Comments on: Sharing A Special Bible: My 1973 “Bible as Literature” NASB

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:55:42 +0000

I have been looking for an NASB published prior to the 1995 update and found an actual 1972 edition in cowhide for $35 + shipping at: http://abs.gospelcom.net/specials/1977.php. I see now the Bible I got is sold out. but there are a few others left. I love the old NASB and find it most readable and the Psalms in it so majestic, especially Psalm 8 which is almost word for word the way Keith Green sang it in his song “How majestic is Thy name”.
GT

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:23:17 +0000

I did a post called “An Ode to my Thompson Chain Reference Bible” a couple of weeks ago, and now I’m thinking I’ll have to revisit the topic. My Thompson NAS is my most cherished possession, and symbolic of my recently re-ignited love for God’s word… a lot to ponder! Thanks for the little stroll down memory lane.

By: chad

chad — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:32:50 +0000

I threw my bible into the ring at my blog. These are great posts

By: Sewing

Sewing — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:12:24 +0000

…I meant the NOAB’s overall theological liberalism specifically….

By: Sewing

Sewing — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:05:43 +0000

I'd better stop hanging around here, but I do enjoy much of what you write, Michael. The Bible that made the biggest impression on me in an earlier part of my journey to faith was the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV). The concept of a scholarly Bible was a novel idea to me, and I spent hours at a time poring over it! I had not, however, been reborn in the Spirit, and because of the Bible's overall theological liberalism, I could not come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour through it. Much more recently, after truly becoming a Christian, I purchased Yancey and Stafford's NIV Student Bible, which is not half bad. Being part of the "TR" camp, I now use the Reformation Study Bible, which has greatly enriched my post-salvific life.

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:58:34 +0000

This is so wierd! I just wrote a post about MY Bible! Complete with a picture and everything.
http://ipreferuphill.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/jesus-i-love-you-and-i-love-my-cute-bible-too/

By: Caine

Caine — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:43:25 +0000

Does it count if I posted it a year ago, complete with picture? Mine is the Christian Community Bible, a Roman Catholic Version that still manages to grab me even though I am a Protestant.

By: Lee Anne Millinger

Lee Anne Millinger — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:00:37 +0000

I came to know the Lord about the same time as you and Brad, so it’s no surprise my first Bible was also an NASB of about the same vintage. Mine also wears a hand-tooled leather cover, with Jesus is Lord on the front. The bound cover has almost fallen off several times, and several layers of packing tape holds it together. Since it was my only Bible for a long time, it has lots of underlining, highlighting and notes in the margins from Bible studies, sermons and quiet times. The front inside cover and just about any blank space is filled with study or lecture notes and special verses. Although I don’t use it often these days, I still love it. And the cross-references are still useful for study.

By: Randy

Randy — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:04:40 +0000

I have one of those, too. Purchased in 1971 (or 1972) while a freshman in college.

I showed it to someone at my home church, who responded with, “Well, it might be the Bible, but it isn’t the Holy Bible.”

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:59:47 +0000

Grew up in a Disciples of Christ congregation, where there was a tradition of receiving “your own” Bible when you started fourth grade, prepping you for “pastor’s class” usually in 6th grade where you offered the “Good Confession” of Peter in front of the congregation at Palm Sunday and were baptized on Easter morning.

Like everyone else in my class, i got a green cloth hardbound RSV, with a concordance and maps in the back. This was 1969. The existence of a concordance was as much a revelation to me as the 66th book of the Bible right ahead of that section, and i began to push off from the shores and shallows of Daniel and Joseph and baby Jesus into Paul’s letters and David after Goliath and right through the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.

When i went into seminary, there were other Bibles piling up — and i could write another entry on my Oxford Annotated RSV with Apocrypha (not the recent ghastly OA-NRSV that’s been built on the ruined foundations Bruce Metzger laid in my edition) — but the green-cover Bible, the edges of the spine crumbling from friction and sweat, became the set-aside Bible i used for weddings and funerals.

When my home church dedicated a new sanctuary, and i was invited back to share in the proceedings, the teacher whose signature is still in the front was back as well, Mrs. Burch. I carried the Bible up to her, showed her the signature, and told her how i’d been using it the last twenty years . . . we both wept, joyfully.

But the most fun part of the story i had to tell her was that when i went on a pastors’ 10 day tour of Israel, my roommate and i got caught on the Mount of Olives at sunset (we went up to pray for our churches, which were worshiping at that hour which was 5:30 pm in Israel, 10:30 am back home, on a February evening in 1993).

When we got done, we realized we were supposed to be on the far side of the Old City in thirty minutes, or our Israeli paratrooper tour guide would kick our sanctified hineys across the Kidron Valley. As we scrambled down through the cemeteries and towards Stephens/Lions Gate, i dug in my knapsack for . . . the green Bible. Flipped it open to the maps, where under orange and blue lines of the ancient city walls were grey lines of the current city of Jerusalem — and we used them to navigate through to Jaffa Gate, and out and around, past the King David Hotel to our more humble lodgings, boarding the bus out front as if we just left the building.

At that, Mrs. Burch laughed, and i still do.