By Mark A. Taylor
What better time than 2011 to focus on the Bible? This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, and in Christian Standard we”ll be lifting up the Bible all year long. This week”s special articles are the first of many about everything from how we got the Bible to how we teach it.
Friends and advisers””our contributing editors as well as colleagues here at Standard Publishing””gave us dozens of ideas for the year. But even with all their excellent input, we couldn”t agree on what to call our year of the Bible.
“Year of the Bible,” seemed a little pedestrian and maybe even presumptuous. This was not some proclamation or edict but just a theme that would surface in our 2011 issues.
Some felt passionately in favor of “Discovering God”s Story,” a theme with much to recommend it. The Bible, after all, is connected from beginning to end by the chronicle of God”s love and redemption. When we see the Bible as this story, instead of a collection of unrelated ancient manuscripts, its message comes alive. And besides, Discovering God”s Story is a wonderful new book from Standard Publishing that will help many connect the Bible”s parts better than ever. (See the interview on page 16.)
Someone suggested “The Bible: Read it. Know it. Live it.” We liked the staccato way it communicates our passion for God”s Word. But some thought it seemed too much like a basketball cheer. (Y-a-a-y Bible!)
We suggested several possibilities to several advisers and finally settled on “The Bible: Lift it up. Live it out.” Our goal this year is to help readers incorporate the Bible”s life-changing potential into everyday life while attracting others to its truth.
We”ll pepper our issues with a wide variety of theme-related essays. And every week, two new features will challenge and inspire:
“The Bible, My Guide” presents testimonies from Christian leaders about how the Bible has changed them.
“It”s in the Bible,” by Victor Knowles, tests our knowledge of Bible facts, quotes, and characters. See if he can stump you!
As you think with us about the Bible this year, we hope you”ll discover new ways to “lift it up”””teach its truths to others””and “live it out”””demonstrate those truths at home and through your church”s ministries.
Those make good goals for all of us, this year and any year.
Our congregation is reading through “Discovering God’s Story” this year. I’m hoping that it not only spurs conversation with the Christians who are familiar with the framework of the overarching story of the Bible, but also help newer believers and seekers to get engaged with the story and see the living Word – Jesus – in every page.
It seems like only yesterday I was memorizing portions of the KJV Bible, and now this year its 400 years old. Regardless of the motivation, the result of the KJV was the Bible finding its way into the hands of the people. I am proud that we are celebrating the Bible this year– lifting it up and living it out. Recently, I asked my adult Bible study group to look up a passage — some got out their Moroccan leather Bibles but several got out their smartphones. Packaging may change, but the Word of God stands forever. When I was memorizing “thees” and “thous,” I was also singing “The B-I-B-L-E … Yes, that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.”