Call me sentimental, old fashioned and definitely call me behind the times. To me, when I see a book with a nice soft, flexible leather binding, gold trimmed pages that are thin and well printed in columns, that's a Bible. I don't have any other books that are printed that way.
I guess I knew that these were coming out even while I was still in, Adventism that is. I knew about the KJV Study Bible with Ellen White comments. I hated it even back when I still supported her, both because it was the archaic KJV and because it had her comments embedded into it and played right into the hands of those who claimed we held her equal to Scripture.
I also knew about the Blanco Bible, the Clear Word. I voiced my concern about that one to him while at Southern studying for the Ministry. He just added my concerns to the list entitled, "Why we will NEVER recommend Forrester." (whew!)
So, today I'm at the local Adventist Book Center (they answer the phone "ABC Christian Books" um, yeah...) to pick up a copy of The Clear Word - my very first - and was stunned by another "Bible". I was $90 (there is a version that is $140); It is KJV, but I flipped it open just the same. I really wondered why it was so expensive. The binding was very nice and the print was beautiful. I flipped through a bit of it and suddenly faultered: did this have the apocrypha in it? The chapter titles and text were strange? It seriously took me a second to realize what I was looking at - I had to flip to the table of contents to see that it had the Old Testament, New Testament, Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, oh my goodness!
All within the same binding was both the Bible and Ellen White's "Conflict of the Ages" series books -- all bound together looking like a large Bible. To a person who knew nothing of Adventism this would appear that they held the Old Testament, New Testament and those other books all to be inspired Scripture (and we know that many conservative Adventists honestly believe it to be that way.)
A generation from now they may well consider her simply to be an extension to the Bible. This looks exactly like the Mormon books. So: they've finally done it. They've created a Bible that proves their theology.
Update: Here's a link to ABC listing of one of the leather bound editions of the Conflict of the Ages series that looks like a bible. This was not the one, however, with the KJV. Still looking for it. This might be it, though cover is not the same. History of Redemption Bible (update: link broken.)
4 comments:
Does that "Bible" have a name?
It did have a name, though not like "Clear Word"; I don't remember it. I will try to get the name and a picture of it.
The Clear Word with Some of Ellen G. White books make it clear that the other books are not part of the Holy Bible. They were only added to make it easier to have the books close by. Many other people including pastors of other denominations find Ellen G. Whites books informative and a blessing. It is just a shame that one who had accepted the truth is being used to try to bring shame to God's church.
First, this posting was not about the Clear Word - it was about a "bible" that had Ellen White's writings bound together.
Your comment about "many other pastors" is without merit; no evidence is even suggested. I would argue that just the opposite is true. Pastors of other denominations consider her a false prophet. The idea that other pastors and denominations value her is part of SDA lore and urban myth.
I don't know you, so I won't pass judgment too harshly. I suspect, however, that you'd not know truth and error, and have no real framework for evaluating these issues due to your SDA bias (brainwashing?).
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