my turn for a "meme"

First of all, I should say that I have never done a "meme." Surveys, yes. "Meme," no. I have a hard time taking the word seriously. Is there some reason for the name that I'm missing?

1. How many Bibles are in your home?
Between my dad's house and mom's house, I would guess at least 20. However, in my apartment, there are... two. I am assuming that my two Hindi and one Muslim roommate do not have Bibles, and I definitely just snuck into my fifth roommate's room to confirm her possession of a Bible. I feel like such a heathen compared to Ms. "At least eight" ;-)

2. What rooms are they in?
My room and "the roommate who we don't name"'s room. Mine moves from the right side of my desk to my bed to on top of my computer, depending on the time of day. I put it on top of my computer every night, as I close my laptop. That way, I can't forget that reading it needs to be the first thing I do in the morning. Way more important than email, blogs, or even the impeccable Lawrence Journal-World .

3. What translations do you have?
Mine is NIV, I didn't look at roommate's. Let me go check. It's The International Children's Bible: New Century Version. Am I creepy for now sneaking into her room TWICE to look at her Bible?

4. Do you have a preference?
I'm a big NIV fan. I'm not opposed to the others - sometimes I think NKJV and RSV do a better job of giving the words the power they deserve, but I also feel like I sometimes get so caught up in the weird wording that I can't totally understand that it's a story. I remember my Mormon friend reading my Bible (after a lifetime of KJV) and saying, "it's like yours is telling a story! I never knew that there was a story in there!" At the same time, I feel like the Message can be good for getting the big idea across, but that sometimes it takes the "modern phrasing" too far.

One time, in high school, we had a youth group lesson about Bible translations. The big point was that, when looking for a new translation, it's important to make sure that it is indeed a translation. I guess a lot of the new ones are "paraphrases," which means they didn't go back and literally translate the Greek; instead, they just tried to rephrase existing texts.

5. Nominate an interesting verse.
"...One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, 'Ask him which one he means.' Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, 'Lord, who is it?'" -- John 13:23-25

This verse doesn't seem interesting on the surface, but I found it really interesting after a lesson this weekend, at the CCF retreat. First of all, John never refers to himself by name, just as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." But what's really interesting is the thing about leaning against Jesus. Other versions (such as the Message, I think) describe it as leaning against Jesus' chest. The speaker encouraged us to think about how powerful that would be - to hear Christ's heartbeat. John was obviously blown away by it - he describes himself in terms of being the one to do that in John 21, as well. He wrote that book of the Bible 60 years after the events took place, and he still talks about it, you know? The speaker's point was that John defined himself for the rest of his life as being the one who leans on Jesus, the one who knows His heartbeat because of the intimacy of their friendship. I think that's pretty interesting.

I'm done. I have no one to tag...