"Isn't One Bible enough??" And Buying Tips

A common question is "Why does anyone need more than one Bible? Isn't one enough?

The answer is dependent upon each individual. For some people, one Bible is enough. However, there are benefits to having more than one, even in the same translation.

😄My husband never seemed to understand before but I think he is starting to by now (I hope).  He is a "one Bible is enough" person.  I don't knock him for that.  I think one is all that is necessary.  That is enough to allow you access to God's Word to be able to read it and write it on your heart.  However, I definitely see the benefits of having multiples.  

The reason so many collect them and/ or feel a need to have more is because the extra helps and content are different.  There are devotional Bibles that are more leaning toward prayer and making you think on a heart and principal level. There are study Bibles that go in great detail about timelines and other facts about the culture, etc.  There are journaling Bibles that allow you to doodle and draw pictures to help you remember a verse or a time that was meaningful to you that God spoke to your heart.   Some people use journaling Bibles to write their notes on the side margins, instead of a separate notebook.  

I have multiple NIV but each has a different reason why I go to it.  It is easier to find what you are looking for with themes.  The Leadership Bible has where to find examples of leadership in the Bible. Another is for highlighting verses about my word of the year, all in one place, so that I am not sifting through different kinds of markings to find all of them by topic.  One is a devotional Bible dedicated to focusing on or improving your prayer life.  I just ordered 2 more from Amazon.  One is The Learning Bible and has tons of cultural and geographical info, etc., and the other is Quest Study Bible.  The last one has TONS of questions and answers to help your understanding of what you are reading.  Some only feel lead to have one Bible and there is NOTHING wrong with that.😊  These are just reasons why some keep buying more.  I hope this helps.

I told my husband, "Look. Collecting Bibles isn't your thing and that is fine.  You have things you collect and there are definitely worse things that I could be into." I think he finally somewhat understands at least. That doesn't mean he agrees.  Any time I mention wanting a new one, he says, "ANOTHER Bible?!" 🙈 lol Oy!

I don't pay full price, either. I try to limit myself to between $10 and $15. It is actually more like between $5 and $10 unless there is a special reason (like gifting).  I got my ESV Journaling single column at ChristianBook when it was 10.99 (marble) and I got the large, print thumb index version, of The Study Bible for women (HCSB) for my mom, slightly imperfect for 14.99.

Instead of getting the same Bible for me, I got the older version smoke leather (imperfectly imprinted) AND the hardback  large print not indexed- (I prefer to tab myself) -slightly imperfect- BOTH for about $15 total. This is the best way for me to expand.

You have to look SUPER close to the top left corner to see the tear in the spine. 

There is also a tiny wrinkle at the bottom. I haven't really noticed anything else. 

The imperfectly imprinted is when they engrave it but it isn't right. They cut the name out and put a similar piece of leather to kind of cover it. This leaves a cut mark on the cover of the Bible. You can see where it is cut out but the integrity of the book is absolutely fine. Here is how I handled that. ;) 

 I lucked out and found The Power Of A Praying Woman through Goodwill on Amazon for $4. 

I had seen The Life Application Study Bible, I believe, quite awhile back on Amazon (hardback) for about $5. I missed out because I didn't act quickly. I'm not trying to make a list.  I just wanted to help anyone else who might be wanting another Bible but wasn't aware of the types of deals you can get.

Places like Lifeway and Half Price Books are great but I know that they are a bit out of my range right now. Though, some LifeWay stores are closing. I'm sad at that but maybe, for those areas, it would be a good time to buy. 

A great option is to go imperfect or used. Most of them, I can't even tell they have anything "wrong" with them except a spine dent or wrinkle. The used The Power of A Praying Woman Bible was in mint condition but no box. I also like to browse the $5 sales. I'm hopefully going to be using some of these Bibles above more often with the reading plan. 

Sometimes a used Bible really has been used. It is up to you to decide if you are comfortable with possible markings from the previous owner.  I, for the most part, am good with it. I just figure it is coming "pre-loaded with character". lol  

I think that it is interesting to find out what that person was drawn to. What spoke to them? Did they leave any notes that will water my seeds of faith, like it did their own?  

My recent Quest Study Bible did come somewhat "pre-loaded" with regular orange highlighter. It bled through in some places.  I have not had a proper chance yet to see what passages they highlighted. I only know that, according to the reading plan, they had read quite a bit and maybe even consistently. However, the only books that have any heavy highlighting are some of the Gospels and a little bit in Ezekiel. For about $4.50, that is fine by me. I can still benefit from the rest of the information just fine.

 

 

I am still waiting for The Learning Bible.  It has had a major shipping hiccup.  It was scanned into the original USPS facility. It shows Denver, Co. (last week).  After 4 days of not moving so much as 2 hours instate, in any direction, I contacted the USPS. They told me to contact the sender because they didn't see it in the system. This was Friday afternoon. 

So, the seller (from Amazon) said they would contact the carrier. Fast forward through the weekend. I contacted support near the end of day on Monday. They apologized for not having been able to get to the bottom of it sooner but they would let me know. 

They contacted me to tell me that the USPS was working to find a way to get the info updated on my side. I don't remember the exact wording. It would seem to me that nobody has scanned the blasted thing since it arrived. Support told me it had been scanned internally but not specifically for the tracking ticket. 

Well, today was the last day of the original shipping window. I haven't heard anything since early this week. It is now Friday. I ordered on the 13th of May.  My Quest Bible was ordered the same day, with the same wait window and was delivered successfully (on May 16th), a day earlier than the expected window start time of  May 17th-24. I hope it is finally here today. If not, I think it is time to cancel. 

Blessings to you and I hope you have a beautiful start to a very blessed and beautiful weekend!


If you would like a full review over this Bible, my friend, Cat Woods, has one here. She has many other reviews and other types of videos as well.

On my wishlist...

 <3 I did not get these Bibles but I really like them. I just wanted to share in case it helped anyone else.

As I said in the previous post, the prices at Ollie's seemed on par with Christianbook to me. The upside was that I could see them, hold them, and look inside of some of them. Some were sealed.

I almost got The Everyday Life Bible from Joyce Meyer. They had it in paperback. It was only $4.99. I got excited but when I skimmed through, I didn't feel it. You know what I mean. Some Bibles you just feel a connection to. I am not cover picky on most Bibles and some I love that they are paperback. It makes me feel like it truly is a textbook. I was a study nerd in school, so I feel ready to dig in. However, I really thought before this was one I would rather have leather and I was right. Just my opinion. Having said that, if it was the only way I could ever get that one, I would have snapped it up at that price.

The first one that I looked into that I loved was the Zondervan Study Bible. Each translation and/ or publisher seems to have their own. I was curious about the differences. I picked it up and was in love with this one. The first reason is that it is a "chunky monkey." 😂 I don't know how to describe it. It just "felt" full of knowledge!! LOL I like that the footnotes are in a green background so that there is contrast from the scriptures. I like the color images sprinkled throughout. I just generally liked this one.

 

I have heard of both the Know The Word and the Apply The Word. Sometimes I forget which is which. They had the KJV Word Study Bible in store. 

The last one is the Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible. It's another great one. I love the pics of the fishing boats and the architecture/ structures. That is something I haven't seen so much of so far.

These are just a few of the Bibles on my wishlist. 

Do you have any Bibles on your wishlist? Which one(s)?

Which Bible Is Best?

:0)  Hi all.
This is a rather long post but you will quickly see why. I hope I don't lose you in all the information. If you have any questions or think of something I may have left out, please feel free to let me know in the comments. ;) 

I wanted to explore different types of Bibles, study methods, and possibly a few different types of worship but there must be some things that come in proper order.  The most important thing is to first look at the Bible you will be using.  The short answer of which one is best is whichever one will get you to keep reading. ;)   Let's look at some deeper insight that might help you figure out what that is.  Here we go....

Paper or Digital?  Paper provides something tangible to see and to carry that doesn't require power during storms and won't be compromised in a hard drive or internet loss. However, the digital Bibles provide a buffet of resources such as commentaries, multiple translations, look-up features and highlighting, among others. With some, such as Olive Tree, you can use it on multiple devices. Any notes or highlights that you make are saved to the online server and can be accessed from any of those devices, even if it wasn't the one where you made the change.  Some prefer this as a method of backup as well as portability. It is constantly readily available and able to be updated.  Then, there are those of us, like me, who appreciate those features but just still prefer something I can hold in my hands.

Do you have a Bible?  What translation is it?  Do you feel a different one would be more beneficial to where you are going with your study?  What is your focus or purpose?  Obviously, you want to get closer to God.  Yet, there are different methods of doing that. This post will give a bit of an over view of some of these methods. I intend to do a couple of follow up posts with more in depth information on some of them. In some cases, there are related topics to uncover, as well. But we will focus on that later.

For now, here are some common study methods:

1. Reading and highlighting verses that stand out or speak to you
2. Notetaking inside bible only
3. Notetaking but in separate notebook only
4. Book/ Chapter/ Topic studies
5. Inductive Study marking
6. Study Bible
7. Devotional Bible
8. Bible Journaling

Clearly, some of these options will not require anything other than a standard Bible. This could be one that you already have. Yet, if you are going to take notes in the margins, do inductive study or Bible journaling, you may want a Bible with specific features.  The most important of these is translation.

What difference does that make?  Well, it can make quite a lot of difference, actually. There are different types of translation. You need to have one that you can easily understand, so that you will want to read it.  I love the King James language but even for me, as an English major, it was still a bit difficult to get through in some places.  When I was given an NASB, It was like getting new glasses.  The word breathed and came up off of the page for me. This made me eager to keep reading. I nearly blasted through Genesis. I still hit a bit of slow down in Leviticus or Numbers but that wasn't the translation. That was the nature of the passages.  Geneologies, long building descriptions, and censuses, etc tend to be harder to get through for anyone, no matter what.

There are two main types of translation:
Word for word translations, such as the KJV, NASB, NKJV, and ESV  are as close to the original text as possible, striving to literally translate word for word.
Conversely, the thought for thought (paraphrase) translations, such as NIV, NLT, and Message, seek to relay the concept without the literal word translation. 

The pitfall of the thought for thought is that you, essentially, have to rely on someone else's interpretation and hope they have the context correct. With the word for word, you can draw your own conclusions about where the author was going with the words spoken or what God was really saying.  Here is a link to a comparison chart of the most common translations.

The next thing that you should decide is what your purpose is.  Inductive study is one option. That is a process of observing the text, interpreting its meaning and then deciding how it applies to your life. There are many acronyms out there for inductive study. One of the more popular ones is the  S.O.A.P.  method.  This stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. I have also seen P.O.W.E.R., S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S., F.E.A.S.T. and others. Here is a list if you want to see which one you might want to use to approach your study.  I'm sure there are probably even more than those, or will be. lol

If you are going to do inductive study, are you going to simply highlight and underline or are you going to do symbols?  The size and style of the font may make a huge impact. Some Bibles are only 7pt in size and do not leave much, if any, room to do symbols. You may need to consider a large or giant print text. I did as much for mine. Even at 11pt, it is definitely bigger than my other Bible (8pt) but I don't think it is truly giant. I might still be able to do symbols but, depending on the ones I choose, it may be a tight fit. 

If you are notetaking only in your Bible, there are many Bibles that have wider margins on the sides and bottom.  This is ideal if you like to do sermon notes, definitions, or outlines in your Bible.  Some people like to make a note of the date a specific passage spoke to or impacted them in a major way. 

You can also, as I do, use the note taking Bible as a journaling Bible.  In my case, I wanted a journaling Bible and wasn't willing to wait for one designed for that purpose. I caught an NASB (my preferred translation) NoteTaker Bible on sale for $7.99 and jumped at it. Bibles can be expensive and I was anxious to start. I can still journal in the margins with 1.2" of space but it isn't as spacious as the 2" journaling specific Bibles. I sometimes have to shrink the graphic I want to use. However, it does still function in this capacity. I don't really regret it. More space would be nice, however, I tend to look at it as the same amount of space but divided between side and bottom instead of one. Technically, it is more. 1.2" + 1.2" = 2.4"

This leads me to Bible journaling.  Some may be unfamiliar with this concept. It is becoming more and more popular with the passage of time. This is a way to use your creative outlet to depict the scripture for your refereence. I will talk about this in more detail on a future post. The nutshell is that you can use many mediums to "decorate" or "personalize" your Bible. It is also a way to express worship through art. In my case, I like all of these ideas but I also prefer to look at it as writing the Word on my heart with a visual reminder. For lists, laws, promises, etc. It helps to have a picture in mind for some of these or just scriptures that you want to focus on.  Not everyone will be comfortable with this method of study because some don't believe in writing in the Bible whatsoever.  Some do but don't believe in covering the words whatsoever.  It is totally a choice and all options are up to you.

There are 3 main types of  Bibles designated for this purpose:.

1. Traditionally blank margins, lined or unlined. 
2. Coloring or Illustrated Bibles - these may leave some margins for you to decide how to use but also have plenty of things for you to color if you aren't too artistic.
3. Interleaved - Every other page is blank. This leaves an entire page for you to design or decorate instead of just two side margins that are separated. 

If you are using a study Bible, you may not have much room in the margins but you will have lots of information provided to you about culture, laws, timelines, and possibly commentaries, etc. 

Lastly, devotional Bibles are similar to study Bibles but, instead of timelines and historical types of information, the added content is more of a "food for thought" in the form of a story that sparked a personal epiphany, etc.  The devotions are something that shed light on a meaning, or perspective on the Bible's context.

Both devotional and study Bibles can come with the sermon notes, devotionals or thoughts of popular preachers, teachers, and speakers. Some of these include T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Kay Arthur, Charles Stanley, John MacArthur. 

Once you decide each of these things, you will get closer to having the "perfect" Bible or as close to it as possible, for this season or stage of your life. It is also possible that you may have more than one  in use at a time but for different purposes. I have an NASB for journaling but I also have an NKJV for inductive study.  I know other people who use one or more devotional Bibles, in different translations, and then also have a journaling bible or what have you. There is no wrong way to get into God's Word. If you feel like one Bible does it, that is all you really need. Feeding your faith is the most important thing to get out of all of this. Your approach is the only difference the rest of it makes.

I hope that I provided some insight that helped you to decide which Bible was best for you or that I may have given you thoughts or ideas that maybe sparked an interest into other forms of study. If you still aren't convinced or want to see more possibilities, keep watching for the follow-up posts on Inductive study and Bible journaling.  I will update this post with the links for easier finding once they are available. ;)  

There are many places to buy your Bible.  My favorite is Christian Book Distributors. They have frequent sales and you can get some awesome buys on Bibles, gifts, movies, books, other things as well. 

Dayspring, LifeWay, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million are some other ideas but certainly not the only ones.  As it is not too far past the holiday, as of this writing, some of these sites are running clearance sales. That may or may not extend to Bibles. Dayspring, for instance has up to 70% off on selected items, some of them being Illustrated Faith supplies for Bible journaling. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me to the end. I hope you have a truly blessed day/ week. <3