The Voice New Testament

This is a wonderful way to read the New Testament. The idea of the writers was to have the scholars and writers work together to create a translation that was faithful and accurate to the original languages while at the same time beautiful and readable to the English speaking audience. I am no scholar or writer, but they have achieved their goal in my book.

In between the verses of the 1st chapter of Matthew which tells of Jesus' geneology, The Voice adds comments between some of the verses about Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba. I like that. It explains in a short paragraph who Herod was when the angel told Joseph to move his family to Egypt. When they moved back to Bethlehem Herod had died and his oldest son was now ruling Judea. Again there is a short explanation describing this son and why Joseph decided to settle in Nazareth instead. And of course this was also a fulfillment of prophecy.

And I love Romans 8:28: 'We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.' I do not believe this is adding to or taking away from God-breathed scripture, but rather enhancing and explaining the Bible into beautiful language that speaks to me. I can't wait to read more.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Out of a Far Country

This book is about a gay son's journey to God and his mother's search for hope. It is a true story about the struggles of this family, the depths it took them to, and how God met them at the bottom of their pit.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the gay lifestyle and how the family copes when confronted with this issue. I so appreciated the honesty from both the mother and son and the chapters designated which one was telling their viewpoint and what they were going through at the same time as the other family member.

I believe this is a book of encouragment in reading how God answered the effective faithful prayers of righteous people. It has definitely encouraged me to follow their example(s). It has also opened my mind in realizing that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. Whether you agree with the results of this book or not, one must realize that God is the ultimate judge and not ourselves. And that is indeed a praisworthy statement.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review