Why I Read the Message Instead of the Bible

I'm a good Methodist girl, raised in the church. I was baptized, confirmed and became a member of the body of Christ. There were a few passages in the Bible I memorized. Overall, the Bible didn't move me much. It had become boring, rote and verses were used to condemn a person more often than I liked. The language in the Bible was frankly, too hard to follow.

In 2002 I found, in Sam's Club, a book called The Message by Eugene Peterson. Reverend Peterson has been preaching the Bible for over 40 years. He started out as a teacher of the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew in a seminary. He then switched fields and was challenged by God to teach and share the Bible so people really listened.

Reverend Peterson read the Bible in the original Greek and translated the joy of the Bible into an everyday, usable language his congregation could get excited about. In 1990 an editor asked him to translate the Bible and ten years of work resulted in The Message.

Here's some of my favorite Bible verses (NIV) and the corresponding The Message verses.

Proverbs 3:5-6
NIV
⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

The Message:
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.

Matt. 19:26
NIV
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

The Message:
26Jesus looked hard at them and said, "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."