What I love about "worldly" Bibles

civicsi00

When I was still a Witness, I used to peek into "worldly" Bibles just to see if there were any differences. What I really LOVED about these so-called "worldly" Bibles was that some of them changed the font color of Jesus' words to RED. I always wished the Society would bring more emphasis to Jesus' words, maybe just putting them in Bold or something.

Anyone else ever feel this way?

(By the way, I can see that if the Society DID do this, it would probably bring more people OUT of the "truth" than bring them in... Jesus said some very powerful, meaningful things...)

abbagail

Hehe, I had never seen a red-letter Bible in my JW days so it never crossed my mind.

However, the WT used to either publish and/or sell "worldly Bibles" and I had a copy (1980s) of every version the WT sold, and I did love to lay them all out and compare the wording of various verses. Praise the Lord for the Internet where now it is a piece of cake to do that online! ;-)

Those WT "worldly Bibles" were:

American Standard Version - little maroon hardback

King James Bible - little maroon hardback

The Bible in Living English - big blue hardback - Stephen T. Byington

The Jerusalem Bible - big giant heavy sucker! hardback

American ??? Bible, St. Joseph's Edition (it was a Catholic Bible) - big green hardback ... and yeah, the WT sold a Catholic Bible! Shockeroooo!

Narkissos

We have a few of those red-letter editions in French for the fringe portion of the "evangelical" public which asks for them.

I wonder why they never thought of highlighting "God's words" in the OT as well.

snowbird

Reading a red letter Bible got me to thinking really hard about the WT.

I was in the Book of Acts, chapter nine, and came across Jesus' instructions to Ananias.

It shocked me to see the words of the Risen Lord in red!

I'd always been under the impression that, post-ascension, He had humans speak for Him.

That little shocker started me on the road to questioning the validity of the FDS.

Sylvia

Elsewhere

I'm going to go find some of my favorite books and highlight the dialog of my favorite characters.

Luke.... I am your father.

Nooooooooo!!!!!

Finally-Free

What I noticed about "worldly" bibles when I was a JW was that I couldn't find my way around in them. I'd get into discussions with people at the door, and when they handed me their copy of the bible I often couldn't find the passage I was looking for. The times I could find what I was looking for the passage wouldn't support the argument I was making.

It seems that I was well versed in using the NWT, but not the bible itself. So much for being part of a "bible educational" work. My "proof texting" relied entirely on the JW version of the bible.

W

passwordprotected

I only learned about red letter Bibles last September when I was given one by the Jedburgh Baptist Church. I have that one, plus a red letter bonded leather NIV that I use in church.

BurnTheShips

I have a red-letter KJV.

BTS

Meeting Junkie No More

Great thread!

I had already picked up a New American Bible pocket version at a second-hand store some years ago, but this past weekend (again at the second hand store) got the medium illustrated edition (also St. Joseph's edition). It had never before occurred to me just who this St. Joseph is. Got looking at the pictures and the captions underneath and find out St. Joseph is Jesus' (earthly) father, Mary's husband. Now there's someone the WBTS leaves so far in the background that he never so much as left a blip on my radar. I found it refreshing to actually find out a little about how much he is looked up to in Catholic 'tradition' - I am beginning to find out just how much is really missing from JW theology.

I love 'wordly' Bibles and see now just how threadbare and stripped the NWT actually is.

palmtree67

I've been reading the Bible called "The Message". It's in modern english and I like that it gives a llittle overview introduction of what each Bible book contains. I reccommend it.

What I love about "worldly" Bibles

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