What is a good bible to start off with if your new to Christianity?

Question

I was looking at "Start the bible for new believers by Greg Laurie" and it sounds really good for me, but I haven't looked at anything else really. So if you have any suggestions or books that really helped you that would be great, thanks.

Answer 1

ESV is what we use in seminary. It's a more literal interpretation. It's great.

Answer 2

There are many good renditions or translations of the scriptures.



My picks: The Jerusalem Bible, The American Standard, The Bible in Living English and The New World Translation



My favorite would be the NWT because it has restored God's name or the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH in all instances (7,000 times) that it was taken out and replaced with Lord. And Steven T. Byington, translator of The Bible in Living English, explains why he uses God's name: "The spelling and the pronunciation are not highly important. What is highly important is to keep it clear that this is a personal name. There are several texts that cannot be properly understood if we translate this name by a common noun like 'Lord,' or, much worse, by a substantivized adjective [for example, the Eternal]."



There has been much confusion over the importance of God's name. It is important to know it however because when Jesus Christ was on earth he left a model prayer in Matthew 6:9-15 which many religious people have recited for centuries. In verse 9 it says "Let your name be sanctified". If people are just saying God or Lord they are not sanctifying his name which in English is Jehovah.



Psalm 83:18 That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah,

You alone are the Most High over all the earth



Here is a link with the NWT and What Does the Bible Really Teach and other Bible Study Aids. You can access it on this web or write to them to have it mailed.

http://www.watchtower.org/e/publications/index.htm

Answer 3

I went to church for a while and nothing much made sense to me. I read some things from the library which helped a little but the JW's put out free publications including regular bibles and a small book called "what does the bible teach". It takes you through the basics and shows you how to look up your bible and use it as well as what it is all about. You can get a free bible from them or pay for one elsewhere depending upon your person choice, everyone has different preferences. But as I said, all their publications are free and very helpful. Just pop along to their website and they will send what you want out to you, no obligation, no cost. Even the "my book of bible stories" are great to get an overall of the bible with Adam and Eve story through to Jesus life, death etc. My kids love it and I enjoy reading it to them. They also do no obligation free bible studies too.

http://www.watchtower.org/

Answer 4

I am in agreement with @A Zebra Striking.



I would add though a Bible aid to understanding what you read. Unless you have a photographic memory, you can not remember all the points to know exactly what God's views are. It is around 2,000 pages after all. That is why in addition to just reading it, study by subject is vital to "accurate knowledge" the Bible stresses.



"And this is what I continue praying, that YOUR love may abound yet more and more with accurate knowledge and full discernment; 10 that YOU may make sure of the more important things, so that YOU may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ, 11 and may be filled with righteous fruit, which is through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise." (Philip. 1:9-11)



The best to gain an accurate understanding of just the basic truths is a book called "What Does The Bible Really Teach?" It is available in soft back, for viewing or for download at watchtower.org and jw.org. What you do with it is to look up all the scriptures listed as it tells the Bible's view. Do not make the terrible mistake most make of trying to place their own meanings to the Bible. That is how we get over 38,000 religions claiming to believe ion the Bible in the US alone.



Instead, this book gives the Bible interpreting itself. You read a scripture wanting to know what it means? Other scriptures will explain the meaning. Example: In Revelation, it speaks of beasts with horns. Does that, as some believe, means unicorns? No. In both Daniel and Isaiah, beasts are used to describe political world powers and nations. That is why a study by subject is vital to understanding.

Answer 5

The Revised New American Bible is very simple to understand if you never read a Bible before. And considering that the translations from Latin to English were made in accordance to His Church to make it authentically as close to the Clementine Vulgate translations. If you get the St. Joseph's Edition you get extra stuff like detailed maps of the ministry travels of the Apostles, historic information about each book within the Bible, and the doctoral references of His Church.

And unlike any Protestant Bible out there today it comes with the Dueterocanonical Books which were originally part of the Alexandrian Hebrew Bible which the early Christians used for their Old Testament.

The Old English of the King James Version makes it very difficult to understand what you read. Not to mention that the Church of England which wrote it broke away from the Catholic Church so doctoral wise it's not accurate to the Vulgate.

Answer 6

Peace.



The transmission i.e., the copying of the manuscripts/ scrolls in the original languages over the

centuries have been remarkably accurate.



You need to be aware of the errors in translating however. Please see a few.







1 John 5:7-8 (Good News Translation)

7 There are three witnesses:8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and all three give the same testimony.





1 John 5:7-8 (King James Version)

7For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

8And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.





1 John 5:7-8 (New International Version, ©2011)

7 For there are three that testify: 8 the[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Footnotes:

a. 1 John 5:8 Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century)





1 John 5:7-8 (New Living Translation)

7 So we have these three witnesses[a]—8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree.

Footnotes:

a. 1 John 5:7 A few very late manuscripts add in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth.







Revelation 1:11 (Good News Translation)

11 It said,

Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.







Revelation 1:11 (King James Version)

11Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.





Revelation 1:11 (American Standard Version)

11 saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.



1 Timothy 3:16 (New Living Translation)

16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith[a]:

Christ[b] was revealed in a human body

and vindicated by the Spirit.[c]

He was seen by angels

and announced to the nations.

He was believed in throughout the world

and taken to heaven in glory.

Footnotes:

a. 1 Timothy 3:16 Or of godliness.

b. 1 Timothy 3:16 Greek He who; other manuscripts read God.

c. 1 Timothy 3:16 Or in his spirit.

Answer 7

I read Zondervan's NIV Quest Bible and find it very helpful. It has a margin on each page that answers common questions, plus larger text boxes for more in-depth answers. I love it and have learned so much from this version!

Answer 8

The New English Bible or the RSV------The KJV has too many mistranslations and archaic words, that mean different things today, The Living Bible, and other paraphrased texts are slanted to specific interpretations

Answer 9

The thing you got to ask yourself is do I feel lucky? JK. Actually, you need to ask yourself are you Catholic or are you Protestant. If you are Protestant I recommend you become Catholic. JK. A popular bible is the NIV. If you are Catholic I recommend the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible with commentary.

Answer 10

Unfortunately "Bibles for new Christians" is not my area of expertise, but I do have two recommendations that you can compare with the options you are already considering.



1) NIV "The Learning Bible"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585166812/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwjimpettico-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1585166812

Though the NIV is a moderately biased Bible (conservative evangelical), the study notes in this Bible are very easy to understand, unbiased and answer the obvious questions that the Bible text causes people to ask. I always recommend this to youngsters (under 15), or the easier-to-read and less biased CEV edition. (The CEV is an easier-to-read Bible version than the NIV, and without going into reasons it is best only for people who need a very-easy-to-read Bible).



2) ESV Study Bible

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/143352869X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwjimpettico-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=143352869X

The ESV Study Bible is more of a scholarly study Bible and less of an introductory study Bible, but the notes are of the sort that I think would be useful to new Christians. The ESV, like the NIV, is biased (in fact, the ESV was intentionally designed to compete with the NIV). Here is my preliminary review of the ESV Study Bible (click on "My overall impressions")

http://www.bibleselector.com/r_esv_ss.html





The primary difference between the two is that the ESV is more "scholarly", addressing Bible subjects in much greater detail than The Learning Bible. The Learning Bible study notes are written in a style that reminds me of "junior high" history or social studies books. They are very easy to understand and explain answers only to the most common questions about the Bible text - not answers to detailed, historical in-depth questions about the Bible text which are addressed by the ESV.



I recommend that you read the reviews at Amazon and compare them to the reviews for the other Bibles you are considering. Here is the Bible that you mentioned in your question:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1418544019/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwjimpettico-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=1418544019



- Jim, http://www.BibleSelector.com/

Answer 11

Jeffersonian Bible.

Answer 12

I highly recommend the "NIV" version, or "The Message" which uses a more contemporary style of English.

Answer 13

Ceiling Cat Bible.

http://www.lolcatbible.com



Also what Lagerbaer said.

.

Answer 14

Try this nice annotated bible with lots of comments and marginal notes, you can read it online for free:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Answer 15

Lager is right. That's my bible of choice.

Answer 16

'new' is not a noun, so it cannot be possessed by 'you'.

Answer 17

Do you mean



If YOU'RE new?