Posted on 06/18/2005 8:43:25 PM PDT by sassbox
For the past several weeks, my upstairs neighbor and friend has been having a very rough time. He is suffering from some mental illness, the after effects of drug use, gambling and financial problems - in short, he's quite a mess right now. Mr sassbox and I were sitting out on our porch earlier this evening, when this young man came out. He struck up a conversation with us - the first time in weeks he has spoken to anyone in our house in a friendly manner. Although he has not been religious at all, he talked alot about God and several times expressed a desire for a King James Bible. He wanted us to give him a KJB, but we only have one, and it's quite old. Frankly I'd be a little nervous letting him borrow it, given his recent erratic behavior. Also, he would benefit from owning his own Bible. So I went to the Gideon's website to see if I could order a free King James Bible and have it mailed to his apartment. However, the Gideons do not appear to give free Bibles to individuals; they are focused on providing Bibles for institutions. Does any one here know of an organization online that I can order a free or low-cost KJB from and have it mailed to my friend? Thanks!
KJV and Mental Instability: Not a good combination. Give him a good modern English translation and tell him God wants to communicate with him in his own language, not that of Robin Hood's.
Most dollar stores have them. Can't get much cheaper than that.
You might try
www.cbd.com
which is Christian Book Distributors.
Now that you mention it, I have seen Bibles sold at dollar stores. Good one on ya.
JM
I noticed your tag line. Have you been to bible gateway lately? Since they changed their format? I like their old format better. I just wondered what your thoughts were.
Hi R.S.,
Yes, have been to biblegateway.com lately.
I am finally getting used to the new format, though it isn't as user friendly as before. I think it runs slower.
It's still my online bible verse resource of choice.
How cheap do you need. Barnes & Nobles has KJV starting at $3.79 new - that's cheaper than all but one of the used ones I found. Another was $4.98 new, as low as $1.99 used.
If he has a computer, ping me back, and I'll tell you where to download one for free.
Good advice.
Check at Good Will, St. Vincent dePaul stores, etc.
King James is really a poor choice for someone unfamiliar with it. I strongly suggest a NIV or other modern language version. Don't make him have to guess what archaic words and phrases mean.
KJV and Mental Instability: Not a good combination. Give him a good modern English translation and tell him God wants to communicate with him in his own language, not that of Robin Hood's.
King James is not that hard to read, it just takes some perseverence. And you find the occational interesting bit that's been quite toned down in modern bibles ("left him none that pisseth against a wall" is as understandable as "killed all his male relatives", and much more interesting.).
Ancient Greek isn't that hard to read, either, it just takes some perseverence. Same with the Latin versions.
Why should a person have to struggle to read what was written in Common Greek, and not "high" Greek, the language of the street vendors and not the language of philosophy?
A wise man....
Does any one here know of an organization online that I can order a free or low-cost KJB from and have it mailed to my friend?
Go down to Borders and buy one.
Most I've seen so far are downloads.
American Standard Version of 1901, from ccel.org. King James, same source.
Bibles (in good shape and not some weird sectarian version) are something I watch for at garage sales, for the purpose of giving away should someone I encounter want one.
Agreed. I picked up a couple at a dollor store to have on hand after someone asked me for a bible, too.
thanks for your help everyone. After church this morning, Mr sassbox and I walked down to a used book store that was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale. We found a very cheap KJV in good condition as well as some other books for ourselves. I'm not too worried about my friend understanding the old-fashioned language of the KJV; he was an English major in college and has read lots of things from that time period.
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