Column from the Middletown Journal
by Pastor Dave Kepple
June 29, 2002



Every once in a while, my son will spot me reading a Bible. Then he asks me in a deadpan voice, "Read any good books lately?"

At first I didn't catch onto his word-play, centered around the habit some have of referring to the Bible as "the Good Book." Eventually I got it!

So what about you? Read any good books lately?

And if so, which one?

Aye, there's the rub.

So many Bibles, so little time.

Things seemed much simpler when I was a child. I know other Bible translations were around back then besides the King James Version, but I don't recall anyone using them. I didn't crack open the Bible very often myself, but when I did I remember being put off by the complexity of the language. I mean, this God stuff is challenging enough without having to decipher Shakespearean English, too!

A lot has changed in the last 40 years or so. Today there are so many different types and styles of Bible translations, paraphrases and "translational paraphrases" available, it can get downright confusing!

Glancing at my own bookshelf, I see not only the King James Version in all its glory, but also various copies of the popular New International Version (NIV) -- including a couple devotional editions. I see not only the Revised Standard Version, but also the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which features gender-inclusive language for people, while retaining the traditional trinitarian language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I've got a wonderful Roman Catholic Bible, the Fireside Study Edition of The New American Bible, which has some of the most useful study notes of any of my "study Bibles." (My wife found it at a garage sale!) I've got a skinny New Testament (with Psalms and Proverbs) that slides into my pocket.

I've got the relatively new Contemporary English Version, and then, of course, there's Today's English Version, which actually dates back to the 1960s. There's The Living Bible, sometimes marketed as The Book; and the New King James Version, which contains much of the same old language of the KJV, but does away with the worst of the "Thees and Thous" and such. And then there's one called The Message. Well, actually, it's three volumes, because The Message -- a translation by Eugene Peterson -- has been a work in progress for more than a decade, coming out in bits and pieces as Peterson works his way through scripture. (A complete version of The Message covering the entire Bible will finally be published in July.)

Just last Sunday, one of our church members told me how much she appreciated hearing scripture read from The Message on occasion. She's not alone. Peterson excells at putting the language of the Bible into the tone and the rhythm of the way most of us actually think and speak.

I look at all these Bibles on my shelf, and I see a tool kit. The NIV and the NRSV are invaluable for the accuracy and quality of the translations. The King James Version, with its incomparable beauty, cannot be matched when it comes to the marvelous poetry of the Psalms, or the timeless wonder of the Christ-child's birth in Bethlehem. The Message or The New Living Translation can open up God's Word in a whole new way to people who might otherwise never give the Bible the time of day. And so forth.

Some people worship the Bible. I don't count myself among their number. I worship the Holy One to whom the Bible points, and whose love for all is revealed within its pages. I revere the Bible, which is an entirely different thing. And I am awed by its power -- especially its power for healing broken human lives. It truly is a "Good Book." God continues to hold the copyright!

Whichever Bible we use, what really counts is that we read it (and hear it) with open hearts and open minds, and at least a measure of humility. The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.


* Rev. Dave Kepple is pastor of Union Chapel United Methodist Church on Keister Road in Madison Twp.