The Present

Like many people when they hear of a new archaeo­logic­al disc­overy, I too eagerly await trans­lations to pos­sibly hear previous­ly unknown teach­ings or parables or words inside.

But one doesn’t need to wait for some­thing new to be dug up by others when the most widely printed book in the world is probably not too far away. This is very important in a time when many people in authority think tel­ling lies sends a good mes­sage. Also when it seems a sig­ni­ficant portion of the pop­ula­tion has been conned into going along with those lies.

As you can probably tell, I’ve found the Bible (& God’s Holy Spirit) to be so helpful I’ve put up this site to help others take an in­ter­est in read­ing the Bible, or other­wise learn­ing what’s inside, since not every­one can read.

• Please don’t gulp the Bible down by yourself.

No matter the religion, all books revered as Holy Books can be ex­tremely potent.

Please at least consider any of the MANY Bible study materials: free and com­mercial. Some Bibles come with com­mentary on every page. That can be help­ful since God is known to use metaphors, and isn’t exclusively literal.

Please also consider in-person meetings which are usually easy to find in the “more-free” countries.

Now is the main point of this site…for now. ;-) Provid­ing a hope­ful­ly brief over­view of the Bible and shar­ing some advice on how to read it.

One of the biggest dif­ferences you will en­counter among Bibles is the trans­lation. When was it done and who per­formed it? What language was it trans­lated from? There are many other nuances you will encounter.

As you might imagine I advise: trans­lations that sourced the oldest texts pos­sible and brought them into a fairly modern version of your favorite language to read, or listen to, as in the case of audio Bibles.

Some people go so far as to learn ancient languages the texts were written in.

My current personal favorite is the NIV, New Inter­na­tional Version. I’ve not pur­chas­ed a copy since the 1990’s or 2000’s and I think things have changed since the ver­sions I bought, but at least that gives you a place to start: NIV.

I hope you’ve heard of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It’s not in the Bible (at least in those words) but’s a good rule of thumb anyway. To extend that a bit further, don’t judge the whole ~ 800 page book by the cover, first and last pages. ;-)

Maybe you want a Bible to fit in a pocket. Maybe you want one with maps. Maybe you want a Bible with large print so it’s easier to read. There are also Bibles with Jesus’ words print­ed in red. And of course lots of permutations of each.

So please don’t just grab the first one you see, shop around and do some homework.

It’s important to know the Bible is not chrono­logical and wasn’t written by one person. It’s not like an equal­ly thick book at the book­store in the fiction aisles. Story books, text­books, manuals, and so forth are intend­ed to be read from front to back.

The Bible begins with Genesis and starts “In the begin­ning,” then has MANY more pages until the last book, Revelation, where the last chap­ters and last verses bring an absolute and firm warning about “The End,” “Judgement Day,” and a brief set of hints and metaphors for the future, “Heaven.”

But you’re in danger if you think each page in-between is a step for­ward in time past the page be­fore it, and a step be­hind the pages ahead. Or even if every book is an ad­vance­ment in time be­yond the previous ones.

The Future

This closing section changed some­what since learn­ing a tiny bit more about Jerry Blacklaw, who wrote one of my favor­ite relig­ious child­ren’s songs.

I’m hoping he’s still alive. I love his song He’s Alive and may enjoy play­ing my inter­pre­ta­tion for him.

Back in the middle 1980’s in a camp I work­ed for I was taught He’s Alive. I’m pret­ty sure I learn­ed it on gui­tar too, since I bought the spiral-bound “Songs” pub­lish­ed by ‘Songs and Creations Inc.’ of San An­sel­mo, Cal­i­for­nia.

Songs con­tains hun­dreds of well-known and les­ser known songs. He’s Alive is def­in­ite­ly one of the short­est. Almost as short as Row, Row, Row Your Boat which is also in­side, but much better known.

I hope I don’t offend Mr. Blacklaw, I really like his song and so did the kids I sang it to, over the years; they loved the clap­ping part. But I’ve always want­ed to add to, modify, or replace some of the lyrics.

I’ve not yet written a variation of He’s Alive but hope to. The lyrics could make you seem a little crazy to some people, like “I can see him” and “I can hear him call my name out loud.”

I definitely believe Jesus is alive, but as of yet haven’t seen him in the clouds or heard him call my name out loud.

Most people cut a lot of slack with regards to lyrics—especially lyrics they can’t quite make out because they’re enjoying and more focused on the melody. I could see kids loved parti­ci­pa­ting with the fun rhythmic clap­ping, as were adults not scru­tin­i­zing the lyrics, so I took it all with a grain of salt.

For the record, it’s written Jesus said after his resur­rec­tion, people should be wary of those who’ve claimed to have seen him or can take you to him. [Matthew 24:23, 26]

I am most definitely not saying to be wary of Mr. Blacklaw or anyone else who has sung that great song. The context of the line in the song is vague. The context Jesus presents in scripture is much more clear, as you’ll see when you read it.

Jesus is reported to have said the next time he comes back it will be on the clouds, and from the heavens, which I guess is an early form of saying from outer-space.

It will be such an awe­some dis­play no one on earth will be able to miss it. [Matthew 24:30; Matthew 26:64]

Not only will every­one wit­ness it, but the dead will be the formerly-dead.

My guess is most people will gasp “he is alive.” A very large group will cheer and shout “he’s alive” in all sorts of ways, some sound­ing like songs. And a smal­ler sub­set will be sing­ing Mr. Blacklaw’s He’s Alive, glad to sing the song in its fulfilled form.