What is the Best Bible to Buy My Teenager?

[This is an expantion of a blog I wrote back in 2009]

One of the questions I get asked fairly frequently in ministry is, "What is the best Bible to buy my teenager?"

The easy and obvious answer is, "The one which they will read."  In many cases this means picking a translation which I personally would use myself, but which will help them actually spend time in the Bible.

For high school students, I usually recommend getting a good study Bible.  Realistically, high school students aren't struggling to read their Bible because they have an inadequate reading level. They struggle to read the Bible because they're not really sure what's going on in the text.

ENTER A GOOD STUDY BIBLE!

So obvious follow up question:

What is the best Study Bible?

I love this question because I own lots of study Bibles. In fact I've got a bit stack of study Bibles which I carry back and fourth between my house and my office. Once you factor in everything I have on Logos, I've got quite the collection.

With that in mind, not all study Bibles are equal. In fact, there are some which continually provide me with great insight and others seem devoid of anything useful at all. For anyone interested, here is my take on each of my study Bibles.


Favorites:

ESV Study Bible - To put it simply, I own nearly ten study Bibles and this one is packed full of notes not found in the others. It also has these wonderful charts which make breaking down a text remarkably easy. It's the most recent addition to my collection, and it immediately rose to the top of the stack. It does have a clear reformed bias, but I'm, of course, fine with that.

NIV Study Bible - This Bible consistently has great, useful notes. It may have the best background and context notes of any study Bible. The back of the book claims it's the best selling study Bible, and it has earned that position. I lost my original copy of this. I was a fool to wait 3 years to replace it.


Good:

The Reformation Study Bible - The Bible has some great articles, but the notes aren't as consistent. I find that when I'm studying a passage, the notes are pretty hit or miss. They aren't necessarily bad, but I find myself not getting what I want from the notes.

The MacArthur Study Bible - I think this was the first study Bible I ever purchased. It's filled with solid notes. The big problem is the name on the cover. If you know anything about MacArthur, you know he's infamous for writing a book about everyone who disagrees with him. The notes have a similar, "I've got it all figure out" attitude.

The Quest Study Bible - When I bought this at the used book store, I assumed it was going to be another crappy teen study Bible. I was wrong. It has a unique spin on it's notes. Instead focusing on listing comments on verses, this study Bible has answers to questions you might be asking in the margin. By approaching notes from this perspective, they often give much richer information. However, this method takes up more room than a simple comment. Therefore, there are far few notes, and they focus on the big issues instead of giving the background on each verses.


Hit or Miss:

Life Application Study Bible - The notes inherently tend towards interpreting (and applying) the meaning of the text rather than giving the cultural and theological context so I can interpret the text. The emphasis on application gives some notes a unique edge, but most of the notes simply lack what I'm looking for.

Harper Study Bible - I'd never heard of this Bible before picking it up at the half-priced book store. The good notes are great, but too often I simply don't find anything unique, useful, or meaningful.


Barely Use:

Ryrie Study Bible - One of my best friends has carried one of these for over 10 years. I just don't find anything helpful in mine. To be fair, my copy only has the New Testament and may have truncated notes. Though, even in that case, you would expect the notes to be awesome.

The Student Bible - This Bible just doesn't distinguish itself. It has few notes, and the ones it does have don't stick out.


Software:

Logos - It is the standard. I don't know why you'd get anything else.

MUSIC RANT: God's Great Dance Floor OR Lyrics Vs. Dance Beats

My natural tendency is to be critical and cynical. Knowing that about myself, I'm trying to avoid being openly critical of others with this blog. At the same time, I want to be able to discuss things which I find fascinating.

Which brings me to "God's Great Dance Floor."

Catchy Without Being Worth Being Caught

Back in January, I was watching the live stream of Passion 2013 (ironically, when you click on that link, "God's Great Dance Floor" will begin to play). My wife and I actually attended Passion 2007 as the second half of our Honeymoon.  Thus, Passion has a unique place in my life, and I like to try and check out their live streams each year.  

During the last session, they started playing a song titled "God's Great Dance Floor."  Immediately, the song caught my attention due to it's catchy music, infectious dance beat, and solid melody.  However, possibly more important than the likability of the music, was the strangeness of the lyrics and spectacle. While the song only contains two verses, a chorus, and a bridge, this live performance goes on for 8 minutes.  Throughout the video, all of the singers are jumping up and down with excitement.  The last four minutes simply repeat the same line over and over, but it's briefly interrupted by a literally a mariachi walking up to a microphone and playing a trumpet solo. You can watch the video here.

Lyrically, there didn't seem to be any specific theme.  The verses speak of "coming back," using multiple words.  The pre-chorus is a series of worship song cliches strung together (i.e. "I surrender" or "take me").  The chorus changes direction again, and speaks of God's love for us, and ends with the confusing catch phrase "Let the future begin."  Eventually, this all leads into the bridge that simply repeats, "I feel alive. I come alive. I am alive on God's great dance floor."  Once again, these are worship song cliches ending with a strange overly clever catch phrase. It's particularly odd because it rhymes a word with itself. In the live version, this line is repeated for like 4 minutes straight.

All in all, it looked like it was a great time for all in attendance.  The song is catchy and fun.  However, it was a bit unsettling for me because it set somewhat of an unhealthy precedent. What leaders do in moderation, followers do in excess.  Given that Chris Tomlin was leading and wrote the song, he's setting a precedent for future song writers and all worship leaders.  That is to say, it's okay to just have fun with a song which has little meaning. Upbeat songs don't need to be lyrically deep.

When I first heard the song, I literally told someone, "I would like this song so much more if the lyrics made sense."

A SECOND CHANCE

Then something strange happened a couple weeks ago.

I was searching around iTunes to discover some new music, and noticed a new album titled, "God's Great Dance Floor" by Martin Smith (formerly of Delirious).  My cynical side led me to check it out, hoping to find something equally as over the top as the video I saw before.  What I discovered instead was an entirely different take on the song.  The first thing that jumped out at me was that the lyrics were all different.  As the 90 second preview ended, the infectious dance beats also never kicked in.  I was intrigued.

After doing just a little bit of research I discovered the full version of the song on YouTube.

To be brief (...in this already overly long rant):

• The lyrics are 75% different
• The odd lyrics are used in a different context and make sense
• The song has a very clear theme
• The structure of the song is entirely different
• The song feels like a lyrical and musical journey

In Martin Smith's version of the song, the verses contain the same melody and chord progression as Tomlin's but, lyrically, it's very different.  Each of the two verses are supplications to God for rescue.

Waiting for You Be my rescue Find me and bring me out alive I will surrender

The simple chorus, which is slightly musically different than Tomlin's, goes like this:

Back to the start where You found me I give You my heart again Take everything I'm all I can bring I'm coming home again

The lyrics make subtle references to the parable of the prodigal son.  At the start of the song, the lyrics are from the perspective of a prodigal who is at a point of brokeness with nothing to offer. The person is broken and waiting for God's rescue.

Up to this point the music, has been very light and subtle. At around 3 minutes and 30 seconds, the song transitions to the bridge.  The music begins to swell and build up while the lyrically it shifts to to present tense verbs:

I'm coming back To the start, to the start I'm coming back to You

Between the lyrics and the music, we feel like we truly are on a journey back. Just before 5 minutes into the song, we reach a line which is only repeated once in Smith's version. It's the transition into the final section of the song:

You'll never stop loving us, No matter how far we run You'll never give up on us All of Heaven shouts  "Let the future begin!"

Given the context of the previous 5 minutes of the song, the meaning is very clear.  The prodigal has returned home and he's thanking God for his never ending love.  As he returns home, he realizes a new future is about to begin. At this point the music once again shifts, now to a dance beat.

The song ends by repeating:

I feel alive, I come alive I am alive on God's great dance floor

By this point in the song, we've gone on a journey from a place of total brokeness back to the life found in Christ.  While I might not personally choose the metaphor, "God's great dance floor," it makes sense in the song.

It's a lyrically and musically consistent song which is rather powerful.  It starts at a place of longing for a change. Then, it spends time in present tense action returning home.  Finally, we arrive at a new destination.

I Don't Get It

Tomlin's version of the song borrows the catch phrases and dance beats, but misses the entire point of the song. The verses fill space until we can get to the upbeat chorus and bridge.  But lyrically, the chorus and bridge aren't earned because the verses don't build up to their message.  There's no future to begin. We aren't contrasting a past with a future.  We haven't arrived at a new place where we come alive.  

I don't want to get into too much speculation, but there aren't very many explanations for why Tomlin would change the lyrics and arrangement.  The most obvious reason is that he wanted to make a more streamlined and mainstream song that people can dance to.  If it takes 5 minutes to get to the dance section, that's not much of an upbeat dancing song.  But if we get to upbeat parts in 45 seconds, that's a dance song.  But why not just write another dance song?  Why cannibalize your own song and sacrifice it's integrity?

Blog You Should Read on The Hardest Week in Student Ministry

Over the last six months, the relatively small community in which I do ministry has suffered the tragic loss of two high school sophomores from suicide.  There's no training that can prepare you for the experience of guiding people through such tragedy.

One of the local student pastors wrote a blog titled "The Hardest Week in Student Ministry" about the experience, what he's learned, and some resources he's discovered.  I highly recommend you read it.

The Hardest Week in Student Ministry by Geoff Whitten

Family Friday: Blogging Runs In the Family

I'm not the only blogger in my family.




My Sister - Adventures in Mommydom

My sister has a blog on raising kids, homeschooling, and Bible curriculum.  Unlike me she has actually done a good job of consistently blogging and building a readership. Her blog's Facebook page has over 800 likes. She's the real deal.

My Movie Blog - The Non-Essentials: A Blog About Movies, Media, and More

I love to talk movies and television. This is my new blog to do just that.

Say "Thank You" and Pass Along the Praise

I can't say that this is a lesson I've mastered, but I'm trying to do better.  There is great power in a simple email which says, "Thank you." As the leader of the ministry you set the culture. Is it a culture of criticism or gratitude?

Here a few suggestions:

1) Pass along any praise your ministry receives
2) Schedule time each week to send out at least one note to a volunteer
3) When you see something praise worthy, pass the praise along
4) Follow up all big events with gratiude and praise for the people who made it happen
5) Praise people publicly
6) After an event, read people's responses on Facebook. Compile a list of praise and pass it along to your volunteers

I Do Understand the Appeal of The Hunger Games (The Wife's Perspective) #thehungergames

This is in response to Sean's post, "I Don't Understand the Mass Appeal of THE HUNGER GAMES"

I, too, share a sort of fascination with the actress Jennifer Lawrence, very much due to her name. It always makes me smile or giggle to see it on the screen, and I feel (and very likely am) foolish. My favorite thus far (I even took a screen shot of it) was when she was hailed as the "most desirable woman." It was a good day for both of us :)

On to the topic at hand, The Hunger Games.
My first response to your question, Love, is one word: Twilight.

The timing of The Hunger Games popularity was perfectly paired with the rising dissent and irritation at the franchise (and subsequent thematically similar media) known as Twilight. The protagonist is weak, dependent, whiny, sullen, and doesn't increase in appeal until the final book and, even then, I don't know if it was really all that miraculous, or if it was just such a refreshing change from the other books. (Can you tell that I'm jaded? Haha!)

Katniss is, in stark contrast, essentially the anti-Bella.

That alone is enough to explain at least part of the popularity. Everyone who enjoyed fiction was desperate for something..."not Twilight."

Here's my response. It's long...and probably more wordy than you'd like. :)


On to my second response.

While, obviously, children hunting and killing other kids is a plot point of the book/movie, it's not the WHOLE of the book or the movie. I think part of the appeal was the freshness of the story - especially to the target teenage girl audience. As you mentioned, this seemed a little out of the norm, as it was action-oriented. I cite what I said earlier, in that people who are drawn to this type of book were desperate for something new, and a protagonist they could root for. They (or we, I suppose I should say) found that in Katniss. She was  an underdog -- people really relate to that feeling or theme. She also was pretty awesome - witty, smart, scrappy, determined, cared about her family, capable, etc. And, while most readers can't empathize with having to compete in an arena battle to the death, they can relate to the fact that she's a flawed character, struggling against her circumstances, while simultaneously trying to relate to and find her place in the world around her. 

I have to take issue with one thing you said -- "The problem with all of this is that we're reading the book or watching the movie from the perspective of the Capitol." This is only half true. The movie absolutely neglected to include any of the satire that the book used to sort of point out to the audience that they are The Capitol. I think I would put the movie into my "guilty pleasure" category for that very reason. I enjoy it in that it reminds me of the book, and I can watch it faster than I can re-read the book...but it is missing the element that I, personally, enjoyed most about the book (I would compare it to Shakespeare's common technique of having a play within a play). I read with disdain and disgust at all the lavish overindulgences The Capitol and their citizens partook in, judged them harshly, and couldn't wait for them to "get theirs;" realized that I, for all intensive purposes, could be a Capitol citizen. I hadn't seen it coming.

I do, however, believe that you are correct that both the satire and the irony are largely lost on readers/viewers, which is extremely depressing. The story isn't the same without the mirror to show us ourselves.

I Don't Understand the Mass Appeal of THE HUNGER GAMES #thehungergames

My Introduction to THE HUNGER GAMES

I follow several movie blogs, and a couple of years back, they started to report on the development of HUNGER GAMES into a film series.  Normally I wouldn't have paid much attention, but they reported that Jennifer Lawrence would be starring in the film.  At the time, I didn't really know who she was as an actress, but Jennifer Lawrence is my wife's maiden name, so I was instantly interested.

Jump forward a few months, my student ministry and I found ourselves in the midst of a 20 hour long van ride from Hutto, TX to Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Perhaps I shouldn't admit this, but we ended up having my wife (the woman formerly known as Jennifer Lawrence) read The Hunger Games out loud to us during our long car ride.  

The story was fast moving, attention grabbing, and always fascinating. In fact, whenever we had down time on our mission trip, we would stop to have her read more of the book to us. It was one of the bizarre special memories which you can't plan for, but just happen.

While the story was enjoyable, I couldn't help but be seriously confused by the mass appeal of the book.  I understood why I enjoyed a violent story about people being forced to fight each other to the death. That's my kind of movie.  But why was this story appealing to my wife (the original Jennifer Lawrence)?  Why were 14 year old girls drawn to this story?

A Violent Story

I remember back in high school I watched a made for HBO movie called MEAN GUNS. The plot revolved around a group of crooks fighting each other to the death to win a bag of money. Years later, I re-watched the movie with my college roommates. We could barely make it through the film because the plot was so brutal.

Another favorite of mine from high school was Van Damme's HARD TARGET. The plot revolves around a man running an agency that offers rich people the opportunity to hunt homeless military veterans.  The older I get, the harder the film is to stomach. My wife has never cared for the film because of its abrasive and cruel plot line.

With all that in mind while reading THE HUNGER GAMES, I couldn't help but be confused by the mass appeal of a story about teenagers forced to kill one another in a tournament intended to entertain the masses.  

If a story about crooks choosing to kill each other is brutal, and a plot about rich men hunting homeless veterans is cruel, then what is a story about teenagers forced to either kill or be killed? 

The story is constructed in such a way that our heros for the most part only kill people who are unsympathetic and cruel.  However, if the story wasn't contrived this way, our hero would be forced to either kill an innocent person or be killed by an innocent person.  

I can understand why someone like myself would enjoy a story like this (I like violent movies), but why does everyone else like this story?

Perspective of the Reader

Possibly more importantly, we're supposed to be appalled by the citizens of the Capital in the story for being entertained by watching The Hunger Games. Their cruel lack of concern for human life is repugnant.  As we read about the staff of the program flippantly interviewing the contestants while knowing all but one will die, we get knots in our stomachs.

The problem with all of this is that we're reading the book or watching the movie from the perspective of the Capital.  We're being entertained by seeing their transformations, hearing their interviews, and watching them compete.  This irony seems to be lost on the majority of the fans.

We are the Capital.

At the end of the story, we don't get justice or hope.  We merely get survival, and the promise of consequences for their survival.  

Can someone please explain the mass appeal of the story to me? Specifically  why is this particularly story of people hunting each other appealing to girls?

You can read my wife's response HERE.