or a window?

(Source)

Hear the word

Happy New Year, everyone!

A good way to kick off the year is to acquaint oneself with the Bible to acquaint oneself with its Author.

With this in mind, Christian Audio is offering the ESV on audio for free. Please see here.

Also, Justin Taylor has several Bible reading plans to help.

聖經

"The Inerrancy of Scripture" by Vern Poythress is available in Chinese.

Introduction to James

"Introduction to James" by Evan May.

An evaluation of the NIV11

This looks informative:

"An Evaluation of the 2011 Edition of the New International Version" by Rodney Decker.

Speaking for myself, I usually read and quote from the ESV. I consider the ESV my primary English translation. But I read the NIV11 as well. Among others.

I try to read the Bible in other languages besides English when I can too. Although that's admittedly infrequent.

As Steve wrote, it's good to complement reading the Word of God with hearing it. I have a couple of different English audio Bibles I listen to from time to time.

Given this, perhaps it comes as no surprise to say I don't really have a terribly strong conviction over recommending a particular English translation. So long as it's not something like the NWT.

I do think, if possible, it'd probably be a good idea to try to tailor a translation to a particular person. Although this assumes, among other things, that we know the person well enough to say and that we ourselves are competent enough to do so.

For example, I have relatives and friends whose first and native language isn't English, although English is their primary language, if that makes sense. Similarly, I know people who are basically bilingual but seem to have average to maybe above average but far from great reading and listening comprehension, not to mention traces of accents, in both languages. In any case, some of these people have a difficult time grasping much if not most of how the ESV reads. (Forget the KJV!) So the NIV11 is actually helpful to them in ways that, say, the ESV ain't (e.g. the NIV11 reads a lot more clearly to them).

Anyway, just some of my random thoughts.

There is life in God's word

Also, make sure not to miss a recent interview with Keener on his book Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts.

My Bible Ain't No Thinline!

I finally got tired of carrying to church both my hardcover UBS Greek New Testament A Reader's Edition and my cheesy cardboard binding A Reader's Hebrew Bible. So today I had a great idea, instead of having a professional Bible binding company charge me for putting both of these testaments under one leather cover, I remembered I had a pighide leather NASB stored away from years ago (pighide symbolizes God making the unclean, clean). So I decided to rip the binding off both of my Hebrew and Greek Readers' editions, as well as the pighide binding from the NASB. All I did was use 5-minute epoxy and add two ribbons. And thankfully the pighide binding was a full-yapp, otherwise, it would not have wrapped around both Readers' editions. It weighs in at 2,356 pages of three thick inches of Hebrew and Greek!

Maybe Mark Bertrand will feature my Bible on his Bible design blog for creativity!

OK, it is not pretty, but it works. The Greek Reader is a bit longer than the Hebrew Reader, but it has character!

The story of a kingdom

From Jonathan Gibson:

The Story of a Kingdom has arisen out of four years work with international students. I have written it because I could not find Bible study material for small groups that explained the Bible at the level of someone whose second language is English. It is primarily for people who want to understand what the whole Bible is about; or put another way, who wish to understand Jesus in His right context. I follow the theme of God’s Kingdom through the Bible, using the definition: God’s people, living in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing. I seek to show how God’s Kingdom in the Old Testament builds up to prepare us for Jesus and His Kingdom in the New Testament.

NIV NT on MP3

An audio version of the NT (NIV) is available on MP3.

Audio Bible

I'm in the process of looking for an audio Bible for an older Christian, who has difficulty with reading because of his age. I got one years ago, which I still use, but I don't know much about audio Bibles. I'm looking for recommendations. The best one I've heard so far is David Heath's, which you can listen to here. (Put a Bible passage in the search engine and click on "Listen" in the upper left after the passage comes up on the screen.) I like Heath's rendering because there's no background music, his voice is clear, and it's not as much of a dramatic reading as others I've heard. In my experience, the more dramatic readings tend to be poorly acted, they would be better without the background music, you have to turn down the volume when the reader decides to (often inappropriately) raise his voice for some portion of the text, etc. Heath's rendering may be too subdued for some people, but overall it's the best one I've come across. I'd consider a dramatic reading if it's done better than the ones I've heard so far. I'm interested in recommendations. Or if you want to recommend one for the readers of this blog in general, without my specific circumstances in mind, you can do that.

ESV Study Bible

All eight available editions of the new ESV Study Bible can now be purchased from WTS Books.