Books Of The Bible - "Jesus Wasn't Very Nice."

A few months ago, my pastor/boss attended a conference in Washington DC (QIdeas).  When he came back, he was excited about a new "book" they presented.  The book, called "Books of the Bible" is the NIV translation of the New Testiment but re-ordered and the format changed.  They took out the chapters and verse numbers along with a few other format changes to what we are typically used to with the bible.

At first, I was skeptical or rather bored by the idea of a new translation and book fad until I stopped to listen about what it really is.  Its the NIV translation so its not any different then what I'm used to.  Its just ordered differently.  The video below will explain it better then I can.

Along with the book,  they were promoting a group called the Community Bible Experience.  You basically just get together like a book club and go through the New Testament.  My church decided to start some groups.  I soon decided to pitch it to my discipleship group.  We started a few weeks ago.  

Its been pretty awesome. I am in no way a representative of Q or of Biblica.  I have no relationship with them other then being a consumer.  I am just a curious Christian woman who is reading through the bible with her girls.  I've been so blown away by reading this book.  I've seen things I never saw before.  To top that, in our group, we've had the most candid and curious conversations about the bible and the person of Jesus that I've ever had. 

"Jesus wasn't very nice." is one of the statements I've made as I read through the Luke.  Luke is the first book in the order.  To read it before Matthew or Mark or even John, you get a different, less soft view of Jesus.  Don't worry, we didn't stop there and write Jesus off as an unkind savior.... you have to read it in context, knowing who the writer was and who he was writing too. Its been challenging but in a way that leads you to read more, dig more, desire more of the Living God and the Holy Trinity.  I can't wait to go deeper.

I'm not necessarily plugging the book or the experience, but if you are looking to read through the New Testament, I recommend you taking this approach.  Some bible apps have it in their list now.  

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