KJ Bible Versions

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

>>>>> "MIKE" == MIKE HARVEY <mikeh@california.com> writes:

    MIKE> At 04:48 PM 10/14/95 -0500, you wrote:
    >> My Bible's spine has split, so I guess this means a new Bible.
    >> Cambridge is no longer publishing my version.
    >> 
    >> Before I make the plunge, I would like to hear comments that
    >> you have on the Bibles.  I was thinking about the Ryrie
    >> version.  I am going to stay with King James because that is
    >> what is used at church.  I do not need to be reading one
    >> version while being preached to in another.
    >> 
    >> If you have any suggestions I would appreciate hearing them.
    >> 

    MIKE> Sister in California the # 1 saints Bible is the Thompson
    MIKE> Chain Refrence Bible.  The preachers who do not use TCR
    MIKE> usualy carry Dakes (which I also use but do not recomend for
    MIKE> general use.)I have bought Thompsons for everyone in my
    MIKE> family Wife,Daughters, Son in Law mom etc.(just I my Humble
    MIKE> oppinion you cant go wrong with Thompson cost is around
    MIKE> $55-90 depending and size you like

I have used Thompson Chains since 6 months before I got the Holy
Ghost.  My first one was given to me by an evangelist.  I did some
electronic work on his CB radio (those were the good old days -- May
1978-- heh heh! sliders, extra crystals, peaking the final...), and so
he paid me with a real live already marked-up preacher's Bible.  He
had wisdom, because it really got me into the Word.

I replaced that bible in October of 1978, at a tent revival, when the
audible voice of God spoke to me and told me, "Buy Greg a Bible."
Greg was a young man who had recently received the Holy Ghost.  He had
admired my "preacher's Bible" on several occasions.  I gave it to him
the next time I saw him.  I bought a new Thompson Chain at that tent
revival. 

The significant thing about that experience was that although I had
been baptized in February, and seeking at the altar since then, I had
also been an athiest for 14 years before that, and still had serious
doubts about the existence of God, even though I was devoting
considerable time to the study of his Word and attendence at services.
My prayers always went something like "Oh God (if there is a God)...",
which is not the way to receive the Holy Ghost, but I couldn't help
it.  How could I pray in honesty to a being that I was not sure even
existed?  Well, after He spoke to me, in an audible voice, I deleted
the parenthetical expression from the prelude to my prayers, and
received the Holy Ghost a few short days later!

I bought my third Thompson Chain the following summer, after the Lord
had given me a wife to whom I was engaged by then.  I bought her one
at the same time too.  I just retired that one I bought for me this
year, but it was getting pretty ragged several years ago, so when
asked what I wanted for christmas, I said a new Thompson Chain!  My
poor old one really got ruined 2 winters ago when snow got dropped on
it by a windshield wiper starting when the car door was open and
sweeping a big wad of snow on the Bible that was in the door pocket.
I did not notice it, and as I drove, the heater melted the snow.
Well, its not a good idea to baptize Bibles, not even by sprinkling.
The pages got all crinkled and hard turn turn with lightning speed in
sword drills, etc., but I hung on to it for 2 more years because it
was all marked up and I loved it.

I never really put that most recent Thompson Chain into service other
than inside my home, but a few months ago I bought my first Dakes.  I
both like the Dakes and hate it at the same time!  Dake was a
trinitarian, and so some of the margin notes can be pretty iritating,
but most of them are quite good.  Dakes is generally considered a
preacher's Bible, and I have to agree.  I would not recomend it to a
new convert, or even a saint, unless I knew that saint was very well
founded in our doctrine, but given a good foundation, Dakes is an
excellent second Bible, after the Thompson Chain.

While Dake's notes contain a lot of interpretation, and Dake was a
trinitarian, Thompson's notes are basicly topical correspondences,
without very much interpretation.  Thompson's is a good Bible to find
stuff in; Dakes is a good Bible to study stuff in, and in  great
depth.  Scoffields Bible is also highly held by many, although most of
that many are Baptists or ex-Baptists.  He too was a trinitarian, and
there is even some real dirt on him hurled out into cyberspace from
time to time on alt.christnet.bible, but I haven't had time to verify
the allegations made therein.

A friend of mine who is not a minister [yet!] really likes the Life
Application Bible.  I have not had a chance to give this one a fair
examination, but a quick look leads me to believe that it is a good
bible for a new saint, at least in terms of layout and organization.
I haven't had the opportunity to feel out the slant of the
interpretations yet, so I will let others comment on that if they have
had a good look at it.

If I had to pick a minimalist list of books to study the Bible with,
it would go like this, in priority order:

   1.  A Thompson Chain Reference Bible, King James Version, or a
       Dakes Annotated Reference Bible.  Dakes is my second choice if
       the Bible is the only book, but maybe first choice if other
       books are added to the list.

   2.  A Strongs Exhaustive Concordance, with the Greek and Hebrew
       lexicons.

   3.  A good dictionary of the English language, Oxfords is first
       choice, Webster's Unabridged is second.

   4.  A Bible dictionary, such as Ungar's.

   5.  A laptop computer with "The Online Bible" on it.

   6.  A Word Aflame Press book catalog.

The last 2 items are not really books at all, but sources of reference
material.  Indeed, The Online Bible would replace numbers 1 & 2 on my
list above, but I have yet to see a preacher use a laptop instead of a
bound book for a Bible over the pulpit.  That day is coming though!

Bro. Jerry Caesar and I are working on the web server here at
eli.wariat.org, and my own pet project is to produce a WWW version of
The Online Bible.  Jerry's pet project is free home pages to UPC
churches and groups.  We just added over 500 MB of disk space to be
used for this purpose.

-- 
--"Hear now my reasoning, and harken to the pleadings of my lips." [Jb 13:6]--
Robert Jay Brown III  rj@eli.wariat.org  http://eli.wariat.org  1 708 705-0370
Elijah Laboratories Inc;  759 Independence Drive;  Suite 5;  Palatine IL 60074
-----  M o d e l i n g   t h e   M e t h o d s   o f   t h e   M i n d  ------