In the Mail today

I just got my copy of:

Romans and the People of God: Essays in Honor of Gordon D. Fee on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday

Thanks to Nick for making me aware of this book.  I did purchase the hard back copy, I hope to have this book for a long time.

ESVSB available for purchase on-line

If you didn’t want to buy the hard copy of the ESV Study Bible (ESVSB), it is now available for purchsase on-line for only $19.99.  I think it’s a bargin, so if you are interested check it out.

ONLINE ESV STUDY BIBLE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

John Piper who?

I am currently teaching on Salvation at my church and I am presenting both points of views, obviously I hold to a Classical Arminian position but I was just trying to point out popular teachers who hold to the Calvinist position.  Yesterday in my class I asked the students (around 3o in attendances) if they had heard of John MacAruthur, about half lifted up their hands (we are in California), then I asked if they had heard of John Piper, only one person lifted up their hand.  I thought it was pretty funny that none had heard of John Piper!  Go figure.

Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise???

TNIV – Where have all the bibles gone?

I have gone to 4 major Christian bookstores and have been unsuccessful in finding a TNIV. Only one out of 4 of the Christian bookstores that I went to carried the TNIV. Borders and Barns n’ Noble carried the TNIV, but I was only able to find just one or two copies. NIV is easy to find, as a matter a fact at one Christian bookstore they had 8 shelves of NIV bibles to choose from, in all sorts of shapes, sizes and styles. TNIV is a great translation, and most experts will say that it is even better than the NIV. Why is not available at Christian Bookstores? I just read this update from Anwoth regarding bible sales. NIV continues to be the number 1 selling bible in both categories Dollar/Unit sales. But the TNIV did not even make the top 10 list. KJV is holding both 3, and 2 spot, and the NLT seems to be doing well.

This is disturbing news. Will the TNIV fall away because no one carries it? Or will it survive due to a grassroots movement? Zondervan does not seem to be pushing or properly marketing the TNIV as it’s main bible and continues to offer new and great products for NIV, but not TNIV.

The bible that I thought would fade away was the HCSB, but looking at both Dollar/Unit sales it appears to be doing excellent. It is holding both 2, and 3 positions.

The other interesting point was the drop for the ESV bible, down to 6th in both places. Other points of interest were Study or Specialty Bibles.  Wesley Study Bible (NRS) number two spot and it was just released in Feb. 2009?  I thought the ESV Study Bible was the number one best seller it comes in 9th place?  See for yourself who holds the number one spot, yet again another surprise.  For the full reports go to CBA Best Sellers List.

Based on what they say on their website they are only tracking sales at Christain Book stores.  So these charts do not give us a proper indication of true Dollars/Units sales.  It does not take into account sales from Amazon, or bookstores such as Borders.  I just wonder how much it would change if it did?

A full Systematic Theology on the Holy Spirit, is it possible?

Dr. Rodman Williams in his book “A Theological Pilgrimage” writes:

Here there are a wide variety of testimonies – and in large part this is due to the fact that we are talking about the Holy Spirit. To try to track the Spirit is a little like tracking the wind; it is indeed hard to accomplish! “The pneuma blows where it wills….” There is about the Spirit an unpredictability, a freedom that makes suspect any claim that “this is exactly the way it always happens,” etc. The Spirit has a way of moving not according to our plans and schemes but according to His own sovereign intention. So the dynamic movement of the Spirit cannot be charted but occurs in an unlimited number of ways and situations. Blueprints are out!

Do you think based on what he is saying that it is possible for a Theologian to develop a complete Systematic Theology on the Holy Spirit?

The Story – Book Review

Book & Bible Cover Size: Medium
Page Count: 464
Paper Edge Description: Plain
Type Point Size: 11
Size: 5.9 wide x 8.8 high x 1.5 deep in. | 150 wide x 223 high x deep 38 mm
Weight: 1.445 lb | 654 gms
Available: February 2005
World excluding the United Kingdom and Europe
Strategic Alliance: Livingstone
Publisher: Zondervan

I came across this book while browsing at Borders book store.  I was intrigued by it because of it’s unique layout of the bible.  The whole purpose of this bible is to get you to “read the bible as one incredible story from beginning to end”  The text being used is the Today’s New International Bible (TNIV).  What they have done is place the books of the bible in chronological order, and have also trimmed it down.  Now by chronological order I don’t just mean that they placed the books in order, no they actually insert different sections of different books in the order that they belong.  For example you are done reading the story of Noah and the flood, suddenly you find yourself reading about Job, that’s just one example.  You won’t find the traditional names of the books of the bible in the table of contents either, they have all been renamed and re-chaptered.  The other thing missing in this bible is all of the chapter and verses, and not all of the books of the bible are included, nor are any of the books complete.

The texts were chosen to retain the overall flow of the narrative, so that when you read this story, you will get a sense of the “big picture” of the Bible.

Why read this you ask?  Because it is a great why to read the bible to better understand it as a complete story.  They have worked really hard and making it feel like a novel.  I think it is very useful for those of us who really struggle reading through the Old Testament, and for those of you that don’t I would still recommend you get one and read through it.

They have inserted transitional paragraphs that summarize sections that have been removed to help keep the story in sync.

They have also retained some of the footnotes from the TNIV, but they have also added other footnotes to add help clarify the meaning of certain words of phrases.  For Example: Consecrate: To dedicate a person or thing to God’s service

Our goal was to make the Bible read smoothly and easily, so that you can read it just like you’d read a novel.

What I like about it?  I really like the fact that there are no number verses to found, and the traditional chapters and headers have all been removed.  When you start to read it, it really does feel like I am reading a really great book with great stories, but in fact I am reading God’s word.  It has been very rewarding, and at times I can’t even put it down.  I cannot stress how much more reading I do with out all of the typical bible distractions (i.e. chapters, verses, references, footnotes, study notes, etc) that we have.  Sometimes I do wonder what chapter I am on, or verse, but then I just keep reading and not worry about it.  It comes in a hard back and I would not mind seeing it published on a better binding as it appears to be glued.

For those you (us) that do wonder what sections of the bible you are reading they have provided a Chart of References that tells you what chapters of the bible you are reading.  It also includes at the back of the book Discussion Questions, Characters (describes various people of the bible), & the Chart of References.

The challenges of staying current

I have noticed recently various bloggers that have slowed down (including myself).  I am sure that each for different good reasons.  Personally I have slowed down just because I have been so busy with life and work.  With the economy the way it is I really needed to hunker down and make sure that I am working at my peak.

Also, I have had a lot of things on my mind and have been reflecting on various aspects of my life.  I do plan to keep posting and hope to have some interesting posts soon, well at least interesting to me

I also cut back on the number of blogs that I follow through Google Reader.  I brought it down to 40 blogs — man that is a lot of blogs to follow.  I’ll be honest I am really behind, I have 324 unread blogs.  So if I pop up and comment on your blog and I am like two weeks or more behind and you have moved on, just ignore me

ESV Study Bible on Mobile Device

I have been using the ESV Study Bible on my mobile device (Palm TX) over the internet and it has been working really great.  It does not use frames, and has it all in a single colum with hyper-links (I don’t know if it is my browser that reformats it or not?).  It works really well.  Although I am not very comfortable reading long term on such a small device, but none the less it is really cool to be able to have the full study notes of the ESVSB on my device.

Again, this only works if I am connected on the internet, so it is limited for me since my device only supports WiFi. If you have another device like iPhone, or something then obviously you would have interent access all the time.