Getting Christianity Right: Finding the Balance We All Need By R. Herbert
In our Christian lives we often come face to face with moral choices, options, and “grey areas.” Getting Christianity Right looks at some of the most common and often difficult of those areas – alphabetically, by topic – where what is right is not obvious, and we must find and maintain Christian balance. The book offers practical Christian advice for a great many situations where we may wonder, “What does the Bible say on this issue?” and “What should I do?” This book has the potential to help you improve your Christian walk in many ways – download a free copy to read on your computer, smartphone, or e-book reader, here.
A New, Free, Christian e-Book App for Your Phone or Tablet!
Completely free for download and use – with no annoying ads, hidden charges, or upgrade requests – this new Christian e-book app can transform your Christian reading on the go! The new app allows you to easily access and read every e-book and Bible on the FreeChristianEBooks.org website directly on your Android smartphone or tablet. All of the many dozens of free Christian books and Bible translations can be read in .epub or .pdf format. Scan the QR code in the image above, or visit the Google Play store here, to download and start carrying your favorite Christian books and Bible translations today!
If you are looking for a truly worthwhile goal to set for this new year, Cornerstone’s carefully prepared non-denominational and non-commercial courses provide in-depth information on the Bible – without advertisements or other distractions – to those who cannot attend Bible school or seminary, or who simply want to understand the Bible at a deeper level in their own personal study. With Cornerstone courses you can study anywhere, on your own schedule, and you can download course materials without having to study while online.
General courses are available on the Old and New Testament, as well as a more focused course on the Old Testament Wisdom Books – with more courses being planned. Significantly, all course materials – including e-textbooks – are provided for free and there are no charges of any kind. If desired, an optional final exam can be taken online and a personalized certificate of completion is provided for all passing grades. Here are two sample comments from students:
“The Cornerstone course units are always refreshing …they make me realize that there is still so much I don’t know even though I have been reading the Bible all my life.” Anthony J.
“I don’t think there are many places (if any) where all these strings that you pull together so readably can be found! Never ending interesting things to learn!” Lois S.
Download a free course and study materials today from the CornerstoneCourses.org site, here.
THE WAY OF GIVING:LEARNING TO LIVE GENEROUSLY By R. Herbert
The Scriptures begin with the story of what God gave humans at the beginning of history and end with what he wants to give them at history’s end. Between these bookends of giving, the Bible teaches generosity in the majority of its sixty-six books. The reason for this is because giving lies at the very heart of the nature of God himself and the lesson for us is that if we really want to learn about God and how we can grow to be more like him, we need to learn more about how to give.
The new free e-book The Way of Giving provides an in-depth look at this core aspect of Christian living, and shows that there are many more opportunities to be generous than we often realize – even if we think we have little or even nothing to give. In fact, there are amazingly powerful ways in which we can all accomplish good through the kind of giving God encourages. Download a free copy of The Way of Giving in your favorite format for reading on computer, e-book reader, or smart phone, here.
After nearly four decades of preparation, for the first time ever, the complete Bible is now available for the deaf and hearing impaired in American Sign Language. Those of us who have functional hearing may find it hard to realize just how important this milestone is. Most of us may think that even if people cannot hear the Word of God they can still read the Bible, but that is frequently not true because some 95% of the world’s deaf population is functionally illiterate.
That is where sign language comes in, but although there are literally hundreds of sign language systems for the deaf in existence, many of these systems are only known by a few people. In any case, only about twenty of the various signing systems have any kind of Bible material published in them.
American Sign Language (ASL) is by far the most widespread signing system used in the United States and is used by some in other areas also. But more than a half-million people throughout the US alone use ASL to communicate as their native language. This is a sizeable population that compares with many languages in which translators have translated the Bible.
Translating a book as complex as the Bible into ASL was not an easy task. ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for word formation and word order. Its syntax is, in fact, often different from that of English, so these are important reasons why deaf individuals need a Bible in their own language. And now they have one.
Deaf Missions, a ministry dedicated to communicating “the Gospel of Jesus with Deaf people through their heart language, culture and identity,” began the translation of the Bible into ASL in the early 1980s. Recently the ministry partnered with other translation groups such as Wycliffe USA, the American Bible Society, and others, and the final biblical books needing translation to ASL (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel) were completed this past fall.
In March 2022, Wycliffe Associates released a translation of the New Testament in an entirely new concept-based language they developed named SUN (Symbolic Universal Notation). This new language represents the words in Scripture by small hieroglyph-like signs. The system is not extremely difficult to learn and can help both the Deaf and Blind to read the Bible, but the SUN language has to be learned before it can be used, of course. On the other hand, now, for the first time, the whole Bible is available to more than a half million people whose primary language is already ASL and also available to many more if they choose to learn ASL.
The Deaf Mission website notes that roughly 98% of the worldwide population of Deaf people have never been able to encounter Jesus in a deep and significant way, but now, finally, they have access to the Word of God through the word of God.
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