I ‘became a Christian’ on July 4th, 1979, and was baptized later on December 30th, that same year. Way back in the early 1980s, I got sick and tired and bored with reading the Bible. (Hey, doesn’t it say to confess your sins one to another? For the other side of the coin, keep reading!)
I was unable to regain the deep desire for reading it, in part, because I had already read EIGHT different English language translations cover to cover, taking notes and highlighting as I went. I felt I had read enough! (You can bet I was very unpopular with those that believed I was deep in sin!) Well, it turns out that it was only a step towards something else that God was calling me toward.
I am multi-lingual, (in fact, I have had conversations with people in at least eight different languages, and on five different continents, in person) and have been bi-lingual from home. I knew the limitations of reading the Bible only in English and wanted more. I wanted to know the Author and His intentions and desires better. So God moved my heart to buy an Apple //e computer with AppleWorks software so that I could … paraphrase the entire New Testament into my own words. I used several English versions as my starting point. Once I finished that three-year-long project, I also did the Psalms and Proverbs. I never intended and do not intend to ever publish that work.
That isn’t the end of the story. I must confess while I love scripture, I love the Author more. Yes, author, singular. I believe that God used dozens of people over thousands of year to assemble the Bible. It is a wondrous document. It is more than we realize, and like it’s Author, it is much more than we can imagine or conceive. Others research awesome and fascinating things like the Bible code, or the ultimate fulfillment of prophecy upon the return of the Lord. I have even come to realize that the Greek Mythology is based Noah and his family!
I have found that personalizing scripture to an individual’s specific need at the time of their life, is as powerful as any wonder drug ever found on the market. I have been a leader on dozens of spiritual weekend retreats and used scripture powerfully to heal hearts. Several such projects are listed above. The list below doesn’t link to articles, but to a personalized piece of scripture, which I call “NAPSV”. Instead of being generic, these are individualized, written to a specific person.
These are great uplifters and gifts for people. I know, because that’s what started them years ago, before the Internet. I repeat, THESE ARE POWERFUL when completed! But they are NOT free.
All I ask is that once you give them to someone, that you give the value of their reaction to a charity of your choice. Give to a charity to which God wants you to give. Which one is that? Check which one your heart wants to give to, it’s probably that one.
Whenever I re-write, or re-paraphrase scripture for this project, I called it the APSV. That stood for the APS (those are my initials) Version. Now, as this is my second translation project, it means “‘New-Automated Personalized Scripture Verses”. I realized earlier this year (2022) that the domain name could be better, and changed it to “YouInTheBible.org”. Enjoy!
