A Bible Without Verses?

It takes time and training to learn to ignore the verse numbers, footnote indicators, and reference markers embedded in the text of the Bibles sold today. I am an avid reader; I have been since an early age. Now I want to read the narratives of the Bible as I would read any other book: without interruption, in single-column text.

The only other text I've ever seen with a built-in reference system is Shakespeare's plays, and even then, the reference numbers are in the margins. By contrast, the Phillips translation of the New Testament has verse numbers on the side, due to text recontextualization which resulted in the recombination of several verses into complete thoughts or arguments. The Message was similar, until the Message/remix edition reinserted the verse numbers.

Some Bible software, such as the ESV's WORDSearch software, allows the color of various categories of text to be altered. Turning the verse numbers the same color as the background effectively removes the verse numbers. But there are still gaps.

The verse system also makes the Bible's texts seem more uniform than they really are. The Bible is an anthology of books and letters written by forty different authors from similar but changing cultures, over a period of at least 1500 years. The literary styles include poetic narrative, historical narrative, poetry, philosophy, prophecy, law, ethics, and advice on how to live wisely.

The Books Of The Bible is a reformat of the Today's New International Version which tries to address these concerns. It formats poetry as poetry, and the rest as single-column text. It places footnotes at the end of each book, instead of at the bottoms of the pages. It puts the chapters and verses in an unobtrusive corner of the page.

But I want the English Standard Version or the New King James translation of the text formatted this way. Even if it's just available by special order, I would buy it. I would give it without reservation or preface to an unbeliever. I would also buy giveaway paperback gospels I could give to people I meet who need God's Word in their lives.

Accessibility is the key here, folks. Accessibility for people not yet trained by time to ignore the constant, nagging verse count. Accessibility for people whose brains won't allow them to ignore the embedded footnote markers. Accessibility for children more sensitive to the tedium of ignoring the language they've worked so hard to acquire. Accessibility for the unchurched, who would probably be more interested in a slightly annotated narrative than an encyclopedia of cross-references.

Would you buy such an edition?

Sorry anonymous commenters

...But due to a spam attack on my comments, which for some reason Blogger won't let me erase, I've enabled a higher level of comment security. I always hate it myself when a blog does this, but I do hope you blame the spammers, not me.

Let Me Blow Your Mind

Indulge me in this moment of geekery.

You already know that the Wraith in Stargate Atlantis are Space Vampires. But did you realize that the Goa'uld are Space Mummies? They come back from the dead, live a long time, and command legions.

A bit of a stretch, I know. But here's where I blow your mind.

The Borg are Space Zombies.

They inject you with nanites, you become one of them. Slow, shambling, and bad news in big mobs.

I was watching an episode of ST:TNG called "Descent" in which Data is brought to Lore so that the sons of Soong can destroy the Federation. In this episode, Lore hacks Data so Data feels emotions. He feels anger, rage, when a Borg tries to kill him, and after he has slain the Borg with his inhuman strength, Data feels pleasure.

Lore is Frankenstein's monster, and Data is the noble version of the monster.

Minds blown?

Looking For An Old Butcher

The Hero's Journey is the blueprint for every halfway decent story. Like appreciation for rainbows and power chords, it's instinctual. It's built into our brains. It runs our lives, if we let it.
But the Hero's Journey gives us certain expectations of the world around us, which usually don't happen. Because we've been raised on these tales, we expect to be given the rules when we enter a new situation, a realm of experience new to us, and we freeze up if nobody does. We expect to fail, because we know the transformative nature of the Night Journey. However, not everyone finds the Sword Of Light in their Night Journey. Some people stay in darkness for a very long time.
Today, I'm going to talk about the old butcher. According to Merlin Mann, he's the guy who's been a butcher for forty years, and if you're his apprentice and you call out for two and a half pounds of roast beef, you'll get exactly that. When you put it on the scale, it's not an ounce over or under. You keep practicing, and someday you'll be him; in the meantime, he'll teach you the little things that, while they don't really make sense, they make work flow so much easier.
He's a master of his trade or art, and he's your mentor. The universe provides one for each hero.
That's what we think, because of the Hero's Journey. In reality, we need to actively seek these people out and ask them to teach us, and DO WHAT THEY SAY, because we're not storybook heroes, we're just people. The universe doesn't follow our private story arc.

Parallels - Auto Health Insurance

Imagine if the government told all auto insurance companies that the only way they could stay in business was by selling only the tip-top policy possible in each state. (Here in New Mexico, that would be a $250K/$500K/$500K liability and uninsured full coverage policy with $100 deductible.)

And then on top of that, they would also have to bundle an "extended warranty" with each policy, covering all auto maintenance, even oil changes, with a $10 deductible.
Of course this type of policy costs a lot, especially with a teen driver in the house, or an older car in the driveway. So of course the government would have to have a taxpayer-funded "public option" offering an identically ludicrous policy to anyone on the street who can't afford a private plan of such magnitude.

Auto mechanics, faced with voucher-clenching hoardes, would become swamped with requests to fix jammed door handles and squeaks in the A/C. This sounds like a good thing, but it ends up costing more than planned (as has Cash for Clunkers), and taxes must be raised on lower and lower tax brackets. Eventually, rationing is implemented.

And when all the private auto insurance companies collapse when people stop buying their ridiculously expensive policies, the government would be more than willing to take up the slack - for the public good, of course.

And since maintenance of older cars simply increases the overall cost of the plan, we have to junk them sooner. Why not a mandatory fifteen years in, since that's about when vehicles start falling apart.

The sheer scale of such a scheme would be staggering. Yet it pales compared to the "health care" plan which is now before the Senata.

The faith of a child

The faith of a child is wondrous.

A child knows how to receive a gift, but an adult only knows how to seek it, to minimize the cost. An adult sees a gift as a thing of economy, but a child knows it as an expression of love. This is what His Church is missing; this is what it needs.

Love Is Not Nice

Love is not nice.

Love is real. Love is intense. Love is a deep truth not of this world, so deep that the world itself sees only its surface.

Love is what keeps mothers and fathers up nights, praying for their childrens' futures. Love is what makes pastors spend a week crafting a thirty minute message. Love is what drives the station managers to hold donation drives when the budget of the local Christian station falls short.

Love is what makes me ask you how you are, and what matters in your life. Love is what makes me wonder what deep pain from your past is keeping you from opening your heart. Love is what makes me hold my tongue when you say something inane or insulting or blasphemous. Love is what keeps me patient or polite while inside my heart is breaking to see you hurting others because of your hurt. Love is what makes me happy when you are happy, and sad when you are sad.

Love is what keeps God from consuming with fire or water this dark world of people who hurt people. Love is what makes Him seek you, sending annoying people and innocent people and fanatical people who all want you to join them in knowing Him.

Hate put Jesus on the cross, but love kept Him there.

This is love's promise: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

This is love's call: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."

This is love's truth: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

Love is not just nice. Love cares about you and wants the best for you. God is love; say yes to His love, and a whole new world is opened to you.

(All scripture references from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version(TM) Copyright(C) 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, A Division of Good News Publishers, All Rights Reserved.)

Why churches have bad reputations

One bad apple really does ruin a whole basket. A rotting apple sends out a chemical signal that makes other apples too ripe too quickly, and then spoil.

It's the same with people in groups. Churches are especially prone to this, because one of the things people think churches are good for is getting a whole bunch of good people in one place to have a nice time. (That's not what church is for, but that's people's impression.)

Coding Horror, a blog on what happens when people and computers mix, has an article on how one rotten person foils an entire group:

Groups of four college students were organized into teams and given a task to complete some basic management decisions in 45 minutes. To motivate the teams, they're told that whichever team performs best will be awarded $100 per person. What they don't know, however, is that in some of the groups, the fourth member of their team isn't a student. He's an actor hired to play a bad apple, one of these personality types:

- The Depressive Pessimist will complain that the task that they're doing isn't enjoyable, and make statements doubting the group's ability to succeed.
- The Jerk will say that other people's ideas are not adequate, but will offer no alternatives himself. He'll say "you guys need to listen to the expert: me."
- The Slacker will say "whatever", and "I really don't care."

The applications at churches are obvious. But let's be careful here! Churches are places for hurt people to go to seek solace from the Lord. It is important for pastors to see these warning signs and speak with these people; the lost lambs are the ones that need the most help.

Don't let the lost lambs lead the others astray.