You think it’s hard to read the Bible? Try writing it…by hand! Actually, not all by yourself. Find around 31,000 others and have them each write and submit a verse. Put it all together and voilà, in 9 months you’ll have a finished Bible.
Bible Across America, a special project commemorating the 30th anniversary of the New International Version, created the project and just sold one of the 2 copies on eBay for $15,000. Proceeds from the sale are going to Biblica. Read the full story here.
The Biblical Botanical Gardens Society in Florida is in the process of creating The Oasis, a 21-acre parcel populated with plants like hibiscus, bamboo, cacti, and a Jerusalem thorn. All the plants featured are species that Jesus lived among 2,000 years ago.
Tours and events will attempt to re-create first-century life, and donkeys, sheep, and camels will be sprinkled about to add further context and color. The cherry on top? “Sandals will even be provided to enhance the experience.”
A book club at Kirk in the Hills church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan is setting out to read the Bible in 90 days. The story has some good quotes from participants that touch on our motivations for creating What He Said. For instance:
“As a Christian, I thought [reading the Bible] was a good thing to do. But it’s a little intimidating to just crack it open and go cover to cover on your own.”
— Amy Maple
The founder of the Bible in 90 days program, Ted Cooper, added this:
But even though “so many people start reading the Bible, hardly anyone finishes.”
We would love to start having some Bible study groups and book clubs make What He Said their next selection.
If you’ve watched the original Star Wars (1977) lately, you quickly notice how things can get dated when viewed through the lens of current day. In reading through the Four Gospels as many times as we did in creating What He Said, what struck me was how timeless the text seemed.
Except for the demons.
Demons are everywhere in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus casts them out of people right and left. Sometimes they are even visible as they slink away. Other times, they speak (Matthew 8:31). Every time I come upon a demon passage, I “wake from the dream” for a bit, as I ponder how odd those narratives feel in a modern context.
What He Said has barely gone to press and now it looks like it is already dated. Christianity Today reports that the folks behind Conservapedia have decided to rewrite the Bible so that Jesus doesn’t seem too liberal.
Among the changes . . . Jesus no longer says “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” This was removed because it makes Jesus seem soft on sin. Also, in the Conservapedia version, Jesus has apparently changed his mind about material wealth. That will certainly help the camel slip through the needle’s eye easier.
Pollster George Gallup Jr. had this to say about Bible usage:
“Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it.”
Why? Tyndale House Publishers ran a survey and found that people in this country don’t read the Bible because: (1) they’re too busy – 64%; and (2) it’s too confusing and hard to understand – 80%.
Hopefully What He Said, in its size and page layout, will help addresses these two concerns.
Recent research shows that 92% of American households own at least one Bible and that the average household owns three or four (depending on the study). Less than 20% read the Bible on a daily basis, 59% read it “occasionally,” and the rest, presumably, not at all. Only 14% are involved in some sort of Bible study.
All of these numbers are down from twenty years ago, yet the Bible continues to be the #1-selling book, year after year.
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