(Part 2) Best products from r/Bible

To become a better person takes intentionality, meaning you have to make a decision to make a change every time something new and unwholesome presents itself to you regarding yourself. The Bible is certainly a plumb line on major things to do to become a better person, but it's also full of pictures of individuals who showed the way for being amazing people.

I've found that the more I study leadership, psychology, emotional intelligence, etc., the more I see a blue print for it in the Bible, in particular, demonstrated by Christ himself.

If you want to be the best version of yourself, study servant-based leadership. Jesus was a servant leader. The apostles learned from Jesus how to be servant leaders. Servant leadership is the mortal granularity that made the gospel so transformative and helped it spread like a wildfire. If you are essentially having to "sell" a new religious belief system in the 1st century, you've got to be able to believe the salesman as well as the integrity of the product, right? The product is salvation and the sales pitch is a new way of walking in freedom and living a wholesome, abundant life. Christ's leadership model did just that.

If you want some good reads on leadership, check these out, and then read the new testament chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Keep in mind, you don't need a title or position to be a leader -- that's what servant leadership is all about.

"Spiritual Leadership" by J. Oswald Sanders: Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence For Every Believer (Sanders Spiritual Growth Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802416705/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_u.ZhDbPEN8952

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652926/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ma0hDbTCSG70T

More leadership for business and for life:

"The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785288376/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cc0hDbRCMAGMZ

"The 5 Levels of Leadership" by John C. Maxwell: The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599953633/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6c0hDbK4RV56Y

Great question! I'm going to recommend two helpful books by Gordon D. Fee to you that I hope you will find very encouraging and easy to read. These are incredible, well written, non-technical resources to help us improve as readers of the Bible so that we can be certain we are reading the Bible as it was originally intended.

1. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
   https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Bible-All-Worth/dp/0310246040
   
   
2. How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0310518083/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0310518083
   
   Also I'd like to recommend some additional, more technical or scholarly resources that can help you in your study of Revelation specifically.
   
   
3. The ESV Study Bible
   https://www.christianbook.com/esv-study-bible-hardcover/9781433502415/spd/502415?dv=%7Bdevice%7D&en=google&event=SHOP&kw=bibles-20-40%7C502415&p=1179710&gclid=Cj0KCQjwq7XMBRCDARIsAKVI5QZrZ2Z-su8Xe2eUMq9AiYRO-aW1oI8w6RycLpq4E1d-M9_w8ze_AgIaAmrIEALw_wcB
   
   
4. The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation by Vern Sheridan Poythress
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0875524621?ie=UTF8&tag=ligoniminist-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0875524621
   
   
5. The Book of Revelation (NICNT) by Mounce, Robert H.
   http://www.wtsbooks.com/the-book-of-revelation-robert-mounce-9780802825377?utm_source=challies&utm_medium=challies
   
   
6. If you want to listen to a full class from D. A. Carson on the book of Revelation, here are 26 lectures that are very helpful.
   http://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library?f%5Bbook%5D%5B%5D=Revelation&f%5Bcontributors%5D%5B%5D=Carson%2C+D.+A.&f%5Bresource_category%5D%5B%5D=Lectures
   
   Praying the the Lord enriches your study and fills you with the knowledge of his will in Christ Jesus. Have fun!!

My favorite is a bit odd. I love the story of Hosea.

You have to read between the lines quite a bit, but God calls Hosea, a holy prophet, to marry a prostitute. He's thinking, OK, God, but I'm gonna have to make sure it's you first...lol.

So he marries Gomer, and they have a couple of kids. The way the Hebrew reads, the first is probably his, but the second, there is no mention of his being involved.

Then they split up. She could not remain faithful to him. Time goes by. Eventually he's going to the market, and there he sees her: on the auction block being sold as a slave.

God tells him to "buy back" his wife, and command her to live with him and him only from that point on.

The whole scenario is an analogy of Israel's relationship with God, and deeper than that, our relationship with God. We are, and have been unfaithful to God, repeatedly, and sold into slavery to sin. But God, through Jesus, bought us back to be faithful to Him.

It's a wonderful love story, and a great Biblical lesson. I love it.

There is a fictional re-telling of it by Francine Rivers, called "Redeeming Love" available at Amazon. I have not been paid for this endorsement...:)

Seems like a pretty cool, from what it looks like in the passage you have shown us, it seems to be a more Hebrew and Picturesque interpretation of the bible! My personal favorite version is ESV, mainly because of the fact it is the translation for one of the best and widely known Study Bibles out there.

Could you possibly share another excerpt from it showing more differences?

Thanks in advance and thanks for sharing! Also hello everyone, my name is RennuR(if you couldnt tell), and I'm new to this community! I look forward to being a good contributive member, and make it my goal to spread The Great Commission and learn and teach about the Bible!

There are so many. Since my eyes are too bad to read a "real" Bible anymore, I read on the iPad, so it's hard to say which of these would be my favorite to carry around with me anymore. In the past I've gone back and forth, and my most favorite isn't available anymore. I've never been able to find a new or used one other than the one I have, that I bought at a garage sale back in 1980something. But these are readily available:

• Dake's
  
• The Companion Bible
  
• Dickson's
  
• Thompson Chain
  
• The Open Bible
  
  All are fantastic resources for study. The first two might come across as "daunting" though. So packed with notes and outlines and references that you might feel overwhelmed. The Dake Bible leans heavily toward a more Pentecostal point of view, while the Companion Bible is very dispensationalist. But even if you ignore those parts, there is so much more than that in both of them. Take a look and you'll be shocked. The other three are also great, with a much less daunting and more inviting presentation, but still with a lot of great content to aid you in studying the Bible.
  
  Good luck finding what works for you. I'd love to hear back what you end up buying and using, and how you like it. I so miss the days of carrying an actual Bible :)

Hello, I am also spending this winter reading/listening to the Bible. I would like to recommend the Bible app by life church. TV, it is available for Android and the iPhone. Using this program you can instantly switch between multiple different versions of the bible and select the best one for you. With it you can make notes, highlight and bookmark the passages you are interested in. I find it helpful to switch between the King James version and the American Standard Bible. It allows you to learn how each of them are written. I find it best if I hear someone read the Bible to me, this app allows you download narrative text for pretty much all of the documents.

If you have time and a fan of audio books, checkout audible. com. These two audiobooks will give you an idea of what was going on during the years of Jesus, and the Apostles.
https://mobile.audible.com/pd/History/From-Jesus-to-Constantine-A-History-of-Early-Christianity-Audiobook/B00D8DI9PO?s=s
and
https://mobile.audible.com/pd/History/The-Other-Side-of-History-Daily-Life-in-the-Ancient-World-Audiobook/B00DDVPXJG?s=s

I would also like to recommend this Biblical time chart I have found it to be very insightful. It is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/Timechart-Biblical-History-Charts-Chronologies/dp/0785817530

My recommendation is not common, but I would recommend the RSV, NKJV, or perhaps the NASB. I would stay away from the NRSV, the NIV, and maybe even the ESV.

For beginning reading, you will find recommendations all over the map, ranging from start from Genesis and read all the way through, to start with Romans and then go from there.

Personally, I think the best possible place to start is the Gospels. And there, start with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Many will disagree with this statement, but I would maintain that the Gospels contain everything we need to know for our salvation. The Epistles are essentially extended commentaries on the Gospel teaching, Acts is a history of the early Church, Revelation is a book of prophesy.

I would couple reading and re-reading the Gospels for a time with reading out of the Psalms in the Old Testament, as well as Genesis and Exodus, Proverbs, and, if you get a complete Bible that includes the deuterocanon, the Book of Wisdom and the Wisdom of Sirach. These latter two books were used by early Christians as preparation to enter the Christian faith.

I think the best starting study guides for you would be the commentaries on Matthew and Luke by Lawrence Farley (a Canadian). I have gone through a ton of commentaries of all different levels. I wish these were around when I was starting out. They are, as the author describes, "written for your grandmother, your plumber, your next-door neighbor, and the girl who serves you French fries at McDonalds." The author also has a podcast called "The Coffee Cup Commentaries"

I don't know if you will ever find a direct answer to the question that you are asking. I personally believe believe that God reveals himself to us/mankind and it is incumbent upon us to accept or deny it.

^(Roman 1:18-20)

^(18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.)

So while "faith" may not be the answer you are looking for, I think even accepting faith requires some faith. I read both "How We Got The Bible" and "The Origin Of The Bible" and I think while very factual/textual there is some good information if you want to truly study the topic a bit.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for the kind words. You are correct the setting of the Bhagavad Gita is a battle between the Pandavas and the
Kuruvas and the 2 main characters are Lord Krishna and his noble devotee Arjuna who is a prince and is fighting against his own family and friends (who are in the Kuruvas side.) One thing to note is that in the beginning you will be introduced to Sanjaya who is a messenger to a blind King and he is telling him what is going on in the battlefield with his special vision.
Throughout the Gita Krishna teaches Arjuna about many concepts that are presented in Hindu philosophy.

To be honest I tried my best to read many versions of the Bhagavad gita but the best version I read was this one :


The Bhagavad Gita (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1586380192/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_a6.7ybMX89H0P


If you are a first time reader of the Gita the translator gives a brief description before each chapter of what you are going to read about. It even has a glossary in the back for terms that might seem new. Just a tip skip the few 50 pages, its a long intro about the authors life and etc.

Sorry for making this too long but I wish you the best in everything and may your God bless you.

>-Between size 8-10.5ish font (sometimes referenced as “comfort font”) but not “Giant Font” which is usually 12 and above which is way too large for me to follow a consistent thought.

FYI "Comfort Print" doesn't refer to a font size - it refers to the specific fonts Thomas Nelson/Zondervan commissioned from 2K Denmark - a company that typesets most new Bibles now.

>-Pages with regular thickness I would prefer not to read a “thinline” Bible, because those pages are often so thin that I would get distracted by the text from the previous page showing up behind the page as your read the text on the page you’re on. Also, generally to make a “thinline” Bible so thin, they have to shrink the text size anyway so it would likely not fit the second criteria of being at least a size 8 font.

Unless you've already looked at the newer comfort print thinlines in person and don't like the opacity, I'd reconsider your avoidance of them. I have a NKJV Comfort Print Thinline (the NIV one should be printed on the same paper) and the reading experience is identical when compared to the ESV Reference Bible I also have. The thing is - the ESV Reference Bible has a thicker paper.

This is because of the use of two things - titanium dioxide and line-matching. Titanium dioxide is a powder which scatters light - making a page more opaque. It also makes the page look more white. Line-matching is making sure that when a page is printed, the text on both sides match up with each other, instead of one page's text being shifted up or down. When you read the text you can't really see what's behind the page.

Also they make these thinlines with 10.5 pt font. Here. They only contain the text and the translators' notes which have always been a part of the NIV and every translation but the KJV (unfortunately).

Also, what are these "custom Bible making websites", just out of curiosity? I'm only aware of rebinders who will replace the cover and maybe make the spine stronger. If a company were to print the NIV they'd require permission from Biblica since Biblica holds the NIV's copyright.

I hope you find what you're looking for, and if you have any follow up questions feel free to ask!

You might check out the Amplified Bible. There is a new (2015) edition out. I haven't read it myself, but I heard a Russian Orthodox priest (in the U.S.) quote from it. Orthodox are probably the most conservative Christians that exist, so I suppose it should be safe.

Personally for the New Testament, I prefer The Orthodox New Testament. It's fairly pricy, though. There is a two volume version with commentary from the Church Fathers as well, but it seems to be out of print.

I don't know what to say about the Old Testament. The vast majority of the English translations available are translating the medieval Masoretic Text, which is not the original Hebrew. The oldest Old Testament we have is the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures dating to the 2nd century BC (i.e. around a millennium before the Masoretic Text). I have read in some sources that parts of the Masoretic Text were actually translated out of Greek back into Hebrew because the Hebrew had been lost.

If you are interested in the Septuagint, you might try the Old Testament part of the Orthodox Study Bible. If you are stuck on something that is Hebrew in some sense, then I would recommend the Oxford Jewish Study Bible over any Christian translation: at least the Jewish editors are pretty diligent about pointing out which verses contain Hebrew that is uncertain (there are hundreds). The RSV Old Testament does point out inconsistencies between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint from time to time in its footnotes.

If you do settle on the KJV, make sure you get one with all the books. Cambridge publishes a version that is faithful to the original KJV and contains all the "Apocrypha".

Double-check the context of 2 Peter 3:8. He's not anywhere close to talking about the creation, or the time-frame of it. That's not his point at all, or even a secondary point being made. He uses that phrase as an illustration of how concrete God's promises are. Notice that he's talking about those who "forget," then turns around to emphasize that God never forgets, and always keeps His promises.

As far as the time-frame for the Creation Week, it really is an "either or or" thing. Either it's literal or literary. As others have pointed out, making the days into centuries, or even thousands of years poses significant scientific problems: many things are totally out of order. If you're looking to meet the Bible's Creation account with the current scientific models of how things came to be, I highly suggest looking into the well-documented idea that the original audience of Genesis would never have assumed that the Creation Week was meant to be taken literal, but that it was more in line with what they would have called an "Epic." And that the main force of the text isn't history, but theology to show us who God is, and where man fits.

For further reading, and a really good discussion from many different perspectives, I recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598568884/