A lot of brothers and sisters have written to me, asking,
"What study Bible do you recommend?"
Thanks.
You just put me in a minefield.
Would you like to learn how to navigate your way out,
one step at a time?
Let's see if this helps.
Hi, I'm David Daniels from Chick Publications.
Rule #1.
Know your authority.
What do you rely on?
You want to be sure that you have God's words.
That's why you must have a King James Bible
-- not a King James II, III, 21, not a New King James, American, Modern,
not a Comfort-able, not an Expositor's, not a New Scofield,
just a plain, ordinary King James Bible.
And prayer.
And the Lord will bless you.
You need to know what words are God's and what words are man's.
Otherwise, you step on a landmine.
BOOM!
Rule #1: Know your authority Rule #2: What is your purpose?
Every study Bible was created for a purpose.
What's your purpose for a study Bible?
What do you want the study Bible to do for you?
Do you want it to teach you doctrine?
Then Rule #3: Every author is biased.
He has his own point of view.
He's showing you what he thinks, and what he thinks you and I should think.
That's why he wrote it in a study Bible.
That's true here, for example, with this Prophecy study Bible,
which is no longer available in the King James Bible.
You have to compromise and get a New King James.
But remember Rule #1?
Know your authority.
Insist on a King James.
Actually I had to special order this one.
Question everything else.
Want it to teach you science?
Rule #3: Remember, whether creation or even archaeology,
every author is biased.
They will try to sway you to believe or doubt the way they believe or doubt.
That's why they put their words, again, in a study Bible.
Being in a Bible makes it seem more, well, biblical.
And that makes the study Bible seem like it's an authority.
But remember Rule #1.
The KJV is your authority, not this.
For example, this is an archaeological study Bible, and it's available in NIV
and King James.
I actually have both.
So I can tell you the notes in both are basically just the same.
So being in even a King James Bible does not mean that the notes are
more conservative or even more accurate or more authentic.
Do you want Help with Modern Life?
Think of a Life Application Bible.
Those are a perfect example.
Remember, they are also in multiple versions.
They try to apply scriptural principles in your daily life.
But again, multiple versions --#1 Authority,
they are biased --#3 And the notes basically don't change
between the versions.
So what about the kitchen sink?
Do you want the kitchen sink?
Here are some kitchen sink study Bibles right here.
These are not about any one thing.
In fact, it seems that they tried to squeeze as much as possible
between the covers without it exploding.
They try to take an entire Bible college education and cram it
between those two covers.
And every one of them is what?
Rule #3: Biased!
So Rule #1: Know your authority.
So Rule #2: Know your purpose.
And Rule #3: All authors are biased.
You have just avoided a lot of land mines.
Let me give you some more navigation helps.
For instance,
Maps.
You want to know where an event took place.
Modern map-making is getting much more accurate.
For example, when I got to work on our RVG 2010 on some of our
Bibles here, I used a GPS-connected program to make the maps.
So these are actually set by GPS.
Really exciting.
Another thing about maps is you want to be able
to tell height and depth.
Because when the Bible says "up" it means "up," not "north."
When it says "they went down," it means they went down.
The directions in a Bible are exactly literal.
Second, Charts.
You want to learn, and it's fun to learn,
months, festivals, money, group up miracles, parables,
and timelines, things like that.
I have illustrations that I love of the temple and the tabernacle.
I love to look at them.
That point you back to the scriptures from which they are found.
In addition, I like to have, and you want to have in a study Bible,
Index to the notes of the study Bible, as well as a good Concordance.
Make it as big as possible.
You want to find the verse, right?
And if you don't find it big enough in here, then do what I do, and
have a Bible program on your cell phone so you can just look up the verse
and find what you need to find.
Look.
What if you want a study Bible that is not in the King James, or you
want one that is NOT King James?
You have nothing you can rely upon...
at all!
You must at least keep a King James nearby, and open,
to correct these study Bibles' MANY mistakes.
Remember, these study Bibles are tricky, and they are deceptive.
With a King James Bible, you need to know where the Scripture stops.
That is where God's words, truth, stops and man's words, opinions, begin.
Let's review.
#1: Know your authority.
Have the King James Bible.
#2: Know your purpose.
Every study Bible has a purpose.
#3: Every author is biased.
And two more, please.
#4, This is true of every study Bible: Rule #4:
BELIEVE EVERYTHING God says, whether you understand it or not,
and #5: QUESTION EVERYTHING man wrote.
NO EXCEPTIONS.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.