On Characters I Would Like to See, Be or Flee x Three.

The beautiful Islandsparrow tagged me for this meme some time ago so finally I have some answers for her. Now I couldn’t find anywhere that said these characters had to be out of novels so some of mine are out of epic poems because I love and hate the characters in those poems! And one of my characters is out of a short story. See what you think…

1. Three characters you wish were real so you could meet them.

Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings.

Aslan from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The Selfish Giant when he is not selfish anymore from Oscar Wilde’s short story by the same title.

Oh! Why must I only choose three? I also want to meet Selima, the cat, in the poem Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes by Gray, but it was a real cat so I’m not sure that counts…?

2. Three characters you would like to be.

Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prarie. I soooo wanted to be her when I was little!

Emma from Jane Austen’s novel because I love matchmaking!

Abdeil in Paradise Lost because he stands alone against Satan and his rebellious horde fiercely and remains loyal to God in a mighty battle. He is awesome!

“…the Seraph Abdiel faithful found,

Among the faithless, faithful only he;

Among innumerable false, unmoved,

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

His loyalty kept, his love, his zeal;

Nor number, nor example with him wrought

To swerve him from the truth, or change his constant mind

Though single.”

3. Three characters who scare you.

Grendel in Beowulf

Poseidon in The Odyssey

(Actually any characters in Beowulf or The Odyssey. Even the good guys are scary!)

The Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons dangeruses. Sinister!

Now I need to tag three more people so, Radagast, Beck and Paul – if you haven’t done this you’re up. I would tag John and Andrew but you two still owe me some interview questions! Bah! If anyone else wants to play, join in. Let me know in the comments.

Enjoy!

A Dilemma of Biblical Proportions.

I’m wanting to buy a new Bible. My last one was given to me by my ex-husband about 9 years ago and I can’t stand the hypocritical inscription in the cover any more! Apart from tearing the cover out – which I can’t bring myself to do because then I would have to use a Bible I defaced…it just seems wrong – I think my only option is to buy a new Bible. So, here’s my question: Which Bible?

I have been researching and I think I’d like an ESV but I have been using the NIV Study Bible for so long that I’m finding it hard to pull away. I love the annotations in the NIV Study but I’d like to try an ESV because I have heard and read that the translation is more literal than others (you can compare verses here). At the same time I have been put off the ESV because it is also known as the Eastern Suburbs Version* here in Sydney and this puts me off because the reworked title conjures up images of the exclusivity associated with the Eastern Suburbs. It’s a ridiculous reason, I know, yet strangely has been a hurdle. I just don’t want a snobby Bible!

So, I was thinking, perhaps I need an ESV Study Bible. But when I searched for one all I could find was this:

Not that this is necessarily bad either. However, having not seen the Bible, except for an excerpt on Ellen’s blog, I’m wondering if it will influence my interpretation of the Bible as I’m reading. If I’m going for a Bible that is more literal do I really want it to be interpreting what is written from one particular perspective? Don’t get me wrong, I am a Christian of Reformed persuasion yet I don’t want to just take this as the given perspective. I want to test and challenge my views in order to be convinced of the truth. I want to read the Bible as it is and see if it matches the Reformed perspective I have come to hold not read the Bible through Reformed tainted glasses – if that makes sense.

Along the way I’ve discussed the pros and cons with minister friends and have read too many articles and have seen a very strange game (!?) on the same. Then I heard about the Geneva Bible and discovered there will be an ESV Literary Study Bible to which I immediately thought both “Ooooh!” and “Hmmm?” and as a result have become not a little confused.

If you’re with me this far, you’re doing well and may be ready to answer my next few questions:

What do you think?

What are the pros and cons of each as you see them?

Which Bible translation are you using and why?

Have you used the ESV and/or NIV? Which do you prefer?

I’d love to hear all your reasons from the ridiculous – such as one Bible is perceived to be more snobby! – to the sublime.

*Because a prominent minister from the Eastern Suburbs was on the Translation Advisory Council for the ESV.