Review: NKJV Evangelical Study Bible

Once again, Bible Gateway has given members of the BibleGateway Blogger Grid the opportunity to review a Bible. As someone who has a study Bible (among other more basic editions) and uses multiple Bible apps and online research tools, I tend to share with friends the complimentary resources Bible Gateway sends me once I've written my review. However, I won't be sharing this one too soon. The NKJV Evangelical Study Bible (Thomas Nelson Publishers) is a keeper, and I am keeping mine! You can order your own copy from Faith Gateway (https://bit.ly/43sfQrA) or Amazon (https://bit.ly/3WW1FIT).

Let's get the specifics out of the way: The edition I was given was hardcover with a matching dust cover and a satin bookmark. It's two inches thick and weighs in at just under four pounds. Its pages are pretty thin --a gel pen will not work for notetaking and some highlighters may bleed through as well. The print is easy to read, in two columns, and the words of Jesus are, of course, written in red. There are several color maps at the back of the book as well as those located within the text.

You will find instructions on how to use this specific edition, how to study the Bible in general, a quick reference guide (God's Answers to Our Concerns) with Scriptures on topics like afflictions, death, divine providence, heaven, repentance, and suffering for Christ, just to name a few. There are introductions to both the Old and New Testaments as well as introductions and outlines for each book of the Bible. There's a brief survey of the four historical periods between testaments, an explanation of Jewish sects, and a Harmony of the Gospels. After the conclusion of the Book of Revelation is the Topical Index to Christ and the Gospels, a Table of Monies, Weights, and Measures, a Jewish Calendar, Prayers of the Bible, and a Concordance.

In my opinion, the best part lies within the best part. It's what lies within the body of the Scriptures that makes this Bible worth the purchase. It's a study Bible, so it's loaded with great tools like a verse-by-verse commentary, archaeological and cultural information with color photos, doctrinal footnotes and apologetics articles, personality profiles, and annotations and cross references. While I would have liked an index of the personality profiles, most profiles are placed near the verse in which the subject is first mentioned (i.e. Joseph and Mary's profiles are located at Matthew 1). Likewise, some of the doctrinal footnotes are difficult to locate. For instance, teaching on the Trinity is located at Matthew 28:19 though the Trinity first appears in Scripture in Genesis 1:26, and the teaching itself affirms this. Chapters are marked with helpful subheadings as well.

Also, as it states, this is an evangelical study Bible, so notes and teachings are going to concur with an evangelical point of view. Don't go looking for a pass on "gender identities" or abortion. Notes are written from an evangelical perspective and are not necessarily written with the purpose of defending or explaining that perspective. 

If you're looking for a good study Bible, I'd encourage you to check this one out. But get your own, 'cause I'm keeping mine! #BibleGatewayPartner

Balance Is Not a Contradiction

God is a God of mercy. God is a God of justice. 

God is a God of honor. God is a God of meekness.

God is a God of self-control. God is a God of excess. 

Is any of this making sense to you? It should. 

Have you ever had to discipline your child but felt in your heart you had to be merciful? You didn't want to crush him, but you had to teach him by way of natural consequences. So, let's go all 1960s and say the Beav smashed a neighbor's window with a line drive right under the clothesline even though he was told to play ball in the park down the street. Justice says he works off the cost of replacing the window. You speak with the neighbor and come to a suitable agreement: Beav will mow the neighbor's grass and run to the store for her each week for the entire summer. He learns his lesson mercifully but justly.

Have you ever worked really hard at something, achieved the goal of a lifetime? Maybe your friends are so excited for you, they throw a soiree in your honor. You've earned it! they say. And you have; it is well-deserved. But you don't lord it over others. You are humbled by the graciousness and kindness of your friends. Even though you have achieved something they probably never will, you care for them, you appreciate them. Your relationship with them means more to you than your title or status.

Have you ever committed to achieving better health? You consult your doctor, you begin working out regularly, you give up coffee and chocolate cake (your two favorite indulgences), you take your meds consistently, and you get plenty of sleep. You're seeing results, feeling better! The day comes when your best friend graduates from culinary school. She has prepared an amazing flourless chocolate cake, so thick and rich and dark-- I digress. She pairs it with a St. Helena Blackheart Espresso. It's extravagant, almost too, but this is your best friend, and she has longed to share this moment with you. You are more than generous in your praise as you indulge, savoring every chocolatey bite, every spicy sip. Without being reckless or gluttonous or disingenuous, you lavishly pour out your acclaim with each euphoric smile and epicurean sigh. This is a demonstration --a necessary demonstration of excess and bounteousness in a person of self-control.

Now these are imperfect examples, of course, but as near as I am able to describe some of the "apparent conflicts" in the character of God. God does not lie; God does not contradict Himself; God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There are no conflicts. He is a God of peace and order. And we are to be imitators of Him. We are to walk balanced lives, enjoying the sensuous blessings He has given us: the feel of the sun on our skin, the sound of appreciation from the lips of our friends, the softness of a rabbit's fur, the nutty flavor of arugula, the smell of freshly cut grass, our lover's kiss, the soreness of our muscles after a hard day of work, the feel of tears drying on our face after a good cry, the giggles of children playing. But we are not to lie in the sun until our skin is sore and bubbling, or achieve just to receive the praises of men, or pluck the fur from a bunny that we might possess its softness, or eat arugula exclusively, or sit for hours smelling grass while we neglect to do our work, or find a lover just so we might share his kiss, or work to injury, or make others cry that they might experience the feeling of their evaporating tears, or allow our children unmoderated play simply because they find it amusing and you revel in their amusement. 

Balance is essential, not denying ourselves exuberance or restraint. He made us human; He gave us senses and emotions. He made us in His image, giving us purpose and responsibility as well. We are stewards and sojourners, givers and receivers, keeping our eyes on Him and our choices in alignment with His character.

"Homosexual Christians"

I'm not feeling particularly good about some of my posts this month. It's been difficult. I've said some things publicly that I prefer to say privately and to those who are willing to hear them. Know your audience, right? However, within the first few days of June, God put it on my heart to say those difficult things and even to care deeply if they hurt folks; but care in so much as it provokes me to pray, not modify or retract the truth. I've not tried to debate the issue of sin. Those who deny homosexuality is sin, I'm sure, have heard and countered every argument, every verse, every rationale; they will not submit to truth, and I will not provide the fight they are so eagerly seeking. I'm not sitting high and mighty in my tower of heterosexuality, passing judgment on all of the people who "were made this way;" I'm bowing in obedience to the Word of God and telling them No, you weren't. 

There is something I've noticed --and please don't get me wrong, Christians are not perfect, even the ones who lead heterosexual lives; they have yelled, they have said and done terrible things in the name of "righteousness" (I counter, that it's self-righteousness, not Christ's righteousness)-- but I have watched interviews, listened to "gay pastors" attempt to elucidate their position, spoken to and watched the behavior of "gay Christians," and more often than not, I see arrogance, rebellion, and a caustic type of self-justification. I guess, today's focus is more keenly on those who say they are Christians, seeking first the kingdom of God, but their sin of same sex relations is preeminent, more valuable and less disposable; it is lord of their lives. As I've said, they don't seem to be too interested in Scripture, but perhaps they'll indulge me momentarily and look at their own responses to it. (To be clear, I am not talking about Christians who are tempted by same sex attraction but refuse to indulge even on occasion, and certainly refuse to live that lifestyle. That is resistance, and it is worthy of thanksgiving and encouragement.) 

For instance, if I was to teach the gospel to a room full of people and any one of them was to walk out midway or even stand up and call me a liar and a charlatan, should I belittle them, scream at them, curse at them, throw up my middle finger, or react with any other self-indulgent expression? Of course not! You would think I was crazy, number one; and the message of the gospel would go right out the window. Forgiveness? A gentle answer? Love? It's their loss, my friend, and a cause for pity that demands fervent prayer. So why is the response of "gay Christians" to the message of sin so prevalently hostile? Putdowns, vulgar memes, curses I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, a ridiculous DEFCON 3-type response to questions that should encourage thought or discussion absent vox populi. In the mid-nineties, I had an employee who wore a t-shirt stating I'm gay, I'm proud, and I'm in your living room with my feet up, or something to that effect. To my knowledge, she never claimed to be a believer, but the responses from "gay Christians" today are far worse than that, and really, who is challenging them? In reality, are they so perpetually persecuted every moment of the day by obedient Christians beating them over the head with Scriptures or showing up at their workplaces with signs or hanging banners in public buildings? Really? Let's face it, many Bible-believing heterosexuals have been intimidated into silence! And why tell us you are intentionally in our faces, trying to offend us? Do you think we will be won over by that approach, or do you think we will acquiesce and agree out of sheer fatigue? As ministers of reconciliation, are we called to make ourselves offensive or the center of attention? Or is Jesus, the One who should be the center of attention, offensive enough to the dying without our taking center stage? I have the truth of Scripture behind me, but as I said at the beginning, I don't particularly enjoy confronting wrong, especially when it's such a hot-button issue, especially when it means offending people. So, why is someone actively engaged in sin, with no biblical leg on which to stand, so eager to provoke others? (That was rhetorical, but I will answer. If I allow myself to respond wrongfully, I become the victim of a type of character suicide: my point appears invalid because of my questionable character. If I'm provoked and I am bullied into submission, my argument is silenced; if I simply walk off in frustration, I take my argument with me. Either way, they are free to return to their sin unchallenged by me.)

Lastly, we all sin; and if I'm being honest, I know which sins are hardest for me to resist. If a Christian brother or sister were to confront me in love or ask me how I reconcile my consistent failure to obey with my love for Jesus, I would probably respond one of two ways: Yes, I tend to struggle with that; please pray for me, or I never thought about it that way; oh, God forbid I should ever try to reconcile my sin! But cuss them out? Tell them if they don't like it, they know what they can do? Never! Why would I? Even if I thought they were dead wrong, didn't have all the facts, were saying something completely unfounded in Scripture (like someone who once told me I had sinned because I cut my hair short), I wouldn't react venomously. I might go home and search the Scriptures or ask my pastor, bearing in mind that iron sharpens iron, and they might just be right; or perhaps I can show them where they have been misled. I'm not perfect by any stretch, but I am eager to remain faithful to Jesus. That's the bottom line. If someone accuses me of being otherwise, I want to know the basis for their accusation. Teach me. Show me. That Christ might be glorified!

Living life as a homosexual is not something to be proud of. Living life as a homosexual is a choice to sin. Living life as a "homosexual Christian" is like being a heroin addict straight enough to find a spouse but completely unwilling to get sober enough to be one. And if that makes you uncomfortable, I'm praying it's for the same reasons I'm uncomfortable writing it.