The Message and The Word on the Street

[Absalom]

Any Catholics here know much about the paraphrased versions of the Bible “The Message” and “The Word on the Street”? I’m interested in getting something like one of these for my nephew so that he can become more familiar with the scriptures, but I’m a little wary of a paraphrased version of the Bible. I’ve looked at some of “The Message,” and it seems okay (particularly I was interested in how it translated John 6), but I don’t know much about “The Word on the Street.” Can anyone offer any advice? I don’t want to give him something that’s going to lead him in the wrong direction.

 

[DianJo]

Don’t get your family member a bible that’s paraphrased! Get him one that speaks the “whole” truth - give him that much, at least. My suggestion is to get him the Ignatius Study bible. It’s one that is most true to the original translations and is easy and beautiful to read. Don’t get him a “FAKE”! You’ll just do him a disservice.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

DianJo:

Don’t get your family member a bible that’s paraphrased! Get him one that speaks the “whole” truth - give him that much, at least. My suggestion is to get him the Ignatius Study bible. It’s one that is most true to the original translations and is easy and beautiful to read. Don’t get him a “FAKE”! You’ll just do him a disservice.

Go DJ!
Those “versions” are trash. They are nothing more than greedy people wanting to rewrite the Bible to make it sound cool so at the end of the day they make a buck. Its a shameful act. Those books are worthless.

 

[maendem]

Catholic Dude:

Go DJ!
Those “versions” are trash. They are nothing more than greedy people wanting to rewrite the Bible to make it sound cool so at the end of the day they make a buck. Its a shameful act. Those books are worthless.

I think you’re being a little cynical. “The Living Bible” is a lot like "The Message’ and the former had a profound impact on me when I was a teenager. I inhaled it - other versions seemed lifeless and stilted to me, but the Living Bible made especially the New Testament radically applicable and vibrant. I remember poring over Romans and Hebrews and James each evening in particular, struck by their message. I think even my parents were taken aback.

Yes, yes, yes, eventually I got around to the “real” Bible, and realized just how bad the paraphrasing of the Living Bible really was. It missed or eliminated crucial words and concepts, and introduced false ones at times as well(John 6 is just one example) But I’d hardly call it trash that’s made up for the sake of money, and it certainly made Scripture accesible for me at a time when only “stuck up grownups” seemed to understand it.

 

[OhioBob]

This is a typical passage from “Word on the Street”:

“Genesis 1:1-2: First off, nothing … but God. No light, no time, no substance, no matter. Second off, God says the word, and WHAP! Stuff everywhere! The cosmos in chaos: no shape, no form, no function – just darkness … total. And floating above it all, God’s Holy Spirit, ready for action.”

It also isn’t the whole Bible, just the “significant” parts. Somehow it all seems rather silly to me. Anyone with a basic reading level should be able to do better than this nonsense.

I’m not a fan of paraphrase Bibles, mainly because they are sometimes problematic for Catholics either in their paraphasing or in their notes depending upon who it was that did the paraphrasing.

That being said, something like The Living Translation or The Message would sure be better than The Word on the Street.

 

[teresas1979]

My sister is 14 years old and due to the death of our mother and other difficulties turned away from the Church. My boyfriend’s mother works in a Christian bookstore and she recommended “The Street Bible” by Rob Lacey as something which might help to get her interested again. (I’m guessing this is the same book as Word on the Street as the opening paragraph is the same).

She devoured it in a few days and since then cannot get enough of the Lord or the Scriptures. I bought her a “proper” Bible at Christmas which she reads everyday and whenever she has difficulties she turns to God for help. Without her reading “The Street Bible” I sincerely doubt this would have happened as she was showing no interest in anything else related to the Lord.

These are difficult days for teenagers and as such I think it is wonderful that people are making the Bible “cool” and more accessible. My sister may never have returned to God without it.

BTW as something to get people interested in Christ I recommend reading many of the fictional Christian stories, especially with regard to the Rapture. Even if you do not believe anything that happens within say the Left Behind series, the demonstrance of Gods unconditional love for us really shines through and is a good way of beginning to witness to very stubborn opponents to Christianity.

We have these resources at our disposal for a reason and I believe that in the right context and with the love of the Lord to guide us through they can only help us bring more people to Christ.

 

[puzzleannie]

I would use Word on the Street with teens the same way I use Veggie Tales with little kids (or the Illustrated Catholic Children’s Bible for that matter). First read the passage from the “real bible” (we use childrens lectionary outside Mass), then introduce the “fun” version. discuss, ask questions, then read the “real story” again, discuss, ask questions, get them to retell the story in their words, gently point out elements that they lost or misinterpreted.

Street is not bible study, it is in the same category as the old picture bibles, a way to get the story across, hook the interest in the bible as a story, as an exciting narrative, which it is, for those whose reading level does not permit them to grasp it by reading the authorized version. Unfortunately, after 4 years as DRE for all grade levels, including adults in Confirmation classes, I am forced to grapple with the fact that the reading level of the average HS jr or sr (or grad) is abyssmal.

 

[Absalom]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I’m probably going to stay away from both of them . . . my nephew’s a smart kid. He just doesn’t really like reading the bible (other than the gospels, I’ve gotten him to read those). The main reason I was thinking about the paraphrased bibles was because I would like for him to know the whole story so that he’s not blank whenever I try and talk to him about it. Thanks for the help.