Easy, Yes, but Accurate?

IN September 2005, the Church of England heartily endorsed the release of The 100-Minute Bible. Designed to be read in 100 minutes, the new version condenses the Hebrew Scriptures into 17 one-page sections and the Greek Scriptures into 33, thus leaving out, as one reviewer puts it, all those “boring bits.” It is easy to read, yes, but is it accurate?

Aside from the omission of the divine name, Jehovah, a number of other deviations will be noted by serious Bible students. (Psalm 83:18) For example, section 1 states that God “created heaven and earth over a period of six days.” Genesis 1:1, however, simply says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” After that, the original account describes further acts of creation involving the earth, lasting six “days,” or periods of time. Then, Genesis 2:4 sums up the entire period of creation, calling it “the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.”

According to The 100-Minute Bible, Job, a man of integrity, was attacked by “one of [God’s] servants, Satan, . . . whose responsibility it was to act as the accuser of humankind.” Do you see the discrepancy here? The word “Satan” means “Resister.” Rather than being God’s servant, Satan is, in fact, God’s archenemy and the self-appointed accuser of mankind.​—Revelation 12:7-10.

What about the Christian Greek Scriptures portion of The 100-Minute Bible? In the parable of the sheep and the goats, the new version says that Jesus favors those who helped “anyone, however insignificant,” whereas Jesus really said that he blesses those who do good to his footstep followers​—his “brothers.” (Matthew 25:40) The synopsis of Revelation tells its readers that “Rome, the great Babylon, would be utterly destroyed.” Bible students know, however, that nothing in the original writings allows for such an identification of “Babylon the Great.”​—Revelation 17:15–18:24.

For those who seek to know our Creator and understand his purpose, there can be no substitute for the complete Bible. True, reading the Bible will take more than 100 minutes, but doing so brings inestimable rewards. (John 17:3) May you accept this challenge and reap the rewards for yourself.​—2 Timothy 3:16, 17.