Saturday, December 11, 2010

Book Review: START! The Bible for New Believers

I recently finished reviewing START! The Bible for New Believers, NKJV by Greg Laurie. This seems to be a good resource for a new believer because of the large amount of “extras” found throughout the scriptures. The reader frequently stumbles upon explanations, thought-provoking questions, discussion guides, application points and the like. Each extra point, quote, or question is highlighted to make it obvious that it is not actual biblical text. 
One aspect of the START! Bible that I don’t care for is that portions of scriptures have been made bold and much larger in text size. The verses, or portions of verses, that are selected for this special treatment seem to be the most popular ones that Bible readers jump to or quickly memorize. This causes the pages of the Bible to look much like a magazine clipping. Some might like this because it takes the “highness” out of looking at the page of scriptures, but I feel that it causes the reader to assume some verses are more important than others. Perhaps it is no different that underlining or highlighting a verse in my own Bible, but it still does not appeal to me. 
I do like the bright, unthreatening cover of the START! Bible. The cover even grabbed the attention of someone I know who does not currently read the Bible! 
Overall, I like this Bible. I just wish it combined the easy reading of a different translation of the Bible with the great additions to the text. 
I was given a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

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