A Message to Share

Okay, I must get something off my chest. I will most certainly lose friends over it, I may need to be prayed for, and could even face church discipline but it must be said. I like The Message. ***Waits for screaming to stop*** I know this is a shocker and I appreciate your graciousness in continuing to read despite my Message affliction.

I know what you're thinking to yourself right now. "How could he read anything other than the ESV study Bible? He certainly couldn't learn from such a egregious departure from the one true translation of the Bible, the NKJV." Seriously though, I have hidden that I prefer The Message from certain people because I just don't want to get into it. I don't want to have the long debate about translations vs. transliterations and hear about how the plain language that is used in The Message is not direct a translation from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that it was originally written in. I have been shamed for quoting this gem edited by Eugene Peterson. Isn't that kind of sad? No, not just that people get on me about it. That I actually CARE when they do. That I actually get embarrassed about it rather than being confident in the reasons that I love it. I legitimately spoke in a hushed voice in the store when I bought it. I didn't want anyone to know that I struggle to comprehend what I'm reading when I read the ESV (and even the NIV sometimes) and I need something that is a little more...simplified. So before you grab your leather-bound Bible with your gold-embossed name on it and sprint over to save my soul motivated exclusively by your righteous anger, let me explain my reasons.

1) The Message is much easier for me to understand as I read. Other versions can be really hard for me to comprehend if I am trying to digest long passages. Especially with those epic 10 verse sentences that Paul would write. Some sentences have so many commas that I feel like I am doing a jigsaw puzzle as I am reading. I think, "So this part is connected to that part and this was an aside to something 2 verses ago. Therefore? I'm supposed to ask myself what it's there for. I'm so confused" After about 10 minutes of reading, I'm just like...

2) The directness with which Christ spoke comes through a lot clearer. Because of reasons I have laid out above, I often times miss how direct and authoritative Christ was when he spoke. 

3) Some verses actually capture some humor and make me laugh. I believe the Bible has tons of humor in it but I have always missed it before. I laugh a lot when reading Proverbs or when I read the manner in which Christ responds to the Pharisees. When's the last time you laughed while reading a story in the Bible? The directness and relatable language makes me laugh. Here are a couple examples:

Proverbs 15:17 

Better a bread crust shared in love than a slab of prime rib served in hate.

Hosea 2:5 

Face it: Your mother’s been a whore, bringing bastard children into the world. She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers! They’ll wine and dine me, Dress and caress me, perfume and adorn me!’

I mean, why make something like that look fancy? Hosea was being...ummm... blunt when he said it and the Message communicates the bluntless quite effectively. 

Anyway, I love the Message. It speaks to me and helps me learn. Give it a shot sometime and if you have a friend who loves it, they aren't a lesser Christian than you. They may just struggle at jigsaw puzzles and need concepts to be presented in a straighter line.