LaRosa Johnson {dot} com

Everyone knows that I’ve wanted a new Bible for quite a while now, and there was one in particular that I’ve had my eye on. I had purchased others (such as my Scofield), but none of them were truly what I wanted. I wanted that Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible (NASB) with the goat skin leather, and nothing else would do, at least I had convinced myself of that fact. After talking to Robin, I was able to convince her to let me purchase it as a belated Father’s day gift to myself.

Yesterday was payday and I was more than ready to purchase the Bible! I waited to purchase it though, because my co-worker said that he might be able to get me a better deal (remember, the MSRP for this Bible is $229.99). Having looked at the Bible just last week, I figured anything better than Amazon’s $160.99 list price would be a steal. Well, the deal got better when I noticed that Amazon had lowered the price to $144.99 (the price I had originally seen it for last year), which meant that I could do overnight shipping and still pay no more than the price I had told Robin about last week. Unfortunately my co-worker wasn’t able to get a better deal, so I immediatley went to Amazon.com and purchased the Bible with overnight shipping. The funny thing, in waiting for my tracking number, I went back to the product page to look at the pictures again, and I realized that the price had jumped back up to $160.99 immediately after my purchase. What?! Wow! All I can say is that God was looking out for me.

Moving on, the Bible showed up today! It was delivered around 2:00 PM @ the office, since I figured it’d show up a little faster if I had it delivered to the office, instead of the house. I was so giddy! In true blogger fashion, I even did a bit of an unboxing, taking pictures as I opened it up.

As I looked at the Bible, I had imagined it being bigger than what it looked like in person. I had my MacArthur Study Bible with me for comparison, and it was only about a half-inch wider than the MacArthur. Truly, not bad, as it fits my rather large hands well. As far as the feel, I was surprised that the leather felt so soft and pliable. I had been so used to rigid leather Bibles that I was completley taken aback; even still, it felt completely natural and smooth in my hands.

I’ve already started the process of copying over all of my highlighting that I had done in the MacArthur, and I’m looking forward to digging in and starting to take notes. This is really going to be a Bible that I cherish.

Click here to take a look at all of the pictures from the unboxing, and also get a glimpse at a part of my desk @ work. By the way, in case you’re wondering, I was @ Logos’ Twitter page on my laptop; and, yes, that’s a Logos stick on my laptop (I have a larger one on the lid too).

Also, a big thanks to the Bible Design Blog for their convincing review, which put the purchase over the top, going from a maybe to a definite yes!

Sometimes I feel like I’m a man on an island all by myself. I’m not speaking of the traditional sense in not having friends; instead, I am referring to being alone theologically, at least online.

For the most part, just about all of the people I know and “hang out” with online are Calvinists, many of whom are pretty hardcore. Most days that isn’t a problem for me because they’re my brethren. But, there are other days where I feel totally alone because I don’t have anyone online who shares my same theological views. So, a lot of times I end up getting into a theological discussion and find myself trying to discuss Scripture with my many Calvinist friends who are able to back each other up (and quite frequently I might add), while I have no one in my corner who shares my theological views to help me out. Many times it leaves me feeling overwhelmed and out of place, leaving me wondering why I started or joined a discussion in the first place.

It is definitely frustrating, but I try not to let it get me down. The only thing that ends up happening is that I become pretty quiet online and choose not to discuss theology as in-depth as I would like to. I do wonder, though, what it’d be like to not be on this island all alone and to have a tag team partner of sorts.

In the meantime, I will just keep praying, studying, and learning, while I man my island.

This morning I was doing some more thinking about Bibles and the Bibles that I own. The last Bible I had purchased was a Scofield Reference Bible; admittedly, I don’t use it much. The binding is rather stiff, there’s still no room to take notes, and I still enjoy the feel of my MacArthur Study Bible over any other Bible I own.

As I was talking to Robin, I remembered that Cambridge wide margin Bible that I had originally wanted to purchase a while back. The more I think about that Bible, the more I think that it’s the Bible I need. So, I decided to do a bit more research on it and stumbled across the Bible Design Blog (not a new site to me, but not one that I read often) and they had written a few articles concerning wide margin Bibles, including a review of the Bible I intend to purchase. As I read his justification for wide margin Bibles, there was one thing he said in particular that really sparked my interest and made the light turn on. He said:

The wide margin Bible is the thinking man’s Study Bible. Like the Study Bible, it is full of notes, outlines and annotations. Unlike the Study Bible, it doesn’t come with them. Instead, you make the notes yourself. That way, they’re the result of your study, not someone else’s. Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against store-bought Study Bibles. It’s just that the one you make yourself is better. Sure, it demands more of you, but over time it gives more back.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement! In part, that’s the entire reason why I want a wide margin Bible. I’m tired of having a Bible that is full of someone else’s notes, and I want to be able to annotate my own Bible as I study. The only way for me to do that is to have a wide margin Bible. Plus, it makes sense that if i’m going to be taking the time to do that in my Bible, then I should spend the money to make sure that it’s a quality Bible that is going to withstand writing and a lot of handling; I want a Bible that will be with me for years. That also brings up something else he said, this time from his review of the Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible (NASB):

Suffice it to say that the wide margin Bible is a great tool for students and teachers of Scripture. You use it and bond with it in a way that wouldn’t be true of most other editions. Misplace a fine Bible bound in goatskin and, alas, how sad. Can’t find your old standby, well-worn from reading? Good excuse to buy a new one. But lose the wide margin you’ve committed ten years of notes and outlines to … well, that’s a catastrophe.

Again, I have to say that I completely agree. I can see that in my own pattern of purchasing Bibles. I don’t have a vested interest in any of the Bibles I own because the only method I have to make them my own is highlighting & underlining, which I can just as easily do in any Bible. But, when it comes time to own a Bible where I’m putting in my own notes & thoughts, it becomes that much more valuable to me, and all the more irreplacable. Think about it; I spent about $60-70 on my MacArthur Study Bible and it’s a great Bible, but I’m not that attached to it because I’ve tried to replace it several times over time with something “better.” Yet, if you purchase a quality Bible that you can make your own, you’re investing more than just money into it, but a part of you. I think that’s all the justification I need to finally get this Bible. The plan is to hopefully swing it so that I can purchase it as my Father’s Day gift. Then I think I’ll be set, aside from maybe purchasing a Pitt Minion to have as an everyday Bible for when I don’t plan on taking notes. I think that’ll work…