Listening to the Bible

The Word of Promise (Bible on CD)

I have been reading the Bible for as long as I can remember. I remember being given a Good News Bible when I was in third grade. When I was 14, my great grandmother gave me a copy of the Living Bible. When I went to college, I began to read the NIV and held onto a thin paperback copy for 4 years that I wrote all over. After I graduated from college, I really wanted a nice NIV study Bible and I saved up to buy one. I have held onto it ever since. Last year, I found a tiny ESV leatherbound Bible on clearance and it is now the one I carry with me in my purse.

Interestingly enough, after all these years of reading the Bible, I have never listened to it on CD. I've often considered it. I've listened to lots of teaching on CD from Ravi Zacharias, John Piper, and others, but I've never actually listened to the Word on CD.

Two weeks ago, I received a copy of the Word of Promise Bible on CD. I opened it up with excitement and wonders of what it would be like to "listen" rather than to "read" the Word. The Word of Promise Bible was published 2 or 3 years ago by Thomas Nelson. It is a dramatic reading done by many famous actors including Jim Caviezel, Marisa Tomei, Louis Gossett, Jr., and others. It is a recording of the NKJV translation of the Bible. I have always thought of the NKJV as one of the less easily read translations of the Bible, but these CDs really opened my eyes that it is quite easy to understand, listen to, and read.

As soon as I put the first CD in, Autumn plopped herself down on the floor and began to listen. God has given her such a desire to hear his Word. She loved it. She asked to listen to it during their afternoon room time, but I said that it was something for us to listen to together. There are some things in the New Testament that I suspected Autumn wouldn't be able to understand or process on her own yet--and as we listened through the whole thing I discovered that I was right.

In the past, I have been cautious and a little skeptical about dramatized recordings of the Bible. But, I genuinely enjoyed listening to these CDs. The recordings were amazingly well done and I enjoyed the voices of the people they chose to read each of the parts. The Bible was brought to life. One of the most surprising things to me was the reminder that God spoke through different people when they wrote down the books of the New Testament. When I read it on my own, I often forget that Paul didn't write all of the books, because he wrote so many of them. I had always assumed that the Bible would either be read to fast or too slow, but I was so impressed at the speed at which the actors read--it was just right--not too slow or too fast.

This recording is very good and is perfect for sitting down with a cup of coffee or tea and settling down for a long winter's night with or for listening to on a long commute or trip.

Two last quick notes...

1) I love the case it came in because it organized all of the CDs.

2) It's only $20 right now on Amazon! Wow. That's a great price if you've ever wanted to listen to the Bible on CD =)

* Please note that I was provided with a complimentary copy of this Audio Bible set for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.