I'm thinking about buying a few bibles to give to friends and people I may meet on the streets.

Should I give them the whole bible or should I give them just the NT & Psalms?


[u]The pros of giving them the whole bible are:[/u]

1. It is the whole revelation of God including the creation and fall of man etc.

[u]The cons of giving them the whole bible are:[/u]

1. If they start reading at Genesis they may start to lose heart around Leviticus / Numbers and may not get into the NT and Christ.


[u]The pros of giving them the NT & Psalms are:[/u]

1. They get straight into Christ and salvation

[u]The cons of giving them the NT & Psalms are:[/u]

1. It does not include the whole revelation of God including creation and fall of man etc.


If I go down the NT & Psalms route is this a lack of faith by saying that a person is less likely to fall in love with God with the whole bible?

Perhaps it would be good if there was a bible that started with the NT and then finished with the OT!

Perhaps I should give them a complete bible and tell them to start in the NT?

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Mark Nash

Here is my two cents (or should I say pence since your in the UK!):

Obviously the NT & Psalms versions are cheaper and much easier to carry around with you if you plan on giving them to people on the street. I personally carry a ESV NT, Psalms and Proverbs in my back pocket simply b/c I can't fit a whole Bible! But I also have a full Version in my car.

If money and space aren't issues I would definately suggest that you use the whole Bible because it is the whole counsel of God. Either way I don't think it is a big issue.

Whether or not you give someone a "complete" Bible or just "half" of one you should probably have them read the gospel of John not because someone can't get saved by reading something else but because "... these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in this name." John 20:31 ESV

Just a few thoughts and I hope they are helpful to you!

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Andrew Bruce

New Testement and Psalms bro.

They need this more than anything.

Especially Romans.

Many of us started out on the New Testement and later on we got ourselves a complete bible.

God is not opposed to this after all the only thing that the New Testement saints had were the spoken words of Jesus and the Old Testement. Only a few had the spoken words of Jesus, but when they got filled with the holy Spirit they had access to everything He said.

Karl

My 2 1/2 cents worth...

Everyone is probably thinking I'm gonna say the whole Bible in KJV. [b]Wrong![/b] I will say if practicable the whole Bible, but in many cases it isnt, and I dont believe there is anything wrong with giving just a NT & Psalms.

However, I would also strongly suggest someone start in John. And I would also include some sort of short pamphlet that explains the Old Testament law briefly, the scrificial system of the temple and how Christ is the sacrifice once and for all. Otherwise, someone will be reading the NT not knowing what all these references to the Law are about... and why Jesus is called the Lamb of God... etc etc... until they get to Romans.

Kinda like someone watching the Passion who has never learned anything about Christ or the Bible. They watch it and think "Why did He have to die? I dont get it."

And of course, I would hand out nothing but the KJV.

Krispy

I agree with Krispy about starting with the Gospel of John. I have a these booklets I hand out, they are only the Gospel of John. It works really well - not to big and easy to manage.

I think if you give a non-believer a complete Bible he/she may find it too daunting, too large and even if you tell them where to start I suppose few people would enjoy starting somewhere in the middle. Giving out NT's are good because anywhere they open it to they will read about Jesus. The smaller is, the more likely they might read it (sad but true).

That's what I think, brother.

In Christ,
-Eli

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Eli Brayley

Hi Nasher
Are you familiar with the work of the Scripture Gift Mission? They specialise in portions of scripture. It used to be the case that they would supply their literature free of charge as long as you 'gave them personally' and sent a letter reporting how you had used the resources. The literature was always excellent quality and used to be scriptures or selections of scripture with not comments but occasionally grouped under topics.

Here is their website Scripture Gift Mission

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Ron Bailey

Thanks Ron, I've never heard of them but now I've just ordered quite a few leaflets!

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Mark Nash

The second question I have is, what version(s) should I give out?

My personal favourite is the kjv but for many people this may prove hard to read and understand, is then the nkjv a better place to start?

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Mark Nash

Yeah, the NKJV would be a better place to start by far. The KJV is very poetic and is my version of choice, but I don't know how many blank looks I get when I get asked to read a scripture out loud. Its like a lot of people just don't get it, especially people around my age (late teens to mid twenties.)

When I can sit in a classroom full of young Christians, most of whom have been in the Church and studying at least Sunday school style for most their lives and still get mostly blank looks...

In the view I currently take on my surrounding area/American society as a whole, I'd say that the KJV has to be appreciated before it is really useful.

I've also seen a lot of NT Gideon's floating about, I even had one at one point in time, but I don't really know much about that translation.

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David Reynolds

Hi PTywama3, it's not the kjv's poeticness I like, it's the accuracy! 8-)

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Mark Nash