Tale of Two Bibles: Best Study Bible ever.

Being a brand new Christian and walking into a strange new world, the Christian Bookstore, looking for a new bible can be pretty overwhelming. I was thankful to even find a good store in Cookeville, TN in 1986 but I did. Cornerstone Christian Bookstore came to my aide. (Store location)
I was directed to the Thompson Chain Reference Bible (1983 edition when it was still in partnership with Zondervan) and it was such a good choice. I love this Bible and it has helped me grow in Christ and has made me look much smarter in Bible studies than I really am. The chain references and index is far superior than just study notes. You build your systematic theology every time you follow a chain of references. I love it. In fact I loved it so much that I started wearing my copy out after 25 years. I hated to retire this gem of a copy for several reasons. First, I knew this copy so well that I could find verses even if I couldn't remember their address simply by remembering what area of a page they occurred. Secondly, the Thompson Chain has gone through at least one new edition and thus the pagination changed and the partnership with Zondervan ended thus the newer copies are still wonderful but the concordance is not as robust as the old one I have.
Bring on eBay! I knew what I wanted, a replacement 1983 edition of my Bible that was clean and pristine and also in leather since mine was a hardback and I don't think they last as long. Plenty were to be found and the prices were about right $25 to $40. Remember, new ones will cost at least $59 and up. I bid on one but lost it in a bidding war and then God helped me land the perfect one. Leather bound, pristine and clean and at a great price, $25 after shipping even.
The only problem: used Bibles sometimes have the previous owner's name engraved.  I'll have to change my name to the Rev. Harold F. Marr. I guess that could get more expensive than buying a new one.
Do you love your Bible too? Tell me about it in a comment below.

Intelligent Design needs better designed books

I was handed this book as a gift from the Answers In Genesis booth at a recent Munce show in Murfreesboro, TN. I rarely, if ever read novels but since it was a gift and had an interesting story line I thought I would give it a go. I will admit up front that I blew through this book quickly on a recent air travel business trip. Even after knowing exactly how it was going to end when I was about 50 pages in. I still enjoyed it and appreciated a novel attempt to expose the insidious nature of modern, humanistic religion also known as evolution. Conspiracy theory always makes for a good read and this one almost didn't disappoint, but alas, it did indeed disappoint. Here is where I think this author needs to grow a bit. First, the dialog between the scientists was quite lame. If you ever watched a creationist verses evolutionist debate you would immediately realize that these conversations were weak, straw man arguments at best. I think modified debate transcripts from some well know debates such as a Hitchens/Wilson would be in order. Secondly, and maybe the most disturbing, was the trite, Arminian laden gospel presentations. Man centered, boot strap, God's sovereignty, glory robbing gospel presentations are just flat out misleading at best. God saves us, rebirths us, gives us faith and repentance to believe in Him too. We don't have any resident or residual faith that we can exercise at anytime of our own choosing toward a relationship with God. The Bible teaches just the opposite: we are dead and do not seek God ever. God seeks us.  The gospel conversations were more like canned, Billy Graham training session presentations instead of real conversations with lost people. Finally, the plot was way too predictable. You basically could guess the ending well before the halfway point and seriously, that just takes all the fun out of a mystery. I'm sorry miss Julie Cave, new author, it just does. Again, I appreciate the attempt but would be more apt to recommend the book if it were a more believable read. All in all, though, I still want to read the next in the Dinah Harris trilogy to see how she grows as a character and how the author grows too.