I used to have a 50-mile commute, one-way, between home and downtown L.A. Average travel time: 90 minutes each way, or 3 hours a day. Needless to say, I became hooked on audio books.
One day, I thought I could put the time to use by listening to The Bible. I should blow through that book in a few weeks.
Shopping around, I discovered there were several versions of The Bible on audio. I ended up with the one read by Toby MacGuire. You may laugh, but you haven't really experienced the Holy Book unless you've heard Genesis as told by Spiderman.
"In the beginning, there was nothing, and it was good. Then, God said 'Let there be light.' And there was, and it was good. There was still nothing, but now you could see it."
The reason I bring this up, is that as good as it was on audio, I still found I did not absorb as much listening as I did by physically reading, but I had fewer cramps from the weight of holding that huge book. (I recently slimmed down from the 9.2 pound version to a svelte 5.4 pound one. I also got the one with the words of Jesus printed in red so I could skip to the good parts.)
Now we all know that there are sections of the Bible which are, shall we say, less exciting than others. Let's face it, sometimes I might be reading a section that would put The Pope to sleep, but I struggle through, knowing I'm a better man because of it. My pastor claims to have read the Good Book several times, and I completely believe him when I walked in on him with his eyes closed and he said he was only "contemplating what I read." I've done that a lot myself, though usually in the Old Testament. Apparently, Deutoronomy has a lot to contemplate as I've yet to finish it.
Anyway, I want to encourage you to read The Bible in the translation of your choice. For some, the King James Version (with its "for where thou art whatnots") is the only way to go, while those of us with slightly lower IQ's prefer the text in English.
For anyone with a lot of time on their hands, I might suggest acting out some of the more interesting parts, though you may want to skip the sections where a biblical character slays 600 people, or someone practices homosexuality and God smites them. (Smote them?) Instead, you could spend 40 days in the desert with only crackers and a whiny voice. Run around naked in a garden eating apples. Pretend you're John the Baptist and dunk people. When you take on the role of Jesus, look folks in the eye and say "I know what you're thinking -- now stop it."
The Bible can be an exciting, moving, challenging manuscript that can either lift your mind, soul and life to new, unbelievable heights, or explain in no uncertain terms why you are going to hell. (Fortunately, it has instructions on getting out of that one -- kind of a holy get-out-of-hell free card.) And if you decide to go audio, I'd recommend Gregory Peck, James Earl Jones or Charleton Heston. Don't get me wrong, I like Toby, but . . . maybe he should stick to movie scripts.
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