Steve writes easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity. No preaching.
First grandchild
Just the headlines
Grandpa's journal
Coming in July: A Visual Walk Through Genesis [Sneak peek inside]
Casual English Bible, Steve's paraphrase of Genesis
Amazon's bestselling Bible handbook: Complete Guide to the Bible
Newest book: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible
Help me give Amazon a nudge
Two most-read blog articles
Free review books
A Bible prayer world leaders could pray
DAY ONE. Owen arrived Wednesday afternoon, 7 pounds, 2.6 ounces (3.25 kg). I snapped this picture a couple of hours into his new adventure. Here's Grandma's one-minute video.
Grandpa's journal
OWEN DIDN'T ARRIVE ON CHRISTMAS DAY, his predicted due date. He came almost a week late.
While my daughter was in labor at a hospital 10 minutes away, my son and I were at my house reformatting my computer. A hard drive had failed several weeks earlier, producing a cascading effect that trapped me into a Windows startup loop. We patched the computer temporarily so I could finish the book I was working on, A Visual Walk Through Genesis. My son said he would help me reformat the computer during his week of vacation after Christmas.
My wife was home, too, but scheduled to work the night shift that evening. She was hoping to get off by switching nights with another nurse, if the baby came later in the day.
We were all waiting anxiously for a call from my son-in-law, telling us to come to the hospital. That was the plan.
I sent him a text message asking for a status report at 7:39 a.m.
He said the water was broken, but they had a ways to go. He said he was hoping they would have a son within the next 12 hours.
His parents were staying at his house, watching the two border collies there. I forwarded the status report to them.
I got a note back from my son-in-law's mom more than five hours later, at 12:53 p.m.
"Hurray!”
I misread it. I didn't connect it to the message five hours earlier.
I yelled out of my office so my wife could hear me downstairs: “I just got a message. It’s just one word: ‘Hurry!’”
For a writer, I don’t read very well.
But in fairness to me, the safer way to spell the word is “Hooray!” I wouldn’t have misread that.
We dropped everything.
I grabbed my camcorder. My iPhone was already in a pocket. I stuffed my iPhone charger into another pocket. I whipped on the black wool peacoat that my daughter and son-in-law got me for Christmas, and we were out the door: me, my wife, and my son.
I drove too fast. Walking, nearly running, into the hospital from the parking lot, I videotaped the excitement, setting the scene with narration of what was going on. I even videotaped the ride up the elevator, and the walk down the hall.
I stopped as we prepared to enter the room. Thanks be to God.
"Oops, my bad"
Grandpa's journal
OWEN DIDN'T ARRIVE ON CHRISTMAS DAY, his predicted due date. He came almost a week late.
While my daughter was in labor at a hospital 10 minutes away, my son and I were at my house reformatting my computer. A hard drive had failed several weeks earlier, producing a cascading effect that trapped me into a Windows startup loop. We patched the computer temporarily so I could finish the book I was working on, A Visual Walk Through Genesis. My son said he would help me reformat the computer during his week of vacation after Christmas.
My wife was home, too, but scheduled to work the night shift that evening. She was hoping to get off by switching nights with another nurse, if the baby came later in the day.
We were all waiting anxiously for a call from my son-in-law, telling us to come to the hospital. That was the plan.
I sent him a text message asking for a status report at 7:39 a.m.
He said the water was broken, but they had a ways to go. He said he was hoping they would have a son within the next 12 hours.
His parents were staying at his house, watching the two border collies there. I forwarded the status report to them.
I got a note back from my son-in-law's mom more than five hours later, at 12:53 p.m.
"Hurray!”
I misread it. I didn't connect it to the message five hours earlier.
I yelled out of my office so my wife could hear me downstairs: “I just got a message. It’s just one word: ‘Hurry!’”
For a writer, I don’t read very well.
But in fairness to me, the safer way to spell the word is “Hooray!” I wouldn’t have misread that.
We dropped everything.
I grabbed my camcorder. My iPhone was already in a pocket. I stuffed my iPhone charger into another pocket. I whipped on the black wool peacoat that my daughter and son-in-law got me for Christmas, and we were out the door: me, my wife, and my son.
I drove too fast. Walking, nearly running, into the hospital from the parking lot, I videotaped the excitement, setting the scene with narration of what was going on. I even videotaped the ride up the elevator, and the walk down the hall.
I stopped as we prepared to enter the room. Thanks be to God.
"Oops, my bad"
My daughter was not in a situation conducive to welcoming visitors.
She looked shocked to see us. My wife told her we had gotten a message to hurry.
My daughter said, "No, it’s not time yet, We’ll call you when it’s time.”
We slinked and slouched back out of the doorway.I shrunk a little. But not enough. People could still see me.
In the hall I pointed the camera to my son and asked him to explain what happened.
“We were lied too,” he said.
As we waited for the elevator to get us the dickens off that baby floor, I rechecked the text message and said, “Oh no. She didn’t say ‘Hurry!’ she said ‘Hurray!’ Accent on the wrong syllable.”
My son said, “Okay, give it here.” He took my camcorder and said, “Time for the walk of shame.” He made me explain my mistake, on camera. I held up my iPhone and showed the text message.
On the drive home my son looked up the spelling of ‘Hurray.’ It’s correct, but can also be spelled ‘Hooray.’
You know which spelling I will prefer for the rest of my life.
At 3:56 p.m. I sent another text message to my son-in-law asking how it was going.
By then, my daughter was probably holding her son, born 20 minutes earlier.
"Now"
She looked shocked to see us. My wife told her we had gotten a message to hurry.
My daughter said, "No, it’s not time yet, We’ll call you when it’s time.”
We slinked and slouched back out of the doorway.I shrunk a little. But not enough. People could still see me.
In the hall I pointed the camera to my son and asked him to explain what happened.
“We were lied too,” he said.
As we waited for the elevator to get us the dickens off that baby floor, I rechecked the text message and said, “Oh no. She didn’t say ‘Hurry!’ she said ‘Hurray!’ Accent on the wrong syllable.”
My son said, “Okay, give it here.” He took my camcorder and said, “Time for the walk of shame.” He made me explain my mistake, on camera. I held up my iPhone and showed the text message.
On the drive home my son looked up the spelling of ‘Hurray.’ It’s correct, but can also be spelled ‘Hooray.’
You know which spelling I will prefer for the rest of my life.
At 3:56 p.m. I sent another text message to my son-in-law asking how it was going.
By then, my daughter was probably holding her son, born 20 minutes earlier.
"Now"
My son-in-law sent a one-word message...to wife, not to me: “Now.”
I probably would have misread it as “No” or “No way,” or maybe even, “The British sunk the Bismarck.”
By then, my son had gone home and I was reloading software on my computer. So it was just me and my wife, with me driving not quite as fast this time, and not videotaping.
Owen is incredibly handsome. Really. Some babies are not good looking. We just say they are because it's not polite to say otherwise. Owen is handsome. He looks a lot like his mom did as a baby, and she was gorgeous.
We were Owen’s first visitors, far as I know.
When my wife picked up Owen and held him, I walked over to my daughter. Standing beside her at the head of her bed I simply said, “Do you have it figured out now?”
She knew exactly what I meant.
A week and a half earlier, on December 18, I had written in a blog article called “Waiting for the boy child.” In the article I said this about the coming birth, “Here’s why I’m so eager for that day to come. Once my daughter holds that little boy in her arms, she will finally…after all these years…know how much I love her.”
My daughter said, “Yes."
She said that she and her husband both cried when Owen arrived safely. Until then, my daughter had never seen her husband cry.
I put my forehead on hers for just a few seconds and held her head with both of my hands. I didn’t mean to cry. I meant to not cry. But in my memory I saw her face for the first time, once again. A beautiful little round-faced girl. The realization in that instant...that my baby now had a baby...swept me away.
I think I may have sobbed once. Okay, twice.
Then I stepped back and we both smiled.
GENESIS LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT. They don't make easy-reading Bible commentaries like this. It's as though a magazine fell in love with a Bible reference book and they had a kid. Here's the kid. Fun-loving and easy to read. He likes pictures and maps. Click the cover to see inside.
Coming in July:
GENESIS
—Magazine-style commentary
—Pictures & maps
—Discussion guide
...LOOK INSIDE
BONUS ON WEB:
Steve's Genesis paraphrase,
and an extended discussion guide
WHAT I DID for the Complete Guide to the Bible, which is one of my bestselling books, I just did for Genesis.
I created a fast-paced, easy-reading book to help folks understand the story of Genesis and the history behind the story: A Visual Walk Through Genesis.
There are 50 chapters in Genesis. And I've got 50 magazine-style articles in A Visual Walk Through Genesis, one for each chapter. I've also got about 150 pictures and maps. Lots of short sidebars, too.
After I wrote the Complete Guide to the Bible, a 500-plus-page book introducing the Bible to folks, I wanted to do the same for some of the most popular books in the Bible.
That's what I just got to do with Genesis.
In all of the easy-reading Bible background books I've written, Genesis gets just a few pages in each. Even in my word-driven Complete Guide to the Bible, Genesis gets only 15 measly pages.
It gets even more in my newest release, A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible: 27 pages.
But in A Visual Walk Through Genesis, I get to fill up 227 pages with words, photos, and illustrated maps to help Bible newcomers tour every one of the stories in all 50 chapters of Genesis.
Genesis stirs up lots of questions because it’s loaded with weird and wild stories.
A talking snake
God making Eve from Adam’s rib
Fallen angels and human women making baby giants
A flood that covers the entire planet
A 100-year-old man and his 91-year old wife having a baby Let me tell you, this was a fun book to write.
Genesis: Casual English Bible™
I'M HOPING folks will want to use A Visual Walk Through Genesis in a Bible study.
That's why I plugged into the back of the book a bunch of discussion questions for all 50 chapters in Genesis.
Now, I'm kicking that up a notch.
When the book releases on July 1, 2016, I'm also going to release online:
Casual English Bible, Beta Edition of Genesis, a new Bible paraphrase
367 Genesis discussion questions...the kind a newspaper reporter would ask The Casual English Bible is a beta edition because I'm still checking it, polishing it, and hoping readers will help me refine it even more. That makes it a Bible paraphrase in process. And you get to be part of the process if you like.
In fact, here's an offer. Once I release the Genesis paraphrase online, in July, I'd like to have a dozen souls agree to read it and recommend corrections and revisions. In trade, I'll give you a free, signed copy of A Visual Walk Through Genesis. If you'd like to volunteer, send me an email.
Expanded discussion questionsAlongside the online beta edition of the Casual English Bible I'm including expanded discussion questions. In the printed book, A Visual Walk Through Genesis, we were limited by the page count. But online, I'm able to add a lot more questions and load them with background insights that raise still more questions:
Here's a sneak peek at Genesis 1 in the Casual English Bible followed by the discussion questions.
Casual English Bible ™
Genesis 1. Where life got its start
Day 1, Lights
1:1. Life began when God created[1] the universe—everything on earth and in the sky.
1:2. Earth was shapeless and empty. Darkness cloaked the deep water. God’s Spirit[2] cruised through the darkness, above the water.
1:3. God said, “Lights.” Lights came on.
1:4. God liked the light. He gave it a place, separate from darkness.
1:5. God called the light’s place “Day.” He put darkness in its place, too. He called it “Night.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The first day was over.
Day 2, Living space
1:6. God said, “Open up some room. Put it in a dry place, sandwiched between water on the ground and water above.”
1:7. God made a huge room. That’s what happened. Then he parted the water. He put some on the ground, below the room. He put the rest above the room.
1:8. God called the huge room “Sky.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The second day was over.
Day 3, Gardens
1:9. God said, “Water under the sky, flow into one place to make room for dry ground.” That’s what happened.
1:10. God called the dry ground “Land.” He called the wet place “Ocean.” God liked what he saw.
1:11. God said, “Land, grow a garden. Grow plants that make their own seeds. Grow trees that produce fruit, which make their own seeds, too.” That’s what happened.
1:12. The land grew a garden. All the plants made their own seeds. Trees produced fruit that made its own seeds. Each kind of tree had its own unique seeds. God liked what he saw.
1:13. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The third day was over.
Day 4, Sky lights
1:14. God said, “Sky lights. Hang them high. They will mark time, separating day from night. They’ll mark not only the days, but the seasons and the years, too.
1:15. These sky lights will light the room below.” That’s what happened.
1:16. God made two bright sky lights. The biggest and brightest lit the day.[3] The smaller one lit the night.[4] God made the stars, too.
1:17. God put these lights in the sky to brighten the earth
1:18. and to separate light from darkness, and day from night. God liked what he saw.
1:19. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fourth day was over.
Day 5, Fish and birds
1:20. God said, “Life, fill the waters below and the sky above. Fish and other water-loving creatures, start swimming. Birds, fly above the ground in the big room I made.”
1:21. God created the sea creatures. Big, monster-size ones. Little cute ones. All kinds. Everything that lives and moves in the water. He did the same for every bird that flies. God liked what he saw.
1:22. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Make lots of baby swimmers and fliers. Fish and all swimmers at sea, fill the water with your babies. Birds, fill the sky.”
1:23. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fifth day was over.
Day 6, Animals and humans
1:24. God said, “Land, produce animals. All kinds. Everything that moves on the ground including tame livestock and wild, untamable animals.”
1:25. God made the animals. All kinds. Mild. Wild. Everything that lives and moves along the ground. God liked what he saw.
1:26. God said, “Let’s make humans.[5] They’ll resemble us.[6] They’ll be in charge of the planet: the fish in the water, the birds in the sky, and the animals on the ground. Sky high to ocean deep, they’ll make the call about what happens on the earth.
1:27. God created a man who resembled him. A woman, too. Man and woman. They both resembled God.
1:28. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Have lots of children. Fill this world with your children and your children’s children. Take charge of the planet. Manage the fish, the birds, and every life form around you. They are your responsibility.”
1:29. God said, “Take a good look at all the plants that produce seeds and all the trees that fill with fruit. They are your food.
1:30. They are food for the animals, too. For the creatures large and small, high and low—from birds that soar to creepy, crawly critters scurrying through the dirt. If it’s a green plant, it’s animal food.” And that’s the way it was.
1:31. God saw what he made and liked what he saw. He liked it very much. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The sixth day was over.
[1] 1:1. Some Hebrew language experts say it should read “started to create,” which suggests a process, with the process taking a week or perhaps an eon of weeks.
[2] 1:2. “Spirit of God” could read as “wind of God.”
[3] 1:16. Sun
[4] 1:16. Moon
[5] 1:26. “Human” or “man” is pronounced Adam in Hebrew
[6] 1:26. “Us” is possibly a reference to other celestial beings such as angels or to the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
I probably would have misread it as “No” or “No way,” or maybe even, “The British sunk the Bismarck.”
By then, my son had gone home and I was reloading software on my computer. So it was just me and my wife, with me driving not quite as fast this time, and not videotaping.
Owen is incredibly handsome. Really. Some babies are not good looking. We just say they are because it's not polite to say otherwise. Owen is handsome. He looks a lot like his mom did as a baby, and she was gorgeous.
We were Owen’s first visitors, far as I know.
When my wife picked up Owen and held him, I walked over to my daughter. Standing beside her at the head of her bed I simply said, “Do you have it figured out now?”
She knew exactly what I meant.
A week and a half earlier, on December 18, I had written in a blog article called “Waiting for the boy child.” In the article I said this about the coming birth, “Here’s why I’m so eager for that day to come. Once my daughter holds that little boy in her arms, she will finally…after all these years…know how much I love her.”
My daughter said, “Yes."
She said that she and her husband both cried when Owen arrived safely. Until then, my daughter had never seen her husband cry.
I put my forehead on hers for just a few seconds and held her head with both of my hands. I didn’t mean to cry. I meant to not cry. But in my memory I saw her face for the first time, once again. A beautiful little round-faced girl. The realization in that instant...that my baby now had a baby...swept me away.
I think I may have sobbed once. Okay, twice.
Then I stepped back and we both smiled.
GENESIS LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT. They don't make easy-reading Bible commentaries like this. It's as though a magazine fell in love with a Bible reference book and they had a kid. Here's the kid. Fun-loving and easy to read. He likes pictures and maps. Click the cover to see inside.Coming in July:
GENESIS
—Magazine-style commentary
—Pictures & maps
—Discussion guide
...LOOK INSIDE
BONUS ON WEB:
Steve's Genesis paraphrase,
and an extended discussion guide
WHAT I DID for the Complete Guide to the Bible, which is one of my bestselling books, I just did for Genesis.
I created a fast-paced, easy-reading book to help folks understand the story of Genesis and the history behind the story: A Visual Walk Through Genesis.
There are 50 chapters in Genesis. And I've got 50 magazine-style articles in A Visual Walk Through Genesis, one for each chapter. I've also got about 150 pictures and maps. Lots of short sidebars, too.
After I wrote the Complete Guide to the Bible, a 500-plus-page book introducing the Bible to folks, I wanted to do the same for some of the most popular books in the Bible.
That's what I just got to do with Genesis.
In all of the easy-reading Bible background books I've written, Genesis gets just a few pages in each. Even in my word-driven Complete Guide to the Bible, Genesis gets only 15 measly pages.
It gets even more in my newest release, A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible: 27 pages.
But in A Visual Walk Through Genesis, I get to fill up 227 pages with words, photos, and illustrated maps to help Bible newcomers tour every one of the stories in all 50 chapters of Genesis.
Genesis stirs up lots of questions because it’s loaded with weird and wild stories.
A talking snake
God making Eve from Adam’s rib
Fallen angels and human women making baby giants
A flood that covers the entire planet
A 100-year-old man and his 91-year old wife having a baby Let me tell you, this was a fun book to write.
Genesis: Casual English Bible™
I'M HOPING folks will want to use A Visual Walk Through Genesis in a Bible study.
That's why I plugged into the back of the book a bunch of discussion questions for all 50 chapters in Genesis.
Now, I'm kicking that up a notch.
When the book releases on July 1, 2016, I'm also going to release online:
Casual English Bible, Beta Edition of Genesis, a new Bible paraphrase
367 Genesis discussion questions...the kind a newspaper reporter would ask The Casual English Bible is a beta edition because I'm still checking it, polishing it, and hoping readers will help me refine it even more. That makes it a Bible paraphrase in process. And you get to be part of the process if you like.
In fact, here's an offer. Once I release the Genesis paraphrase online, in July, I'd like to have a dozen souls agree to read it and recommend corrections and revisions. In trade, I'll give you a free, signed copy of A Visual Walk Through Genesis. If you'd like to volunteer, send me an email.
Expanded discussion questionsAlongside the online beta edition of the Casual English Bible I'm including expanded discussion questions. In the printed book, A Visual Walk Through Genesis, we were limited by the page count. But online, I'm able to add a lot more questions and load them with background insights that raise still more questions:
Here's a sneak peek at Genesis 1 in the Casual English Bible followed by the discussion questions.
Casual English Bible ™
Genesis 1. Where life got its start
Day 1, Lights
1:1. Life began when God created[1] the universe—everything on earth and in the sky.
1:2. Earth was shapeless and empty. Darkness cloaked the deep water. God’s Spirit[2] cruised through the darkness, above the water.
1:3. God said, “Lights.” Lights came on.
1:4. God liked the light. He gave it a place, separate from darkness.
1:5. God called the light’s place “Day.” He put darkness in its place, too. He called it “Night.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The first day was over.
Day 2, Living space
1:6. God said, “Open up some room. Put it in a dry place, sandwiched between water on the ground and water above.”
1:7. God made a huge room. That’s what happened. Then he parted the water. He put some on the ground, below the room. He put the rest above the room.
1:8. God called the huge room “Sky.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The second day was over.
Day 3, Gardens
1:9. God said, “Water under the sky, flow into one place to make room for dry ground.” That’s what happened.
1:10. God called the dry ground “Land.” He called the wet place “Ocean.” God liked what he saw.
1:11. God said, “Land, grow a garden. Grow plants that make their own seeds. Grow trees that produce fruit, which make their own seeds, too.” That’s what happened.
1:12. The land grew a garden. All the plants made their own seeds. Trees produced fruit that made its own seeds. Each kind of tree had its own unique seeds. God liked what he saw.
1:13. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The third day was over.
Day 4, Sky lights
1:14. God said, “Sky lights. Hang them high. They will mark time, separating day from night. They’ll mark not only the days, but the seasons and the years, too.
1:15. These sky lights will light the room below.” That’s what happened.
1:16. God made two bright sky lights. The biggest and brightest lit the day.[3] The smaller one lit the night.[4] God made the stars, too.
1:17. God put these lights in the sky to brighten the earth
1:18. and to separate light from darkness, and day from night. God liked what he saw.
1:19. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fourth day was over.
Day 5, Fish and birds
1:20. God said, “Life, fill the waters below and the sky above. Fish and other water-loving creatures, start swimming. Birds, fly above the ground in the big room I made.”
1:21. God created the sea creatures. Big, monster-size ones. Little cute ones. All kinds. Everything that lives and moves in the water. He did the same for every bird that flies. God liked what he saw.
1:22. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Make lots of baby swimmers and fliers. Fish and all swimmers at sea, fill the water with your babies. Birds, fill the sky.”
1:23. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fifth day was over.
Day 6, Animals and humans
1:24. God said, “Land, produce animals. All kinds. Everything that moves on the ground including tame livestock and wild, untamable animals.”
1:25. God made the animals. All kinds. Mild. Wild. Everything that lives and moves along the ground. God liked what he saw.
1:26. God said, “Let’s make humans.[5] They’ll resemble us.[6] They’ll be in charge of the planet: the fish in the water, the birds in the sky, and the animals on the ground. Sky high to ocean deep, they’ll make the call about what happens on the earth.
1:27. God created a man who resembled him. A woman, too. Man and woman. They both resembled God.
1:28. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Have lots of children. Fill this world with your children and your children’s children. Take charge of the planet. Manage the fish, the birds, and every life form around you. They are your responsibility.”
1:29. God said, “Take a good look at all the plants that produce seeds and all the trees that fill with fruit. They are your food.
1:30. They are food for the animals, too. For the creatures large and small, high and low—from birds that soar to creepy, crawly critters scurrying through the dirt. If it’s a green plant, it’s animal food.” And that’s the way it was.
1:31. God saw what he made and liked what he saw. He liked it very much. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The sixth day was over.
[1] 1:1. Some Hebrew language experts say it should read “started to create,” which suggests a process, with the process taking a week or perhaps an eon of weeks.
[2] 1:2. “Spirit of God” could read as “wind of God.”
[3] 1:16. Sun
[4] 1:16. Moon
[5] 1:26. “Human” or “man” is pronounced Adam in Hebrew
[6] 1:26. “Us” is possibly a reference to other celestial beings such as angels or to the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Genesis 1 Discussion Questions for use with A Visual Walk Through Genesis, by Stephen M. Miller
COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BIBLE
FOR MORE THAN A YEAR Amazon has listed The Complete Guide to the Bible as the #1 Christian Bible handbook.
Each day, it battles with a few other top contenders for the #1 slot. As I type this, it's #3.
I'm happy that after more than eight years, this book released back in 2007 is still helping people get acquainted with the Bible.
- In his book, A Visual Walk Through Genesis, in the section called “Who wrote it?” on pages 13-14, Miller reports that Jewish tradition says Moses wrote Genesis. But then he says many scholars seem to doubt that. He lists some clues that suggest someone else either wrote Genesis or edited it after Moses died. What do you think of the idea that Moses may not have written the Book of Genesis?
- In Genesis 1:1, Miller reports that some Hebrew language specialists say the Bible shouldn’t begin with “God created.” It should begin with “God started to create.” If those specialists are right, what difference do you think it would make to how we understand the Creation story?
- In the short article “Where NASA and Genesis agree,” page 17, Miller says NASA uses the following words to describe the birth of the universe, which they say is made up mostly of mysterious substances they call Dark Energy and Dark Matter: “When the universe was young, it was nearly smooth and featureless. As it grew older and developed, it became organized.”That sounds a little like “Earth was shapeless and empty. Darkness cloaked the deep water” (1:2), along with all the universe-building that follows in the rest of Genesis 1. Do you think that suggests we should read the Creation story as though it’s reporting accurate history and science?
- Miller says the Creation story reads like rhythmic poetry, beating a drum “through six wonderfully pulsing choruses.” He says each Day in the Creation story sounds a lot like every other day—at least in the way the events are told. For example, each day ends with the same lyrics: “Nighttime passed. Morning came. The first day was over” (1:5). Do you think that might suggest we should not take the story quite so literally—as history and science—but perhaps allow for the possibility that the writer was driving with a poetic license?
- For Christians who read the story as accurate history and science, what do you think would be their counterpoint to the Genesis writer’s report that God created plants on Day Three—one day before he created the sun that provides the radiation that the plants need to live?
- Do you find the following two statements interesting or irrelevant? (1) The Bible quotes God as saying, “Water under the sky, flow into one place to make room for dry ground” (1:9). (2) Miller reports that some geoscientists theorize that Earth was a waterworld 2.5 billion years ago?
- The Genesis writer doesn’t say God created the sun and moon. The writer says God created “two bright sky lights. The biggest and brightest lit the day. The smaller one lit the night” (1:16). Some scholars speculate that the writer skipped the names of sun and moon because in Bible times the sun and moon were names of pagan gods. The sun was Shamash (SHAH mahsh). The moon was Yarikh (YAR ack). Would you buy into that theory?
- In the short article, “Why are we here?” on page 24, Miller says God gave humans the job of taking care of Creation. His Bible paraphrase, the Casual English Bible, quotes God this way: “They’ll be in charge of the planet….Sky high to ocean deep, they’ll make the call about what happens on the earth” (1:26). Do you think Miller got that right? And if we are Earth’s caretakers, how do you think we’re doing?
- God says “Let us make human beings” (1:26 NLT). Who is the “us"? On page 23 in A Visual Walk Through Genesis, Miller reports several theories. Can you warm up to any of them?
- God says humans will “resemble us” (1:26). Bible experts serve up lots of educated guesses about what that means. Here are several that Miller reports on page 23 in A Visual Walk Through Genesis. Do you like any one of them more than another:
- We reign. In the very next sentence, God puts humans in charge of life on the planet. We’re the caretakers of his creation. (See 1:28, 2:15 NLT.)
- We create. God gives us the ability to create. Babies, for one. Books for another.
- We have character. We resemble God in some of our characteristics: we reason, we love, we’re inventive, and we have a sense of justice.
- We look like him. Adam had a son that resembled him, too: Seth, “who was just like him, his very spirit and image” (5:3 MSG).
- There’s no mention of meat-eaters in Genesis 1. “If it’s a green plant, it’s animal food” (1:30). Prophets will later talk of a vegan paradise: “The lion will eat hay like a cow” (Isaiah 11:7 NLT). Does that suggest a vegan diet is God’s preferred menu? Or do you think poets are simply trying to help readers picture a world of perfect peace in which blood doesn’t get spilled?
- LIFE APPLICATION. As you think about the universe, from stars in the sky to fish in the sea, what makes you feel most inclined to believe that there’s a Creator behind this creation?
COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BIBLE
FOR MORE THAN A YEAR Amazon has listed The Complete Guide to the Bible as the #1 Christian Bible handbook.
Each day, it battles with a few other top contenders for the #1 slot. As I type this, it's #3.
I'm happy that after more than eight years, this book released back in 2007 is still helping people get acquainted with the Bible.
Deluxe edition with new maps
The publisher released a leather-bound edition several months ago.
Newest release: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible
The publisher released a leather-bound edition several months ago.
Newest release: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible
BIBLE ATLAS IN DISGUISE. That's how I thought of this book as I was writing it and filling it with more than 300 color pictures and more than 100 illustrated maps.
As usual, I've written in a fast-paced, magazine style.
I've written Bible handbooks before. But none with this many maps, which are 3D-style, to give you the lay of the land.
This is a new and fresh way of exploring the Bible’s headliner stories, including…
—Finding Rebekah: Long Walk for a Good Wife
—Moses Takes the Scenic Route
— Ahab's Family War Machine
...LOOK INSIDE
Sneak peek at Amazon
Help me give Amazon a nudge
COULD YOU DO ME A FAVOR?
I'll give the first 5 people who do this a free book.
Right now you can't get a Kindle version of A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible because Amazon hasn't gotten around to adding it to their list. You can get it as a Nook ebook through Barnes and Noble. And you can get it through Google Play. But I'd like to see it available as a Kindle ebook, too.
Here's what you doGo to the the site where Amazon sells the book. Here's the link: A Quick Guided Through the Bible.
Find the small sidebar box that says, "Tell the Publisher! I'd like to read this book on Kindle."
You may have to do a word search using "publisher" to find it among all the clutter on the web page.
Click the link.
That's it.
You’ve voted to make the book available in the Kindle format.
Two most-read blog articles
HERE ARE THE TWO MOST POPULAR blog articles I posted this fall.
As usual, I've written in a fast-paced, magazine style.
I've written Bible handbooks before. But none with this many maps, which are 3D-style, to give you the lay of the land.
This is a new and fresh way of exploring the Bible’s headliner stories, including…
—Finding Rebekah: Long Walk for a Good Wife
—Moses Takes the Scenic Route
— Ahab's Family War Machine
...LOOK INSIDE
Sneak peek at Amazon
Help me give Amazon a nudge
COULD YOU DO ME A FAVOR?
I'll give the first 5 people who do this a free book.
Right now you can't get a Kindle version of A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible because Amazon hasn't gotten around to adding it to their list. You can get it as a Nook ebook through Barnes and Noble. And you can get it through Google Play. But I'd like to see it available as a Kindle ebook, too.
Here's what you doGo to the the site where Amazon sells the book. Here's the link: A Quick Guided Through the Bible.
Find the small sidebar box that says, "Tell the Publisher! I'd like to read this book on Kindle."
You may have to do a word search using "publisher" to find it among all the clutter on the web page.
Click the link.
That's it.
You’ve voted to make the book available in the Kindle format.
Two most-read blog articles
HERE ARE THE TWO MOST POPULAR blog articles I posted this fall.
- I post new articles every Tuesday and Thursday. The subscription is free. All you need is a name and an email address. I give away free, signed copies of my books every week.
- Sign me up.
JAW-DROPPING HAPPINESS. It’s not all that common, it might seem at first thought. Think again. You might surprise yourself. I did. I couldn’t believe it. I was jaw-dropping happy on Tuesday. Photo by Alex, Flickr, CC 2.0 .TELL THE HEAVENS and earth to be glad and celebrate....Command the ocean to roar" (1 Chronicles 16:31-33).
Be honest. When was the last time you felt that way about God?
Have you ever felt that thankful to God about anything?
Read more."{Death: God’s worst idea?" by Stephen M. Miller
SPIRIT WORLD. Family and friends huddle together for a funeral in Hermann, Missouri. Which begs the question, “Why does God put up with something as miserable as death?“ Photo by Stephen M. Miller.ONE EMAIL changed my week.
It came this past Tuesday. By today, my son and I were supposed to be on the West Coast, prepping to meet with my editor and the publishing team: president, sales folks, designers.
But the email reported that my editor – the person most responsible for ushering my book through the production gauntlet – had just lost his 35-year-old son and his 83-year-old dad when the small plane his son was flying crashed and burned shortly after takeoff.
I saw the photos online and I read the story in the digital edition of the local newspaper.
There was nothing left of the front part of the plane where the young man and his grandpa were sitting. The tail of the plane was all that survived intact.
I spent about two hours working with a travel company to get my airline tickets changed for a flight to the publishing company next month. The airlines charged the full price of the change fees: $200 for each ticket, each way. About $800 for the two of us since we were flying there on one airline and flying back on another. They said they would have waived the fee if it had been my son and my dad in the airplane.
Normally, I would have gotten angry at everything about that phone call.
At how long it took them to change the tickets; the distracted lady sounded like she was new to the job and working in the living room of a noisy house in India.
At having to pay that steep fee in spite of the tragedy.
But as I sat there on hold, I kept thinking of my son.
In a month, he and I will go to the postponed meeting. He directs my marketing efforts and I wanted him there with me.
So I will be there with my son.
My editor will be there without his son.
I think he will notice that.
I’ve thought about how to introduce him to my son. But the very thought of speaking the words melts me.
All week long, so far, I have felt broken for this editor whom I have never met face to face.
No more. No less.
That’s all and everything. Right now, the spirit has room for nothing else.
When tragedies like this consume our day, we’re left wondering why God didn’t bother to lift a finger. Or lift the plane.
Worse, we wonder why God invented death. It seems like a terrible idea.
Theologians will argue that God wasn’t the source of death, and that death came into the world through Adam.
But who can trust a theologian?
They invent words so they can talk about things they don’t understand. Like the Trinity, entire sanctification, and original sin.
Still, I think it’s healthy to talk about things we don’t understand. And to raise questions we can’t answer.
Like why would God All-Mighty allow death when God in the Flesh cried at a friend’s grave?
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
I find myself not liking a God who would invent death. Or even a God who might not have invented death, but who allows it when he could stop it.
I like a God who cries when someone dies.
So when I think about the death of people close to home – family, friends, and colleagues – I leave behind the questions I can’t answer.
I turn to scenes I can picture and understand and embrace.
Jesus crying at the grave of Lazarus.
But as followers of Jesus we trust that there is life in the Spirit.
We don’t know what that’s like. But we trust that if Jesus is there, it’s enough.
For more about death
The winners will get the option of choosing my new release: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible – among about half a dozen other titles.
---------------------
Pardon the profanity
Be honest. When was the last time you felt that way about God?
Have you ever felt that thankful to God about anything?
Read more."{Death: God’s worst idea?" by Stephen M. Miller
SPIRIT WORLD. Family and friends huddle together for a funeral in Hermann, Missouri. Which begs the question, “Why does God put up with something as miserable as death?“ Photo by Stephen M. Miller.ONE EMAIL changed my week.
It came this past Tuesday. By today, my son and I were supposed to be on the West Coast, prepping to meet with my editor and the publishing team: president, sales folks, designers.
But the email reported that my editor – the person most responsible for ushering my book through the production gauntlet – had just lost his 35-year-old son and his 83-year-old dad when the small plane his son was flying crashed and burned shortly after takeoff.
I saw the photos online and I read the story in the digital edition of the local newspaper.
There was nothing left of the front part of the plane where the young man and his grandpa were sitting. The tail of the plane was all that survived intact.
I spent about two hours working with a travel company to get my airline tickets changed for a flight to the publishing company next month. The airlines charged the full price of the change fees: $200 for each ticket, each way. About $800 for the two of us since we were flying there on one airline and flying back on another. They said they would have waived the fee if it had been my son and my dad in the airplane.
Normally, I would have gotten angry at everything about that phone call.
At how long it took them to change the tickets; the distracted lady sounded like she was new to the job and working in the living room of a noisy house in India.
At having to pay that steep fee in spite of the tragedy.
But as I sat there on hold, I kept thinking of my son.
In a month, he and I will go to the postponed meeting. He directs my marketing efforts and I wanted him there with me.
So I will be there with my son.
My editor will be there without his son.
I think he will notice that.
I’ve thought about how to introduce him to my son. But the very thought of speaking the words melts me.
All week long, so far, I have felt broken for this editor whom I have never met face to face.
- We’ve joked by email.
- We’ve argued by email and phone.
- We’ve created books together by email, phone, and Federal Express.
- I should think of him as a colleague. Normally I do.
- Not today.
No more. No less.
That’s all and everything. Right now, the spirit has room for nothing else.
When tragedies like this consume our day, we’re left wondering why God didn’t bother to lift a finger. Or lift the plane.
Worse, we wonder why God invented death. It seems like a terrible idea.
Theologians will argue that God wasn’t the source of death, and that death came into the world through Adam.
But who can trust a theologian?
They invent words so they can talk about things they don’t understand. Like the Trinity, entire sanctification, and original sin.
Still, I think it’s healthy to talk about things we don’t understand. And to raise questions we can’t answer.
Like why would God All-Mighty allow death when God in the Flesh cried at a friend’s grave?
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
I find myself not liking a God who would invent death. Or even a God who might not have invented death, but who allows it when he could stop it.
I like a God who cries when someone dies.
So when I think about the death of people close to home – family, friends, and colleagues – I leave behind the questions I can’t answer.
I turn to scenes I can picture and understand and embrace.
Jesus crying at the grave of Lazarus.
- Lazarus rising from the dead and walking out of the tomb, at the command of Jesus.
- Jesus rising from the dead – evidence that death for all its finality isn’t final.
But as followers of Jesus we trust that there is life in the Spirit.
We don’t know what that’s like. But we trust that if Jesus is there, it’s enough.
For more about death
- Two deaths, a Good Friday reading
- What happens to dead Christians?
- What about near-death experiences?
- Book: “Death,” Complete Bible Handbook, pages 103-104
- Video: The Bible, and the Long Good-bye
- Jaime Hernandez
- Rogerio Lauretti
The winners will get the option of choosing my new release: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible – among about half a dozen other titles.
---------------------
Pardon the profanity
SCOWL AHEAD. Maybe this gent is smiling inside, but I can tell you some people are not at all happy when they write me. As best I can, I try to be polite when I reply. But it doesn’t come naturally. I have to think about it. Photo by Heath Cajandig, flickr, CC 2.0.IT’S NOT EASY TO BE POLITE when people come at me with harsh words.
My immediate response is to retaliate with a crippling counterpunch. When we are fighting with words, I can counter punch fairly well.
Read more."Pardon the profanity" by Stephen M. Miller
SCOWL AHEAD. Maybe this gent is smiling inside, but I can tell you some people are not at all happy when they write me. As best I can, I try to be polite when I reply. But it doesn’t come naturally. I have to think about it. Photo by Heath Cajandig, flickr, CC 2.0.IT’S NOT EASY TO BE POLITE when people come at me with harsh words.
My immediate response is to retaliate with a crippling counterpunch. When we are fighting with words, I can counterpunch fairly well.
I actually have to stop myself from reacting that way. I have to take a few moments, sit back, and think about how to write a reasonable and helpful response.
I believe it’s especially important for me to do that when I’m exchanging comments with people outside the faith. These are the very people I target with my books. I don’t write for people who are already Christians.
Blame it on the Great Commission: “Go and make followers of all people in the world….Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Below is a glimpse into what that looked like for me this past weekend.
Some time ago I created a short little video called “The day the sun stopped.”
I often get comments about those little homemade videos. Take a look at one exchange of comments that took place over the past few days.
Pardon the profanity, but respect the opinion of the writer. I do. He and people like him outside the faith are the reason I try to make the Bible as understandable as I can.
KN: It must be hard to rationalize all the bullshit you believe. God helped him [Joshua] murder and kill other people. It was impossible for him to pray to god to help him find a diplomatic solution?
Steve: Finding a diplomatic solution in the middle of a battle in which 5 armies have surrounded a city they are in the process of trying to level…that’s possible. Perhaps slightly less of a miracle than stopping the sun and moon from shining. It’s good to have an optimist out there.
KN: It’s even better to have a god on your side that will murder at your request.
Steve: Not all Christians read the story as history or see God as an assassin. They read the story as told by someone who believed God was in charge of everything. So that writer figured that if Joshua won the battle with the help of a hailstorm, God is the reason they won. Christians who read Bible stories that way tend to see God as uncontrolling, and as a Creator who has put humans in charge of the planet, for better or worse.
KN: Why do you write in the third person as if you are doing a documentary on what others believe? Are you embarrassed to say what you believe? So what you are saying is the bible has a bunch of stuff in it that is indistinguishable from fairy tales or poetry. So please let me know about the following:
You’re a grown man. Let go of your superstition.
Steve: I prefer not to tell people what to think. I’m not a preacher. My undergrad degree is in news journalism. I prefer to report on what Christians say they believe, since they are so diverse in their views.
Christians are on both sides of the items you listed, with one exception: the Resurrection.
Paul put it this way, “If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection” (1 Corinthians 15:13-15, The Message).
Christians seem to agree that one thing they are solid on in their agreements with each other is the Resurrection and life after the physical death.
I need to call it quits on this string, but there are comment boxes on my website blogs at StephenMillerBooks.com. Peace to you.
I don’t know if anything I said makes any difference to KN. The writer seems fairly hostile toward the Bible and to people who believe what is in there. But I wanted to make sure the writer knows that there is room within Christianity for wide differences of opinion over how to interpret many of the teachings.
Holiday discount: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible
Starting today, Harvest House Publishers has dropped its price on the e-book edition of A Quick, Guided Tour Through the Bible.
The book is available for $9.99.
They will pull the plug on this offer sometime before Thanksgiving.
This is the promo I have been waiting for. I will be getting the e-book edition for myself at this price.
Now, I’ll be able to use the book on my phone and on my tablet.
Here are the links you can use to get the book:
For more about the people I write for
FREE BOOKS
These are review copies. That means you'll write a short review on Amazon or some other site that sells or reviews books.Just a sentence or two.
Once I get your email note, I'll send you an email confirmation and you can tell me where to mail the book.
Solomon's prayer, a model for world leaders
"Give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead these people in the right way, because no one can rule them without your help" (2 Chronicles 1:10NCV).
Stephen M. Miller
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Subscribe to blog
Forward to a friend
Our mailing address is:
Stephen M. Miller Inc
PO Box 2712
My immediate response is to retaliate with a crippling counterpunch. When we are fighting with words, I can counter punch fairly well.
Read more."Pardon the profanity" by Stephen M. Miller
SCOWL AHEAD. Maybe this gent is smiling inside, but I can tell you some people are not at all happy when they write me. As best I can, I try to be polite when I reply. But it doesn’t come naturally. I have to think about it. Photo by Heath Cajandig, flickr, CC 2.0.IT’S NOT EASY TO BE POLITE when people come at me with harsh words.
My immediate response is to retaliate with a crippling counterpunch. When we are fighting with words, I can counterpunch fairly well.
I actually have to stop myself from reacting that way. I have to take a few moments, sit back, and think about how to write a reasonable and helpful response.
I believe it’s especially important for me to do that when I’m exchanging comments with people outside the faith. These are the very people I target with my books. I don’t write for people who are already Christians.
Blame it on the Great Commission: “Go and make followers of all people in the world….Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Below is a glimpse into what that looked like for me this past weekend.
Some time ago I created a short little video called “The day the sun stopped.”
I often get comments about those little homemade videos. Take a look at one exchange of comments that took place over the past few days.
Pardon the profanity, but respect the opinion of the writer. I do. He and people like him outside the faith are the reason I try to make the Bible as understandable as I can.
KN: It must be hard to rationalize all the bullshit you believe. God helped him [Joshua] murder and kill other people. It was impossible for him to pray to god to help him find a diplomatic solution?
Steve: Finding a diplomatic solution in the middle of a battle in which 5 armies have surrounded a city they are in the process of trying to level…that’s possible. Perhaps slightly less of a miracle than stopping the sun and moon from shining. It’s good to have an optimist out there.
KN: It’s even better to have a god on your side that will murder at your request.
Steve: Not all Christians read the story as history or see God as an assassin. They read the story as told by someone who believed God was in charge of everything. So that writer figured that if Joshua won the battle with the help of a hailstorm, God is the reason they won. Christians who read Bible stories that way tend to see God as uncontrolling, and as a Creator who has put humans in charge of the planet, for better or worse.
KN: Why do you write in the third person as if you are doing a documentary on what others believe? Are you embarrassed to say what you believe? So what you are saying is the bible has a bunch of stuff in it that is indistinguishable from fairy tales or poetry. So please let me know about the following:
- The Nephilim – Sons of god having a good time on earth or just a myth?
- The big flood – Poetry or factual truth?
- Jonah and the whale – fact or fiction?
- The virgin birth – It happened or it was just poetry?
- Bible cure for leprosy – it works or its a poem?
- The resurrection – Zombie jesus or its true?
You’re a grown man. Let go of your superstition.
Steve: I prefer not to tell people what to think. I’m not a preacher. My undergrad degree is in news journalism. I prefer to report on what Christians say they believe, since they are so diverse in their views.
Christians are on both sides of the items you listed, with one exception: the Resurrection.
Paul put it this way, “If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection” (1 Corinthians 15:13-15, The Message).
Christians seem to agree that one thing they are solid on in their agreements with each other is the Resurrection and life after the physical death.
I need to call it quits on this string, but there are comment boxes on my website blogs at StephenMillerBooks.com. Peace to you.
I don’t know if anything I said makes any difference to KN. The writer seems fairly hostile toward the Bible and to people who believe what is in there. But I wanted to make sure the writer knows that there is room within Christianity for wide differences of opinion over how to interpret many of the teachings.
Holiday discount: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible
Starting today, Harvest House Publishers has dropped its price on the e-book edition of A Quick, Guided Tour Through the Bible.
The book is available for $9.99.
They will pull the plug on this offer sometime before Thanksgiving.
This is the promo I have been waiting for. I will be getting the e-book edition for myself at this price.
Now, I’ll be able to use the book on my phone and on my tablet.
Here are the links you can use to get the book:
For more about the people I write for
- Introduction, A Quick, Guided Tour Through the Bible
- Introduction, Complete Guide to the Bible
- Why I don’t write for Christians
FREE BOOKS
- Early birds get the worms
- The first 10 people to send me an email note (subject line: Free review book) will get a free review copy of my newest book: A Quick Guided Tour Through the Bible.
These are review copies. That means you'll write a short review on Amazon or some other site that sells or reviews books.Just a sentence or two.
Once I get your email note, I'll send you an email confirmation and you can tell me where to mail the book.
Solomon's prayer, a model for world leaders
"Give me wisdom and knowledge so I can lead these people in the right way, because no one can rule them without your help" (2 Chronicles 1:10NCV).
Stephen M. Miller
Website
Subscribe to blog
Forward to a friend
Our mailing address is:
Stephen M. Miller Inc
PO Box 2712
Olathe, Kansas 66061, United States
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