Modern Life Study Bible - A Review

A while back I was contacted by a Publishing Company and asked to once again review one of Thomas Nelson's Study Bibles.  

I was not paid for my review or compensated in any way other than I was blessed with a copy of the Bible to review and allowed to keep it for my own personal study.

The Modern Life Study Bible is written in the New King James version which is one of my favorite Bible translations to read.  For those of you who may not know what the NKJV is, simply put it is very similar in wording to the KJV that so many people love but it changes up some of the old English terminology more into the way we speak today.  

This Bible is BEAUTIFUL.  It is very appealing to the eye with colorful maps and study helps on nearly every single page.  It is packed full of awesome stuff.  

There are 6 different things to look for as you read through this beautiful Bible. 

Book Introduction Pages:  Each book of the bible has an introduction page that gives a brief overview of the entire book and a section with key events, people or verses.  

Focus Articles and Insight Articles:  These articles give you a little better look into what you are reading and the history behind it.   

Person Profiles:  One of my favorites are the person profiles.  These give you a quick up close look at the people you are reading about.  It tells you things like where they were from, who they were, what they were best known for and so on.  

Place Profiles:  Place profiles give you the history of where you are reading about.

Life Studies:  Throughout this Bible you will see Life Studies.  These tell stories about real life Christians and their life struggles as they lived their lives for God.  

Overall I really like this Bible but I do have one complaint about it. I like my Bibles to have the Words of Jesus in red and with this being a study Bible I would have thought that would have been the case but unfortunately it is not. It does however have a nice amount of information and study helps without overloading you.  I would definitely recommend this Bible to a someone.  

Compass Study Bible - A Review

Recently I was asked to review the new Compass Study Bible by Thomas Nelson publishers.  This Bible is due to be released in early February 2014.  I was given a copy of this Bible to keep in return for my review of the product.  I was not told that my review had to be positive, only that it should be honest. 

This Bible is advertised as The Study Bible For Navigating Your Life.  It has many features that most of us have come to love in other versions and translations of the Bible such as:

*  In-text notes that include cultural, historical, theological, and devotional
    thoughts.  Notes are easy to understand and help give a better look at what
    the scripture is talking about. 

*  Introductions at the beginning of each book

*  Yearly Bible reading plan

*  Topical Guides to Scripture and notes

*  In-text maps plus several maps in the back of the Bible

The Compass Study Bible is written in the voice translation.  The Voice is a new and according to the publisher "a different sort of translation".  The Voice combines the relative strengths of scholars who are experts in the original languages along with modern writers, musicians, and poets who are skilled in their use of English, the target language of this translation.  It was their goal to make this version both "beautiful" and "readable" to an English-speaking audience.  The Voice is a combination of a word for word and a thought for thought translation. 

Positive:

Overall I am satisfied with this Bible.

The Voice translation is easy to read and understand.  I would say they definitely have reached their goal of having a translation that is both beautiful and readable.   I am a mom of teenage boys and I believe this version will be great for teens and also new believers because of its easiness to read and understand.  This study Bible is not loaded down with study notes like some study Bibles but yet is has enough notes to help the reader understand what is going on without overwhelming them. 

Something that is different about The Voice translation when comparing it with really any other translation I have read is that The Voice is written like a script to a play.  It is broken down into specific parts so there is no question as to who is speaking.

One of my favorite features is the road map to Gods promises section in the front of the Bible. There are several pages worth of topics concerning things that we face each and every day from being depressed, not satisfied, when you are experiencing fear to finding the will of God and many more.  While most people have access to the Internet to look up scriptures on any topic they can think of I like this being in the front of the Bible because the Internet is not always available. This list is handy and right with you when you are having your quiet time.

Negative:

As I stated above, I was not asked to give a positive review.  I was asked to give an honest review so here are a couple of things I have found about this Bible that I didn't particularly like:

The amount of study helps and notes written throughout the pages are very minimal compared to most study Bibles. 

And

All throughout this version of the Bible God is referred to as "The Eternal One" or "Eternal".  According to the publisher this is done to carry on the church's long-standing tradition of reverence for God and His name.  I understand what they are trying to convey to the reader and as a Christian I know the importance of holding the name of God and Jesus in high regard but for me reading "Eternal" or "The Eternal One" took away the personal side of my Heavenly Father God.  My Abba Father or daddy God.  It made Him seem untouchable and distant.

Since I already own a couple different study Bibles I plan on giving this one to my 15 year old because I think it will be a great help to him in understanding God's Word.  I personally enjoy a few more "notes" in my Study Bibles than this one has to offer but like I said earlier I believe the fact that this Bible is not loaded down with study notes like some tend to be it will make a perfect fit for teenagers and new believers. 

God's Word in my Heart eBook and A Give Away

My friend and fellow blogger Jenn at The Purposeful Mom has a new eBook being released today that is full of ideas to use with your children to help them (and you) memorize scripture. 

I received an advance copy of the eBook to review some time back and it is packed full of great ideas for learning scripture that you could use with your own children, a Sunday school class, etc. 

Jenn truly has poured her heart into this eBook with the hope and prayer that it will encourage you to spend more time in God's Word yourself and especially with your children. 

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Help your children hide God's Word in their young hearts and learn Scripture alongside them with God's Word in My Heart: A Scripture Learning Guide with Memory Verses!

To purchase the book, all you have to do is click the picture below and you will be directed to a page where you can make your purchase. 

 

 

This eBook includes:

• Ideas for teaching Scripture to your children, from the baby on up
• List of Songs and other Go-Alongs for learning Scripture
• List of specific songs that go with the memory verses
• Printable Scripture memory verses for use at home, school or church
• ABC Memory Verses
• Verses on Sin and Salvation

There are three versions of God's Word in My Heart available:

• KJV (King James Version)
• NASB (New American Standard)
• Variety (ESV, NIV 1984, NASB, NKJV

In this downloadable book are plenty of fun and meaningful ideas for teaching your children Scripture at all ages and stages, ABC Bible memory verses and verses about God's plan of salvation. 
The book is on sale for one day only - February 14th, 2013 for $1.99. 

After that the price will be $3.99.

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Now for the Give Away!  The Give Away will start at midnight on Thursday, February 14th and will run for 4 days until Monday, February 18th.  It will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Monday.  I will announce the winner on my blog and contact you through email on Tuesday, February 19th!

I am making this simple for you.  All you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this post that includes the following:  1) Your favorite Bible Verse and 2) Your email address so that if you are the winner I will be able to contact you. 

I will be using www.random.org to pick the comment.  First comment in (with Bible verse and email) will be number one and so on.  Random.org will pick a number from the total number of comments left for me - so it will be totally fair and of course random. 

Remember, included in your comment must be your favorite Bible verse and your email address!

**If you buy the book and are chosen as the winner of this Give Away, Jenn from The Purposeful Mom will refund your purchase price to you.**