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The Word of Promise Next Generation – New Testament: Dramatized Audio Bible is a great addition to anyone’s library if you have children.  My own children know a lot of the actors from their various roles in currently popular movies and t.v. shows and this audio Bible certainly appeals to them.  The DVD that comes with it includes interviews with several of the actors, and it is obvious that some of them have a relationship with Christ.  It is just as obvious that some do not, although they try really hard to “talk the talk”, but my kids were encouraged by the ones that spoke of their relationship with Christ in meaningful terms.

I have listened to a couple other dramatized audio Bibles and the associated sounds and music would at times be distracting from the text being read.  That is not the case with The Word of Promise Next Generation version.  While some of the dialog did seem at times a little stilted, I was never distracted by it or the background sounds.  The actors read from the International Children’s Bible and it is a very understandable version for the target audience to use for listening to the Bible.  While I would not recommend it as the sole source of the Scriptures, even for the audience to which it is targeted, it certainly accomplishes the goal of getting younger teens to spend more time in the Word.

I listened to this this as part of Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger Program.

I have really enjoyed my copy of the The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World from Thomas Nelson. I come from a primarily “Protestant” background and the short introduction to the Orthodox Church was very helpful for me to understand just who is the Orthodox Church. I’m sure there is much more to know than the information contained in the short introduction, but it is a good starting point for someone who has no idea.

I found the other introductory material very informative as well, such as a chart showing differences between the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant canons as well as a short overview of all of the books. The introduction to each of the books is to-the-point. The font used in printing is easy on the eyes.

But what makes this Bible unique is the English translation from the Septuagint and the notes throughout the text. The Old Testament text is very readable and in modern vernacular. The verse notes are “stable,” in that they are based on a tradition that advocates reading the Scriptures in community rather than the latest fad.  I will continue to enjoy reading not only the Protestant canon but the Orthodox canon as well.

One thing I miss in this particular volume is a bookmark. I know, it’s a small thing, and there are plenty of things around I can use instead, but that would be a nice feature for future printings.

I read this as part of Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger Program.

I was recently accepted into the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program and my first book to review is on its way: The Orthodox Study Bible.  I am looking forward to reading the latest translation taken from the Septuagint, the version of Scriptures.

Features Include:

• Old Testament newly translated from the Greek text of the Septuagint, including the Deuterocanon
• New Testament from the New King James Version
• Commentary drawn from the early Church Christians
• Easy-to-Locate liturgical readings
• Book Introductions and Outlines
• Subject Index
• Full-color Icons
• Full-color Maps

We’ve had a lot of fun with the garden so far. Peppers are flowering and so are the tomatoes. You can see how well everything was growing on the 4th:

You can see here what it looked like when we first planted.

We went to pick blueberries and we ended up with eleven pounds. The lady there let us have a couple of shoots to plant.

We stopped at Farmer Moe’s in Graham and they were having an even better sale on their vetetable plants since it’s getting so late in the season. Buy one tray of four plants, get two trays free. Couldn’t pass it up, so we got sweet banana peppers, some more green peppers, and Roma tomatoes. We brought them home and planted them that night.

Here’s the expanded garden:

Mayberry has a great post with a video link that really makes the creation of money understandable.  Check it out here.

I’ve been thinking for awhile that our family should do a garden and yesterday we got some plants to start one with. Since it’s so late in the season, we got a great deal: $1.25 for four plants and it was buy-one-get-one-free. We put a total of $2.50 in the plants pictured here.

Today we got out in the yard, picked a spot with a lot of morning through mid-day sun, and got them all in. We have eight tomato plants on the left in three rows, and eight pepper plants on the right in two rows.

Ben Witherington recently posted an interesting piece on work and the curse. To quote a small bit of his article:

Work is something most of us share in common, and unfortunately too often even Christians succumb to the notion that work itself is a curse, even God’s curse on fallen persons. This is a most unfortunate reading of Genesis. Work is something God assigned Adam to do before there ever was a Fall. He was to fill the earth and subdue it. He was to be fruitful and multiply. He was called upon to name the animals and to recognize none of them would be a suitable companion or life partner. Apparently there was much work to do before the Fall.

It is in fact the toilsome nature of work that is a result of the Fall….

Read the rest of the post here. I know that I have personally been guilty of viewing work itself as the curse, not the toilsome nature of it. Ben’s post is a good read and I would recommend it.

Michael Spencer gives good insight on the belief that all religions are the same in his latest Coffee Cup Apologetics podcast:

There is in fact a great equality of religion. If we’re talking about religion as a system, as a set of teachings, if we’re talking about religion in the sense of the externals, the rituals, the history and so forth, then I think we can confidently say that all religions are equal. Because none of them can connect us to God. None of them provide a relationship to God. None of them can account for – and I’ll speak as a Christian – those things that are essential for relationship with God.

(Click here to listen to the entire podcast.)

How many times do we as believers find ourselves “performing” for God? We try to do better and not sin in an effort to make ourselves more pleasing to God. The fact is that while we do need to live a life of continually becoming more like Christ, we cannot do anything to make ourselves right before God, because “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6) It is only the justification we receive through the blood of Christ that makes us right before God.