Latest / How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack / The Truth about Bible Translations Most Christian's Miss

Transcript

The Truth about Bible Translations Most Christian's Miss · How to Faith a Life Podcast with Faith Womack

0:00
SPEAKER_04: Many of us have spent more time researching the car that we drive or the the computer we're using or honestly like which jeans we're wearing than we have which Bible translation we read from.
0:13
SPEAKER_04: And so it's good to spend a little time and energy seeing the differences and understanding what those are so that we can make informed decisions about the Bibles we're gonna read and study from.
0:22
SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's a woke translation.
0:24
SPEAKER_04: I'm not gonna read that.
0:25
SPEAKER_04: I only read from this one.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: When we talk about gender-inclusive language in the Bible, we're not talking about what our culture is talking about in terms of gender identity, right?
0:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
0:35
SPEAKER_04: We're talking about how we translate an ancient language into English in a way that makes sense.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: What have you heard back from readers as stuff that like really impacted the way that they read the Bible or view or trust even the Bible translation?
0:48
SPEAKER_02: If you're listening to the How to Faith Alive podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: This is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast and your favorite podcast streaming services.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: Review this podcast so other people can find it and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: Now, with all that said, let's begin.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: Hi friends, welcome back to the How to Faint the Life podcast, the ministry of Bible Nerd Ministries.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Today we have my friend Tim on the podcast, and I am so excited.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know who he is, I reviewed his book, Bible Translations for Everyone.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: I like five star.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: I really love this book.
1:26
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I talk about it in my book.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: I think it's just really well done for the length, for the way that he talks about things.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: So you've probably like heard his name or seen his book somewhere.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: But Tim is a pastor, a writer, and a content creator.
1:39
SPEAKER_02: In particular, on YouTube here, he's has millions of views, helping countless people around the world make informed, meaningful decisions about the Bibles they buy and the way they engage with scripture.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: He brings a unique blend of creativity and clarity to everything that he does.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: And whether he's reviewing a premium Bible or explaining the differences between translations, his goal remains the same to help people find a Bible that's right for them and apply it to their lives.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: His first book, Bible Translations for Everyone, is designed to help readers make sense of the differences, similarities, strengths, and weaknesses of many English Bible translations available today.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: And his second book, the Daily Scripture Guidebook, came out in 2025 and it takes readers on a one-year journey through the entire Bible.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: He earned a Masters of Divinity from Fuller, and he is a visiting scholar at University of Oxford's Wycliffe Hall, and he has more than two decades of ministry experience and teaches a course called Understanding the Bible at Belmont.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: Tim lives in Nashville with his wife Rebecca and their 50-pound lab dog named Louie.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the podcast, Tim.
2:37
SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much, Faith.
2:39
SPEAKER_04: I I don't I have my headphones in, so Louie didn't hear his name, but he's here in the room with me, joining us for the podcast.
2:44
SPEAKER_04: He's asleep right now in his chair.
2:46
SPEAKER_04: It's so good to be here.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, it's so good to have you.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: It feels like a full circle moment.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: We have had so many like overlapping videos and content, love for the word and love for getting people in the word.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: So I'm so happy to kind of like formally introduce you to my audience and kind of create fellow Bible geeks, you know, community kind of connect.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: Will you share a little bit about your heart behind the daily scripture um guidebook and this reading plan that just launched?
3:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited about it.
3:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh, thank you for having me.
3:16
SPEAKER_04: I'm just excited to be here.
3:18
SPEAKER_04: And this new daily scripture project that I'm working on really kind of felt like the natural next step for me.
3:25
SPEAKER_04: So, as you said, uh you read my bio.
3:27
SPEAKER_04: That was really fun to hear someone read that straight through.
3:29
SPEAKER_04: A little embarrassing.
3:30
SPEAKER_04: I've been in ministry for a long time.
3:31
SPEAKER_04: I was first started out as a worship leader for about a decade, and then I stumbled into youth ministry somehow, and that's when I went to seminary, and I was in college ministry for for a long time, and now I am the the interim pastor at my church and teaching and preaching every Sunday.
3:44
SPEAKER_04: So I have a ministry career background, but uh during COVID I got involved with YouTube and doing some Bible reviews, and that led to the first book, Bible Translations for Everyone.
3:54
SPEAKER_04: And so a couple of years ago, I was literally saying to my wife, Becca, I don't know what's next.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: Like I'm I'm in ministry full time, this YouTube thing's going well.
4:01
SPEAKER_04: I just released my first book.
4:03
SPEAKER_04: I I don't really know what's happening and and where God's leading me with this.
4:07
SPEAKER_04: And my editor, the editor of my first book, his name's Dale, he works at Zondervin Reflective, he reached out to me and said, Hey, we just released this Bible called the Daily Scripture Bible, and we want to have something to go with it that's more of like a devotional tool.
4:21
SPEAKER_04: And we're talking about it.
4:22
SPEAKER_04: And so I just wanted to mention it to you because he goes, I think our team sees you as the Bible guy on YouTube, but I know you're a pastor, and is this of interest to you?
4:30
SPEAKER_04: So he sent me a copy of the Bible and I was like, it's just the light bulb clicked.
4:33
SPEAKER_04: I was like, oh, I can take my sermons and the the lectures that I've taught students about the Bible in college, and I can I can help people using this reading plan as the the foundation, I can help people journey through the Bible and and apply it to their lives and understand it.
4:48
SPEAKER_04: And so that's where this daily scripture journey began for me was going, oh, this literally uses all the stuff that I've been doing for the last 10 or 15 years, and it allows me to kind of bring it all together in one place.
5:00
SPEAKER_04: So daily scripture guidebook is this 52-week journey through the Bible.
5:04
SPEAKER_04: It's a reading plan that has a little bit of Old Testament, a little bit of New Testament, and a little bit of Psalms and Proverbs every day.
5:10
SPEAKER_04: But then I wrote each week an introduction to what you're going to be reading that week.
5:15
SPEAKER_04: So you can like say, oh, here's what's happening this week.
5:18
SPEAKER_04: Here's what I should be thinking about, whether that's the historical and literary context of what you're reading, so that you can actually dig into it or some devotional thoughts about how this might apply to your life, in hopes that this will be the guide.
5:30
SPEAKER_04: It's called the Daily Scripture Guidebook, the guide you need to successfully complete that Bible in a year and really and really make it count.
5:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: And then you're doing weekly podcasts with your wife, Becca.
5:41
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
5:42
SPEAKER_04: She's great.
5:42
SPEAKER_04: Isn't she?
5:43
SPEAKER_02: Like y'all back and forth.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
5:45
SPEAKER_04: She's my secret weapon.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: So I'm actually, this is actually really fun.
5:49
SPEAKER_04: I've I've never done this before.
5:50
SPEAKER_04: I'm recording the entire Bible.
5:51
SPEAKER_04: So we're doing a daily audio podcast wherever you get podcasts or on my YouTube channel, where it's just me reading the scriptures for the day.
5:58
SPEAKER_04: So if you want to pick up a Bible and read, you can do that.
6:01
SPEAKER_04: Obviously, I suggest that.
6:03
SPEAKER_04: But if you want to listen to it on the go while you're working or in the car or doing errands and things like that, I I'm recording it.
6:09
SPEAKER_04: But then on the seventh day of each week, Becca and I are sitting right down here in my studio and we're having a conversation.
6:14
SPEAKER_04: And so it's me, the guy who wrote the book and has been to seminary and has read the Bible a bunch of times, and my wife, who is a lay Christian who loves Jesus and has read the Bible before, but she's going through the book for the first time.
6:26
SPEAKER_04: And so we're having this conversation every week where we're basically just reflecting on what we read and how we see parallels between the Old Testament and the New Testament and what stood out to us.
6:35
SPEAKER_04: And she's going, I have a question about this.
6:37
SPEAKER_04: And I'm going, Okay, I can answer that.
6:38
SPEAKER_04: Or sometimes I can't answer that.
6:40
SPEAKER_04: So we're trying to create an opportunity for people to not just, hey, buy this book, listen to this podcast, but now let's have a conversation about it and reflect and do this together.
6:49
SPEAKER_04: So kind of creating that sense of community with the book and the podcast and the Bible and the videos.
6:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:54
SPEAKER_04: It's a lot, but but we're having a good time and people seem to be really enjoying it.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: And it's all like bite-sized, it's so doable.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: You can listen to the Bible on the way to dropping off the boys at school, you know?
7:03
SPEAKER_02: Like you can listen to you and Becca.
7:05
SPEAKER_02: It was like 15 minutes the first one, you know?
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: Like, and it's so approachable.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: And there's little golden nuggets, like, oh hey, by the way, Luke wrote like this, you know, like everything.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: I said this before we started recording, but everything Tim does is solid.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: Like like I talked about with his Bible translations book.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: I just feel like everything he touches is gold.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm very jealous that this is the first year I was like, I'm not gonna read through the Bible in a year, and yet you come out with this.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: Like, ah, so next year I'll have to like fully truly do this.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: Although I have been listening into a couple of them because I'm like, I might as well listen to the Bible while I drive to the grocery store or while I wash these dishes.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: What else am I gonna listen to?
7:41
SPEAKER_02: Like the news.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh-uh.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna listen to Tim read the Bible.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: Like anything.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: Honestly, you just it's so good to hear the word from somebody else because they're going to like just with your inflection, I think is the word I'm thinking of.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: The way that you emphasize different things, even just in the way that you read it, it can be so helpful to just hear scripture anew.
8:03
SPEAKER_02: And if anyone listening is anything like me, like we've read it a million times, but have we truly listened to it, which is actually a little bit more historical for the consumption of scripture, like that more people have in history listened to it than read it personally with a coffee and their morning Bible studies.
8:18
SPEAKER_02: And so I think it's a wonderful way to just drench yourself in scripture and really easy way to consume it.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: So Yeah.
8:25
SPEAKER_04: I I sat down to record the first episode and I was like, okay, God, how are we gonna do this?
8:30
SPEAKER_04: And I I listened to a bunch of different audio bibles and stuff, and you know, not naming names, but I was like, you know what?
8:36
SPEAKER_04: I really want this to feel alive.
8:38
SPEAKER_04: I don't want it to feel like someone's reading.
8:40
SPEAKER_04: And so I'm not I'm not acting, I'm not like doing different voices and things, but even just yesterday, I was listening to the podcast and it was some sort of dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, and just the way that I read the question from the disciples to Jesus, I laughed out loud.
8:55
SPEAKER_04: I was like, because that's just like the humanity of it, just kind of giving it a little bit of life to it.
9:00
SPEAKER_04: So I've been trying to, and I've heard from many people who've said, I love the way you read the Bible.
9:06
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, I'm doing that, I'm trying to do that intentionally, I'm trying to make it engaging so that it's a really fun, meaningful experience.
9:12
SPEAKER_04: And so I'm glad that that's coming across.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: As somebody that's married to a pastor, I feel like I see it a lot more, but like you can just see and feel your pastoral heart in the way that you read it.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: Like I feel like you are teaching, like a university professor in the way that you're reading it.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: And so I just see how the Lord's prepared you through all these different experiences for this ministry and for this specific avenue.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: That's honestly, I know that we have a lot of Bible study tools online, but there is a huge need for something like this.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: Daily, somebody real, like genuinely just reading for you to get it.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Not just reading it to check the box, not just reading it for a paycheck, but reading for someone to feast on the word.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: And then to casually but educatedly talk about it with their wife.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: Like it's just the perfect combo, I think, for normal everyday Christians that want to go deeper in their Bible study.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: So I'm really excited about it.
10:02
SPEAKER_04: I say all the time, I I really I try to have fun.
10:05
SPEAKER_04: I don't take myself too seriously, but I do take God's word seriously.
10:09
SPEAKER_04: And so we do.
10:09
SPEAKER_04: We try to infuse uh laughter and fun and humor into what we do and not taking ourselves too seriously, but also just like having honest conversations about God's word in a way that hopefully is is relatable and encouraging to people.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the translation and NIV, and then it's also printed in NASB, right?
10:27
SPEAKER_04: The Bible comes in the NIV and the NASB.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: So I just released a video that's about why I chose the NIV for the podcast because several people have asked me that.
10:34
SPEAKER_04: I I I'm I'm kind of known because of my first book, which you mentioned as the Bible translations guy.
10:39
SPEAKER_04: And so there's a lot of you know sniping that happens for different Bible translations, and you like this about it and you don't like that about it.
10:45
SPEAKER_04: And I was honest in that video where I said, hey, the first reason that I chose the NIV is because I'm working with Zondervin and that's their primary translation.
10:52
SPEAKER_04: So let's just get that out there.
10:53
SPEAKER_04: But they also print Bibles in the NASB and the NRSV and things like that.
10:57
SPEAKER_04: So the Daily Scripture Bible comes in the NIV and the NASB.
11:02
SPEAKER_04: I'm reading the NIV, and I used NIV quotations in my book, which was a really natural fit.
11:08
SPEAKER_04: The real reason is I I would have instinctively gone to the NIV, even if I wasn't working with Zondervin, because that's the Bible translation that I grew up with.
11:16
SPEAKER_04: Verses that are like emblazoned in my head from Sunday school and awana and like growing up are tr the translation is the NIV.
11:24
SPEAKER_04: So it's very familiar to me.
11:25
SPEAKER_04: I record these videos in this podcast in my my extra bedroom here in my house in Nashville, but there are people listening all over the world, which is so cool.
11:33
SPEAKER_04: And praise God for that.
11:35
SPEAKER_04: But the NIV is the most popular English translation of the Bible globally, it has the most reach.
11:41
SPEAKER_04: It was easy for somebody to listen to the podcast in Australia or England because they likely have an NIV Bible if they have a Bible already.
11:48
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, so we're using the NIV, but there's other options out there, and I actually use the NIV a lot, and then when the ESV came out, I kind of became an ESV guy for a long time.
11:58
SPEAKER_04: So I'm actually re-familiarizing myself with the NIV just by reading it into a microphone.
12:03
SPEAKER_04: By the way, reading the Bible into a microphone, knowing that people have to listen to it, changes the way because you can't just like skip past all the funny names and the genealogies and the numbers of all the different things they're building for the tabernacle.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: You have to actually read them and read them in a way that is makes sense.
12:21
SPEAKER_04: So I am I I told my wife, I said, I am actually reading through the Bible this year in the most intense, like full way that I've ever done it before.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I can't wait for the Eli, Eli, lama sub.
12:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm not even gonna oh the Aramaic, like all of it is just gonna be so good for you, but then also for listeners.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: And again, like I said, like you pastorally teach through the way that you're reading.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: So I think it's really good.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: I come from like a more liturgical circles and denomination where the conservative end of Presbyterianism.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: And so we do a lot of not a lot of, but we do a fair bit of out loud scripture reading, and like the pastor reads one line, we read the other line back to him as a congregation, and then he reads and that you're right.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: And my husband often is the one reading on stage.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: And I love it because I can see the glimmer of like, oh, I'm not sure I'm saying this word right right now.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: Like people think just because you go to seminary, you know all the perfect like pronunciations.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Like nobody knows.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: Nobody knows.
13:21
SPEAKER_04: The key that I have found is pick a pronunciation and you just go with it.
13:25
SPEAKER_04: As a matter of fact, my my podcast producer reached out to me the other day and said, Hey, you said this word this way the first time and this way the second time.
13:32
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, Yes, I did.
13:33
SPEAKER_04: That's because I don't know how to say that word.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: He goes, Okay, well, you should probably re-record that and at least they're close enough together that people are gonna notice.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: I was like, Okay, I got you.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: Recording my audiobook, I came up into that problem like two or three times with it, it was probably Greek or Hebrew words.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: I no, it had to be Hebrew because I know Hebrew way less than I know Greek.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: And it was just like, you know, actually, I always read that and I've never actually had to say it out loud.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh, uh-oh.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: You know, so I get it.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: I totally get it.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: But I do think it's cool that you do it in the NIV because it's a solid translation.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, I love the NIV.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: I grew up more ESV, CSV, growing up Southern Baptist.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: Now, like, as I've gotten older, I've really fallen in love with the NIV, and my main Bible's still ESV, but I love the NIV.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: I think it's in Galatians, and I'm gonna be so embarrassed if I get this wrong, when it's referencing Deuteronomy and saying that Jesus curses the one who hangs on the tree in NIV, they translate it as pole.
14:31
SPEAKER_02: Now, I texted Dan Wallace because you know he's the textual critic.
14:35
SPEAKER_04: I watched your videos, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
14:37
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, Dan, why did y'all translate it as pole?
14:41
SPEAKER_02: And obviously it's an old testament Deuteronomy quotation, but you're the one translation that translates it as pole, basically.
14:48
SPEAKER_02: Text me back, it was very quick.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: He did not overthink his response.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: So, Dan, if you watch this and you're embarrassed that I'm saying this out loud, I apologize.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: But he goes, No, we got that wrong.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm presenting that next year.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna fix that.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay.
15:00
SPEAKER_02: So, like sometimes I think a lot of people will assume, okay, well, then Tim endorses everything the NIV's ever done or will do, and he thinks it's perfect.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: And that's just not the case.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: Even people on the board of the NIV do not think the NIV is perfect.
15:14
SPEAKER_04: Which one is it?
15:16
SPEAKER_04: It is the the guy, I just did a sermon recently, and my church knows this because I will geek out about translation stuff.
15:23
SPEAKER_04: And I'll be like, hey, this translation says this.
15:25
SPEAKER_04: And that's one of my favorite ways to study the Bible is to read a passage in three or four different translations and to notice the differences and to go, why are those different?
15:33
SPEAKER_04: Let's dive in a little bit.
15:34
SPEAKER_04: But there was one with, I think it was uh I in the beginning of the year I preached through the miracles of Jesus in the Gospel of John.
15:40
SPEAKER_04: And when he heals the official's son, it says in the NIV, the man took Jesus at his word.
15:46
SPEAKER_04: When he said go, your son will be well.
15:48
SPEAKER_04: It says the man took Jesus at his word.
15:50
SPEAKER_04: Well, the the Greek word there, epi I think it's again pronunciation, episteusin, means believed.
15:56
SPEAKER_04: Every other major translation just says the man believed Jesus.
15:59
SPEAKER_04: And I said to my church, I don't know why the NIV translators took Jesus at his word, but to me, taking someone at their word doesn't sound like belief.
16:07
SPEAKER_04: It's almost like uh, okay, I guess so.
16:09
SPEAKER_04: So I I said maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but I I think the word should be believed.
16:14
SPEAKER_04: By using the NIV, I'm not saying every single decision they've made is perfect, but that's another reason why I wrote Bible translations for everyone, is because I wanted to help people see there's a process, there are people involved in each one of these translations, and understanding some of that really does help you understand the nuances of each translation and how they're different and why they're different.
16:34
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's I I I have like a talk that I did, you know, when I was doing kind of my own little book tour for Bible translations for everyone, where I talk about Bible translations and spoiler alert, the end of it, I go, hey, many of us have spent more time researching the car that we drive or the computer we're using, or honestly, like which jeans we're wearing than we have which Bible translation we read from.
16:59
SPEAKER_04: And so it's good to spend a little time and energy seeing the differences and understanding what those are so that we can make informed decisions about the Bibles we're gonna read and study from.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: That's so good.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: Quick pause.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: This podcast isn't sponsored by a brand or a company.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: It's actually just a ministry of Bible Nerd Ministries.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: And the reason we get to have conversations like this one is because of our Patreon community.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: They're the ones who fund and sustain this work.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: If you want to support the ministry, you can join Patreon for weekly in-depth Bible studies and access to so many years of past studies.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: And if a monthly membership isn't your thing, you can also support us by checking out our merch and studies and courses, all at Bible Nerdministries.com.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: All right, let's get back to the conversation.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so shoot us with this.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I want to hear this.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions around translations in like very churched people?
17:48
SPEAKER_04: Not like in the atheist world, but like churched people.
17:51
SPEAKER_04: Without getting into the the KJV only fundamentalist, like extremist questions, but this does kind of go into that.
17:59
SPEAKER_04: I see a lot of people confused about the phrase I use in the book is gender inclusive language.
18:06
SPEAKER_04: And that phrase I had to clarify in the book, when we talk about gender inclusive language in the Bible, we're not talking about what our culture is talking about in terms of gender identity, right?
18:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
18:18
SPEAKER_04: We're talking about how we translate an ancient language into English in a way that makes sense.
18:23
SPEAKER_04: So a lot of people will write off, like one of the critiques of the NIV or the NLT are, oh, that's the woke translation.
18:30
SPEAKER_04: They use all that gender neutral stuff.
18:32
SPEAKER_04: I get those comments all the time.
18:33
SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, oh, that's actually not what's happening.
18:36
SPEAKER_04: You can if you and if you understand the the scholarly work behind it, you can explain that to people.
18:41
SPEAKER_04: But I think that's one of the things.
18:42
SPEAKER_04: People are like, oh, that's a woke translation.
18:43
SPEAKER_04: I'm not going to read that.
18:44
SPEAKER_04: I only read from this one.
18:46
SPEAKER_04: And yes, many of those comments come from like that extreme KJV-only crowd.
18:50
SPEAKER_04: Even more so, I think it's just kind of become a little bit more prevalent in generic Christian circles because people don't understand how that's working.
18:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
18:57
SPEAKER_02: Well, and a lot of us were not paying attention in third grade grammar when we talked about, you know, how something can be gendered or not degendered.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: In particular, like we just don't understand this with English a lot of the time.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, studying Spanish, I studied Spanish from like second grade on.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: My boys have been studying Spanish since like pre-K.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: They understand that, oh, that's like a feminine word versus a masculine word, but we forget that that comes into the translation world like on steroids.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Like that really affects the way.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: How do we translate this?
19:28
SPEAKER_02: If this is not a gendered word, but it seems to be assuming that it's gendered, you know.
19:34
SPEAKER_04: I'm probably botching this, but I think the good example, uh, just for your listeners, there's there's a Greek word, Adelphos, which means brothers.
19:41
SPEAKER_04: It is translated as brothers.
19:42
SPEAKER_04: And so Paul, if you look at Paul's letters, he's always going, finally, brothers, Philippians 4, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right.
19:50
SPEAKER_04: And it's like in modern day English, you could pick up the Bible as a new reader of the Bible and go, is he just talking to the dudes?
19:56
SPEAKER_04: Because it says finally brothers.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: And that is an ancient word, Adelphos, that was used in many contexts to refer to the community of people, everyone, like we say, mankind or something like that.
20:08
SPEAKER_04: And so modern translations like the NIV, the CSB, they will say, finally, brothers and sisters.
20:14
SPEAKER_04: And then they'll put a little footnote.
20:15
SPEAKER_04: If you go down to the footnote, it says the word is brothers, but we believe Paul was talking to everybody.
20:20
SPEAKER_04: And even maybe the more quote unquote conservative translations, like the ESV, doesn't do that.
20:25
SPEAKER_04: But the ESV says finally brothers, and then it has a footnote that says, by the way, they were talking to the women too.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: So they're not disagreeing with the the principle, they're just choosing to translate it literally and let the reader understand that the other translations are translating it more quote unquote dynamically so that it will make sense right off the page.
20:45
SPEAKER_04: But they're not disagreeing about the fact that that word was talking to everyone.
20:48
SPEAKER_04: And in the places where they really believe that Paul or someone else was just talking to the men, they don't change it.
20:54
SPEAKER_04: They just translate it that way.
20:55
SPEAKER_04: So they have to look at the context of the Greek language in order to pro we're getting into the weeds in the terms of the Bible nerding here, but that that does help us understand why we would do something like that.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: Well, and I think too many of us have grown up in the church and we just like can I be honored?
21:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to slam pastors, you know, I'm married to one, you're one.
21:12
SPEAKER_02: But like we just take what our pastor says as like the truth.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, he says the CSB is an evil translation.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, he says that the NLT is, you know, oh, the message, you know, the message ain't even a translation, you know.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's just be real.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: So we take what other people say about Bible translations and we don't do our homework.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: But what I love about your book, Bible Translations for Everyone, again, if you haven't ordered it, please go do it because like I just think it's so well done, is you make it very accessible.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: You don't overwhelm us with too much history, you don't overwhelm the reader with too much like Greek in the weeds kind of stuff, but you still explain the basic spectrum of translations, the history behind particular translations.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: Is this coming from the Masoretic?
21:56
SPEAKER_02: You know, all the things.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: How do we get the text that we have today?
21:59
SPEAKER_02: And And you know, okay, I was scrolling on TikTok yesterday and there was a guy, I am totally profiling him, but I don't think he was raised in the southern Christian church culture that I was raised in, just by the way that he was dressed, the stuff that was around him.
22:13
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he had influences from the world, Hindu stuff hanging on the wall.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, like I'm just guessing he probably wasn't like church, right?
22:20
SPEAKER_02: And he said, I found this old Bible from 14, da-da-da-da-da.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: And you see here, it's got the it's got the Bible verses that um we're missing in our modern Bibles.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: They cut this one out.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, brother, you're you're spending two minutes in this TikTok talking about this missing Bible verse and creating all this fear in the viewer at the same time.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Like, he never even once reads this Bible verse.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: He never once talks about what this Bible verse even says or history and why they would remove it.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: Like he had he's got no historical information.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: He's just going on on surface, it looks like they removed this Bible verse, and so therefore we've got less trustworthy translations.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: And so, again, I think a lot of us need just some quick history lessons on when did we start numbering Bible verses?
23:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like stuff like that.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: So, what do you think is the most fruitful part of Bible translations for everyone?
23:12
SPEAKER_02: What have you heard back from readers as stuff that like really impacted the way that they read the Bible or view or trust even the Bible translations?
23:20
SPEAKER_02: That is a great question.
23:21
SPEAKER_04: I I think two things I hear from a lot of people.
23:23
SPEAKER_04: One, I made this decision selfishly just so I could keep myself organized.
23:28
SPEAKER_04: The book is laid out in chronological order.
23:30
SPEAKER_04: So chapter one is like, hey, how do we translate the Bible?
23:33
SPEAKER_04: Just a primer on that.
23:34
SPEAKER_04: By the way, you said it's simple, and I love that because I I thought about calling it Bible translations for dummies at first, but that's like I don't want to call my readers dummies.
23:42
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, no.
23:43
SPEAKER_04: But uh, but yeah, it's very simple.
23:45
SPEAKER_04: So the first chapter sets it up, and then we go to like all of the ancient English translations, ancient five, six hundred years before the KJV.
23:51
SPEAKER_04: And it's KJ, and it just goes chronologically through like the major translations of the Bible.
23:55
SPEAKER_04: And so many people have said I love that because it felt like I'm a bit of a history nerd, and it felt like I was just getting a short history of the Bible in English.
24:02
SPEAKER_04: I was like, yep, that's a that's a that's something I wanted to do.
24:06
SPEAKER_04: And then the second thing is understanding the differences and the similarities, and then realizing you don't have to choose just one, you can choose two or three Bible translations that will complement one another in interesting ways.
24:19
SPEAKER_04: Like I said earlier, to compare and contrast.
24:22
SPEAKER_04: I've heard from a lot of people saying, Your book helped me realize, oh, I'm an ESV guy, but I want to grab an NLT Bible to complement that, or I'm an NKJV guy, I want to go ahead and grab this over here to balance things out.
24:38
SPEAKER_04: So I think that's been one of the more fruitful things about the book is that people seem to be getting a primer and then just general in general, people going, I had I had no idea any of this stuff and like who created these translations or where it sits on the translation spectrum and why that's a difference.
24:56
SPEAKER_04: And so just kind of the basic facts.
24:57
SPEAKER_04: I tell people, if you, if you want to get the, you can go ahead and read the intro and the first full chapter, and you'll get like you'll become a baby expert on how Bible translation process works, and then the rest of it will give you more information about just the individual translations.
25:11
SPEAKER_04: And then there are a couple of catch-all chapters at the end where I talk about Catholic Bibles and some other translations that aren't going to get a whole chapter, but just interesting ones that I think people should know about.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: So in total, I think we cover like 20 or 25 Bible translations.
25:25
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
25:26
SPEAKER_04: But there are like, I think there have been over 400 translations of the Bible produced in English in the last five, six hundred years.
25:31
SPEAKER_04: So so we're only barely scratching the surface, but and I think I already, several of the things I've said in the book, because these translations, like you talked about Dan and the team, they get updated over time.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: And so eventually I'll have to do like a a volume two of the book where a revised edition to catch all of the tweaks that they've made and things like that.
25:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: Well, that'll be fine.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: I know.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm super excited about that.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: I didn't think about that.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what did the Lord do in you as you wrote it?
25:57
SPEAKER_02: Like what what grew you the most?
25:59
SPEAKER_04: I think for me it was am Baptist, and people joke about us that you know our Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Bible, not the Father, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
26:07
SPEAKER_04: And so with there's like this high view of the Bible, right?
26:10
SPEAKER_04: And I think when you go to seminary, when you do pastoral work, you start to see what the Bible is, and you see it as this ancient Bible, the original writings of like this library of different people and God working in the lives of different writers across many, many centuries and how it all comes together.
26:25
SPEAKER_04: Kind of the same thing for me in writing this book was how God used different people over the last five, six hundred years to bring his word into this language that we all speak.
26:35
SPEAKER_04: The reality is most of us are not going to go learn ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
26:41
SPEAKER_04: And so we need good translators to translate the Bible for us.
26:45
SPEAKER_04: And it's complex and there's different aspects of it, but I I found myself more than anything as I did the research, as I spoke to the translators and wrote the manuscript going, I really trust these Bible translations, like the work of these scholars and the process, and I see the Holy Spirit moving through the lives of his people to produce a version of the Bible, uh, translations of the Bible that people can engage with meaningfully.
27:11
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I think that was the biggest takeaway for me.
27:13
SPEAKER_04: It's just like, oh, yeah, I've I've done a couple videos on my channel about Bible translations, I'm not a fan of, you know.
27:18
SPEAKER_04: But for the most part, there's just some really incredible work being done by thoughtful scholars that I think deserves celebration.
27:25
SPEAKER_04: And so yeah, it was very much a celebratory process for me to just learn and then piece it all together in the form of a book.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: I love that and I resonate with that, you know.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: I think in some ways, whenever we read the Old Testament, we see the remnant and how God continues to deliver his people out of ridiculously crazy situations.
27:44
SPEAKER_02: Let's be real, like the way he uses King Cyrus, a pagan, like to bring him out of exile, or you know, just like so many different like niche, weird situations.
27:53
SPEAKER_02: The Lord just continues to deliver, continues to deliver.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: He's that red thread of redemption.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: And it's like he's totally done that through the preservation of his word.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: And so many Christians don't even know the whole world of Bible translation and how people spend their entire lives and careers and really niche and nerdy things just to preserve and make sure we're being as faithful as possible to like one phrase, one Bible verse that like low-key doesn't affect much, but they spend their whole lives on it.
28:21
SPEAKER_02: And praise the Lord for that.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: Yes, not enough people know that stuff.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: So I love how you kind of just dunk us into that world.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think it's too dummy.
28:30
SPEAKER_02: I also don't think it's too academic.
28:32
SPEAKER_02: I think it's a very good introductory book for that like low-key, all Christians should probably read.
28:38
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's what happened is I I start reviewing Bibles in 2020, and within the first year, I've reviewed, you know, Bibles in at least 10 or 15 different translations, and people are going, hey, I've watched your videos.
28:48
SPEAKER_04: Which translation should I go with?
28:50
SPEAKER_04: I like these three Bibles, which translation?
28:51
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, well, go read this book and go read.
28:54
SPEAKER_04: I started looking for something that was simple for everyday people.
28:58
SPEAKER_04: And what I kept finding was the best writing that I could find about Bible translations was deeply dense and academic, these academic journals and things like that.
29:06
SPEAKER_04: And it's like, people are not gonna read normal people are not gonna read this.
29:10
SPEAKER_04: The book came from, I was outlining a video series.
29:13
SPEAKER_04: Basically, what you see in the book, each chapter was gonna be a video.
29:16
SPEAKER_04: And that's when Dale from Zondervan just randomly reached out to me and said, Hey, do you have any writing ideas?
29:21
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, Well, I there's not a book out there that does this, like I'm planning to do with this video series.
29:26
SPEAKER_04: And he was like, That's the one.
29:28
SPEAKER_04: That would be a great, like you said, simple for everybody.
29:31
SPEAKER_04: It's not overly academic.
29:32
SPEAKER_04: You don't have to have a PhD in systematic theology or ancient Hebrew to read this and understand it and go, hey, I'm now a baby expert in Bible translations.
29:40
SPEAKER_04: I've heard from so many pastors who are like, this is so helpful for me because it's helping me tell my people what the differences are.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: I even had one guy said, I read your book and I was like, hey, everybody, we're switching.
29:51
SPEAKER_04: Like we're just switching because I'm so convinced that this is the right one for us right now.
29:55
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it's it's it's been it's been fun.
29:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: I honestly was like, they need to put this in, because I did undergrad in seminary, and I feel like this was one of the best books they could have like had me read earlier on to get more for my courses.
30:08
SPEAKER_04: I had uh a seminary professor from maybe it was uh an undergraduate college, but I had somebody reach out to me saying, Love your book.
30:14
SPEAKER_04: I used it for my class.
30:15
SPEAKER_04: I was like selfishly, selfishly, I don't want to tell you this, but like I made my students last semester read my book and write a paper on it, and they loved it.
30:22
SPEAKER_04: Like they they they told me they loved it.
30:24
SPEAKER_04: They, I mean, I was that guy.
30:25
SPEAKER_04: I was like, by the way, I said the very very first day going through the syllabus.
30:28
SPEAKER_04: I was like, hey, by the way, yes, I put my own book in the syllabus, guilty as charged.
30:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if I ever have the honor of teaching a course, I would most definitely put your book on the syllabus because truly it's just such a good introductory, and then you're gonna get so much more from all your other courses because you actually genuinely quickly can grasp just the basic history of things.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: Then you can go deeper.
30:49
SPEAKER_04: But I still still refer to like the not super thick like textbook that we used for my intro to the old testament class in seminary because it was like it just it was a primer on everything.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: And I go back to that book all the time because like well, I know I learned something about Isaiah that really stood out to me in this class.
31:08
SPEAKER_04: And I go and I read that chapter, and I'm like, yep, that's what I needed to know.
31:11
SPEAKER_04: Because you don't always have to do like the thousand, you know, or two volume, thousand pages book on you know, like or like I have commentaries.
31:19
SPEAKER_04: I love commentaries.
31:20
SPEAKER_04: I love to dig, I love to dig deep.
31:22
SPEAKER_04: But I recognize that most of the people who are watching and listening to this are like, I I don't want to do that.
31:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, like what it what was the book that you refer back to?
31:30
SPEAKER_02: Because I do the same thing, and I've had a couple people leave comments like that's just a textbook.
31:34
SPEAKER_02: You're just graphics.
31:35
SPEAKER_04: Literally called The Hebrew Bible, colon and introduction.
31:39
SPEAKER_04: It's it's like one of those fortress press, like paperback textbooks that my professor chose, and we had a bunch of other things that we had to read, but that was kind of the the guide that kind of mapped out.
31:49
SPEAKER_04: We followed that through the semester for like the schedule.
31:52
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
31:53
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
31:53
SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: Quick pause before we get further into the conversation.
31:57
SPEAKER_02: Last year I flew to Kaungwari, Kenya, and saw firsthand one of the most thoughtful mission models I have ever encountered.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: Us Bible nerds are working together to fund 2,000 water filters through the bucket ministry.
32:08
SPEAKER_02: They don't just bring clean water, they come back three times for discipleship, sharing the gospel and helping new believers get connected to the local church.
32:15
SPEAKER_02: And they do it by hiring local missionaries, discipling neighbor to neighbor in the local language.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: If you want to be part of that work and join us Bible nerds, we'd love for you to join us in support of the Bucket Ministry.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: All the information and all the links are in the show notes.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: All right, now let's get back to the conversation.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: Well, where do you feel like the church is weakest when it comes to Bible reading plans, like we've talked about, and Bible translations?
32:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, what is your heart and prayer for this next generation of Christians?
32:40
SPEAKER_04: That's that's a great question.
32:42
SPEAKER_04: I I think I have seen so many people connect with what we're doing with daily scripture in part because we're we're allowing people to do it in community and we're saying, let's read this together.
32:53
SPEAKER_04: When the Bible was initially being written and read, it was done in community.
32:58
SPEAKER_04: People would stand up and orally read the Bible in in a large group.
33:02
SPEAKER_04: You know, Paul would write a letter and they would grab it and they would all gather around and they would read the entire thing at once.
33:07
SPEAKER_04: And so, yes, I'm a big fan of personal Bible study and studying God's word and and finding things in it, but I'm an even bigger fan of doing that and then having iron sharpening iron and talking to other people about it.
33:21
SPEAKER_04: And so my hope is that I I started writing this book thinking I'm gonna help individual people read this book and study God's word.
33:28
SPEAKER_04: That's great.
33:28
SPEAKER_04: But now through the podcast and and the conversations I'm having with Becca and the community and just all the comments and stuff, I'm going, oh, people are loving doing this and talking about it with one another.
33:37
SPEAKER_04: And I've gotten so many emails from people going, hey, I I bought a copy of your book for everybody in my small group or everybody in my neighborhood or my circle.
33:45
SPEAKER_04: We're like going through it together, that sort of stuff.
33:47
SPEAKER_04: So I think that's the thing I'm excited about is people doing this together and experiencing God's word together so that we're not siloing ourselves off.
33:55
SPEAKER_04: You and I are influencers, Bible influencers on the internet.
33:59
SPEAKER_04: We see the comments from the people who are in their own little theological silos.
34:02
SPEAKER_04: I just kind of think, hey, whatever that hateful thing is that you just said to me in the comment, I don't think you would say that if you actually had a community of people that you were in the Bible with together.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: I think because one of the things I learned in seminary, I went to Fuller and I remember being in a course where I was in a small group where I was with five or six different people reading a text.
34:21
SPEAKER_04: And like the the task from the professor was brilliant, by the way.
34:25
SPEAKER_04: Hey, read this passage and then talk about what it means.
34:28
SPEAKER_04: And as soon as we start reading it, I remember thinking, well, it's really obvious what this means.
34:32
SPEAKER_04: And then as we went around the circle, every single person brought up something that I didn't think about.
34:39
SPEAKER_04: It's like, oh, to read the Bible in community means you are opening yourself up to the perspective of others and the insight of others.
34:46
SPEAKER_04: And maybe the way that I see things is not the only way that this can be seen or read or interpreted.
34:52
SPEAKER_04: And so then to dig into that with people, it's messy.
34:56
SPEAKER_04: It can be scary, but it is, I think, very, very fruitful and life-giving to read the Bible with other people.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so good.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you cannot tell me you're not a pastor.
35:06
SPEAKER_02: That is just so good.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: That's so true.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: But also, what I really like about your reading plan is it's not dated.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: 365 days you can start at any time and do it with your neighbors on a random Wednesday in March.
35:19
SPEAKER_02: Like just whenever.
35:20
SPEAKER_04: And I love that it's Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs every day.
35:24
SPEAKER_04: Because when you get to Leviticus, you don't have to quit because you know in a few minutes you're going to be with Jesus in the gospels.
35:28
SPEAKER_04: I've heard from so many people saying, Hey, I try to read the Bible, I start in Genesis and go straight through.
35:32
SPEAKER_04: And it it's it's it's hard.
35:34
SPEAKER_04: I people who say that it's not hard are not doing it because it is hard.
35:37
SPEAKER_04: Once you get, I I think it gets really hard when you get to after all the exciting stuff in Exodus, they start describing the tabernacle and then they start building the tabernacle, and it is very monotonous.
35:49
SPEAKER_04: And so having the ability to skip around is great.
35:52
SPEAKER_04: And then I I keep telling people it's not dated.
35:55
SPEAKER_04: So you don't have to feel like you have to wait till January 1st and create a new year's resolution.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: Today is the day to start.
36:00
SPEAKER_04: If God's tugging on your heart to get into his word, go find day one and start the reading plan because you can experience that.
36:06
SPEAKER_04: You can join other people who are doing it at the same time.
36:09
SPEAKER_04: I think that's that's a great plan.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: You make it really accessible too because it's not like a ton of you have like reflection spots in your book.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: And it's not a ton of space.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: Like it's not like you're expecting people to spend three hours.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Like it's like a couple bullet points of what you learned, a couple reflections, and you move on.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: There's like one thing that you add to their reading at once a week.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: You read it before you listen to it, right?
36:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the idea is on day one of each week, you read what I wrote.
36:33
SPEAKER_04: So I wrote something for the Old Testament passages that week, New Testament passages that week, Psalms and Proverbs.
36:38
SPEAKER_04: I'm not covering everything.
36:39
SPEAKER_04: Usually I'm picking a certain passage and I'm focusing on.
36:42
SPEAKER_04: So you read that on day one, and then the rest of the week you just read the readings.
36:45
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, we we gave you like six or seven lines of space.
36:47
SPEAKER_04: And I'm seeing this with Becca when we do the at the end of the week.
36:50
SPEAKER_04: So day seven, you come back and listen to us, reflect.
36:52
SPEAKER_04: Basically, our conversations are just following down the list of what she wrote down each day.
36:57
SPEAKER_04: So she's writing down two or three lines of highlights, insights, things, and that's what's guiding our conversation is the stuff that stood out to her as she was going through it, and we're kind of working through it that way.
37:08
SPEAKER_04: And it's it's really cool for me to see, hey, two or three lines of insight every single day about what you're reading in the Bible can lead to a really fun 20 or 30 minute discussion with someone about what you read in the Bible that week.
37:20
SPEAKER_04: How what I would love to see people do is do that and then go have a coffee with a friend on day seven every week and just sit down like you and I are right now and just talk about what you learned and what God said to you, and write down the questions you have, and then go grab a commentary or a Bible dictionary and look up the answers.
37:35
SPEAKER_04: And like reading the Bible doesn't have to be a to-do list, like boring thing.
37:41
SPEAKER_04: It can be something that's really life-giving and meaningful, and and that's what I'm seeing happen through daily scripture.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: I love too that y'all are living an example of something that other married couples can do, you know.
37:51
SPEAKER_02: And once a week we get our little coffee date and we talk about what we've read in the word.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: And oh, you noticed things I didn't notice.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: What, honey, you know, to your wife, and oh, honey, that's like a really good insight, you know, all the things.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: So I love that.
38:02
SPEAKER_02: I also love that I think a lot of people get immediately intimidated by like the chronological reading plan people and like we're so much better than you because we're doing it chronologically.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: But it's like, no, we're just gonna get in the word and it's just gonna feed our souls, and you guys live that out.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: And so I love that.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything that you would want to leave listeners with today?
38:21
SPEAKER_02: Anything that the Lord's put on your heart of like, hey, I really want you to hear this.
38:24
SPEAKER_02: If you've heard nothing else, hear this.
38:26
SPEAKER_04: Life is full, life is busy.
38:29
SPEAKER_04: For me, it's really mostly good stuff.
38:31
SPEAKER_04: It's all it's all exciting things that I'm excited to work, but I'm just like, I'm a little bit spent right now.
38:35
SPEAKER_04: And my sense would be is that maybe there's someone watching or listening right now who says, Yep, I'm there.
38:40
SPEAKER_04: I am, I am wiped out, I'm exhausted, there's just too much on my plate.
38:44
SPEAKER_04: And what I have found to be true in in my life and in my journey of ministry and writing and YouTube and all that stuff is that when I when I carve out a little bit of time every day to read God's word, to pray, to just slow down, even when I don't feel like I have the time, the benefit I get from that and the fruit that I get from that is just uh exceedingly greater than what it feels like the amount of time I spend.
39:07
SPEAKER_04: So for me, it's just like, hey, like literally 15 minutes in God's word every day, a consistent rhythm has the power to transform your life.
39:14
SPEAKER_04: When we rest in God's word, when we really immerse ourselves in it, over time, this is why I chose a daily plan for a year, because I think it takes time to really get into that rhythm.
39:24
SPEAKER_04: But if you return to it every day, I think you're gonna start to see grace upon grace in your life.
39:29
SPEAKER_04: And so that's my encouragement to people is just spend time with Jesus, spend time in his word, spend time praying.
39:34
SPEAKER_04: And even when it feels like you don't have the capacity, if you if you carve out a little bit of space and prioritize it, I think that it will it'll be a life-changing experience.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
39:42
SPEAKER_02: That'll preach.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: All right, so where can people find you?
39:45
SPEAKER_04: We are available all the usual places.
39:47
SPEAKER_04: So it's it's everything is under Tim Wildsmith.
39:50
SPEAKER_04: So Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.
39:51
SPEAKER_04: You can just find me by searching for Tim Wildsmith.
39:53
SPEAKER_04: And then I have a website called Tim Wildsmith.com, which has information about my books and the podcast and the reading plans.
40:00
SPEAKER_04: So you can you can find all of that online.
40:01
SPEAKER_04: And the podcast is available, Apple, Spotify, everywhere you get podcasts, as well as it's on my YouTube channel.
40:08
SPEAKER_04: So just go search for Tim Wildsmith and you'll find me.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and encouraging the Bible nerds.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: I know we've all gotten rich little nuggets from this.
40:17
SPEAKER_02: So thank you so much.
40:18
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Faith.
40:18
SPEAKER_04: This was so much fun.
40:20
SPEAKER_04: Shout out to all of your viewers and listeners.
40:22
SPEAKER_04: I appreciate your work as well.
40:23
SPEAKER_04: It's it's incredible.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: If you're listening to the How to Faith a Life Podcast, where we wrestle with questions on how to live a life of faith, from everything from books to Bible studies, even Bible study tips.
40:31
SPEAKER_02: This is your place to wrestle with the hard questions and dive deep into what scripture really says for the Christian walk.
40:36
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you've subscribed to this podcast on your favorite podcast streaming services, review this podcast so other people can find it, and share with other believers who want to ask the hard questions.