Jul 30

Click for a larger view.

Earlier this month, OakTree Software released the complete NIV Application Commentary (NIVAC) on the New Testament for Accordance. The NIVAC Old Testament Prophets will soon be available (see details about the entire series here). The NIVAC has long been a favorite of preachers and anyone else who regularly teaches others from the Bible. The series is known for having a stellar list of evangelical contributors (see list at the end of the review), many of whom have written on the same texts in other, more technical commentaries. To borrow a phrase from one of the key components of every passage treated in the NIVAC, this series attempts to “bridge the gap” between the ancient text and the modern audience.

From OakTree’s product description:

Most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from our world to the world of the Bible. But they leave us there, assuming that we can somehow make the return journey on our own. They focus on the original meaning of the passage but don’t discuss its contemporary application. The information they offer is valuable—but the job is only half done! The NIV Application Commentary Series helps bring both halves of the interpretive task together. This unique, award-winning series shows readers how to bring an ancient message into our present-day context. It explains not only what the Bible meant but also how it speaks powerfully today.

As one would expect, the Accordance module brings everything included in the print editions of the NIVAC, but, of course, with the advantages of an electronic text (more about that latter aspect in a minute). Each introduction to individual books of the New Testament includes background information on issues such as title, author, date and context of writing. Each introduction also includes explanations of features unique to that NT book, a section explaining the contemporary significance of the book, an outline and an extensive bibliography of other commentaries and articles about  each NT book.

The commentary portion on the text itself is divided into sections that could easily be handled in the time allotted for the average sermon or serious Bible study or lesson. The NIV text is included in the commentary followed by three major sections: (1) Original Meaning, (2) Bridging Contexts, and (3) Contemporary Significance.

The section, “Original Meaning,” examines the passage in its original context, attempting to determine how its original hearers would have understood it. As stated in the series introduction: “All of the elements of traditional exegesis—in concise form—are discussed here. These include the historical, literary, and cultural context of the passage. The authors discuss matters related to grammar and syntax and the meaning of biblical words.” Note that a knowledge of biblical languages is not necessary for using the NIVAC.

Since certain aspects of the human experience are common regardless of the age in which one lives, the “Bridging Contexts” section looks for the timeless themes from a passage that are mostly universal in nature.

Often many contemporary readers treat the Bible as if it were written in a vacuum, or worse written in their times. Therefore, these first two sections are crucial before addressing the purpose of the third section, “Contemporary Significance.” Proper understanding of the Bible (or any ancient text for that matter) must include the proper historical setting and significance of a text before making contemporary application. It’s been said that the majority of heresy in the church comes in our application of the Scriptures. No doubt, there is some truth to this idea which makes attention to the first two sections of the NIVAC’s chapters so very important. When discussing “Contemporary Significance,” the NIVAC writers attempt to

  1. [I]dentify contemporary situations, problems, or questions that are truly comparable to those faced by the original audience. Because contemporary situations are seldom identical to those faced by the original audience, you must seek situations that are analogous if your applications are to be relevant.
  2. [Explore] a variety of contexts in which the passage might be applied today. You will look at personal applications, but you will also be encouraged to think beyond private concerns to the society and culture at large.
  3. [A]lert you to any problems or difficulties you might encounter in seeking to apply the passage. And if there are several legitimate ways to apply a passage (areas in which Christians disagree), the author will bring these to your attention and help you think through the issues involved.

The NIVAC can be searched in Accordance according to a number of very specific categories.

The advantage of any electronic text over a physical one comes with the ability to perform both simple and complex searches. Any reader with a physical book that has an index in the back is at the mercy of what the indexer thought was important. An electronic text can be searched for any word or any combination of words.

Accordance has long been unparalleled in regard to text searches and the same remains true for the NIVAC. Every part of the NIVAC has been tagged in the underlying code so that the user can search for very specific information. For instance, perhaps you want to find discussions of the word grace, but not everywhere it appears in the text itself (1978 hits) as this would be too broad, but rather every time grace appears in subject headings (9 hits). This is done by specifically searching through Titles rather than English Content.

Even searches for Scripture content have been specifically separated between “Reference” and “Scripture.” If you want to search to find overall treatments of a passage, you can run a Reference search and your search is limited to those places where the Scripture reference is part of a heading. If you want to see every place a particular passage is referenced within the content of the commentary, run a Scripture search.

When I ran a generic search simply for “Matthew,” I found 468 separate headings that treat a passage from Matthew’s gospel. But when I run a Scripture search to find any place that a text from Matthew is referenced anywhere in the entire series, Accordance responded with 5867 hits—in the literal blink of an eye! Accordance is easily the fastest software available for these kinds of searches, able to scan through the nearly 10,000 pages of the entire NIVAC NT and produce such results instantly.

Searches can also be made for any specific Greek or Hebrew content in the NIVAC. As with any module in Accordance, when searching for a Greek or Hebrew word, the user does not have to change keyboard layouts or specify in any way that a biblical language is being used. Accordance is smart enough to figure out what kind of text is being searched based on the category the user selects (or in the case of an original language text, the type of text being searched).

As already stated, the NIVAC does not require a knowledge of biblical languages. In my examination of this kind of content, what I found was that nearly all of the Greek and Hebrew content appeared in titles of articles listed in the series’ many bibliographies. When original languages are referenced in the commentary itself, it is transliterated, and Accordance allows the user to search for specific transliterations of Greek and Hebrew words as well.

The NIVAC includes the entire text of the NIV Bible, and although the NIV can be accessed separately in Accordance, the text is still included in the NIVAC module. Thus the user, who might be looking for a specific passage but at the same time might be unable to remember the passage, can search for a phrase specifically in the NIV text of the NIVAC to find the passage in question.

It's a short list, but you can even run searches for specific NT manuscripts referenced in the NIVAC.

As the NIVAC is not a technical commentary, there is not a lot of emphasis placed on textual criticism and attention to specific manuscripts. But nevertheless, if the user wants to see exactly how the NIVAC treats manuscripts, these can be searched as well.

Searches may also be made of content found in the bibliographies. So if you’re looking for a particular article title or author, you can easily find that reference. Page numbers can even be searched, too.

And of course using the “More Options” feature that is available in any Accordance tool, including the NIVAC, allows you to combine any of these very specific category searches with another category search to make your query even more precise.

The fact that the NIVAC in Accordance includes page numbers (set in brackets in green text) is especially helpful in citations. These brackets interrupt the text when necessary so that you know exactly where a page ended and a new one began in the physical book.

This can be very important for citing your source. Although technically, electronic sources don’t require page numbers in a citation, the connection to the original printed book is often vitally important or even required.

I copied a random sentence from the 1 Corinthians commentary and pasted it into Microsoft Word. Here is the resulting footnote placed at the bottom of the page in Turabian format:

Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, ed. Terry C. Muck, The NIV Application Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 25.

The user could even remove the reference to Accordance and his or her readers wouldn’t even know an electronic source had been used.

Note also that the text is correctly cited by the individual commentary writer’s name (Craig Blomberg). This is a bit amazing when you realize that Accordance does not create a separate module for each volume of the NIVAC, but treats it as a whole in one single data file. This may be something of a philosophical difference of practice, but some Bible software platforms create a separate  electronic file for each component part of the series, requiring the user to create a grouped collection of the titles (20 separate files!) to run a search through the entire series. But the entire series is in one file in Accordance. What’s the advantage of this? Well, first, every one of the different and specific kinds of searches described above can be performed in the same window in which the text itself resides. Secondly, there are often occasions in which I might be studying a passage, for instance, in one of the gospels, but at the same time need to see if or how that passage is referenced in other parts of the commentary. Thus, the value of the earlier mentioned search in which I can look for a particular scripture reference from one book of the New Testament in all the other commentary volumes is easily recognized. Or as mentioned with the search for a subject like grace, I might want to see how it is treated throughout the NIVAC. It’s not that it’s impossible to do that kind of search in software that treats each volume as a separate file, but its simpler, requires fewer steps and is decidedly faster (blink of an eye!) in Accordance.

Hyperlinks are another advantage to electronic texts over printed books. In the NIVAC for Accordance, moving a mouse over any Scripture reference immediately makes that text appear in the Instant Details window. Clicking on the text opens a tab or window (based on the user’s settings) with that text in context. In fact, there are over 4700 hyperlinks to other resources in Accordance, including not just biblical texts, but extra-biblical texts, other commentaries, lexicons, and dictionaries, too—assuming that the user has these resources in his or her library.

The same functionality applies for footnotes. Hovering over a hyperlinked footnote with the mouse makes the footnote’s content display in the Instant Details window while clicking on the hyperlink moves the reader to the entire list of footnotes for that particular section of the commentary. Clicking on the “Move to Prior Location” button takes the user back to the original part of the text where the footnote was first cited.

Accordance allows a wide flexibility of options for how one uses a commentary like the NIVAC. One can easily use the NIVAC by itself in a window as seen in the first image at the top of this post. This is especially helpful if specific searches need to be applied to the commentary text. But the NIVAC may also be integrated with other texts:

NIVAC with the HCSB, Greek NT, and personal notes. Click for a larger view.

So, although the NIVAC uses the NIV text as a base, Accordance allows the user to easily place other texts, such as the HCSB and the Greek NT seen above, next to the commentary. Notice also my personal notes in the window. All four of these windows are synced automatically (i.e. they do not have to be manually linked) and as one window progresses through a passages, the other windows automatically stay at the same point in the passage.

The NIVAC New Testament is regularly priced at $532 for all 20 volumes. However, until September 30 it can be obtained for the sale price of $317. It is available for immediate download, so the purchaser can start using it within minutes after payment. The eight-volume NIVAC Old Testament Prophets will be released July 31 (regular price: $218/sale price through Sept. 30: $130).


List of NIVAC NT contributors:

General Editor: Terry C. Muck
Consulting Editors: Eugene Peterson, Scot McKnight, Marianne Meye Thompson, Klyne Snodgrass

Matthew: Michael J. Wilkins
Mark: David E. Garland
Luke: Darrell L. Bock
John: Gary M. Burge
Acts: Ajith Fernando
Romans: Douglas Moo
1 Corinthians: Craig L. Blomberg
2 Corinthians: Scott J. Hafemann
Galatians: Scot McKnight
Ephesians: Klyne Snodgrass
Philippians: Frank Thielman
Colossians and Philemon: David E. Garland
1 & 2 Thessalonians: Michael W. Holmes
1 & 2 Timothy, Titus: Walter L. Liefield
Hebrews: George H. Guthrie
James: David P. Nystrom
1 Peter: Scot McKnight
2 Peter & Jude: Douglas J. Moo
Letters of John: Gary M. Burge
Revelation: Craig S. Keener


Disclosure: Oak Tree software provided me with a review copy of the NIVAC NT.

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Jul 21

In their July, 2010, email newsletter, OakTree Software included a brief first look at their much rumored iPhone/iPad app. Also mentioned is an approximate release date—Fall, 2010. Here’s the actual wording:

Accordance on the iPhone/iPad

Progress on the Accordance app for the iPhone/iPad is dramatic. We expect to release it this Fall. It will run your Accordance modules, and offer most Accordance search functions. Convenience, speed, and privacy are maximized; there is no need to be on-line to use it. Once you download your modules to your mobile device you can search and read your modules and edit your notes off-line. In the future we plan to add even more features.

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Jul 19

I watched a friend preach a sermon the other day, and while his sermon was quite good, and while he quoted Scripture throughout the message, he never actually preached from a physical Bible. Instead, he read Scripture as it was projected onto a large screen. Now, I have no problem with projecting Scripture onto a screen; in fact, I believe this not only helps those who don’t have a Bible with them (although it may encourage that, too), but when words are held in front of us in large letters, I believe it can even help us reflect on what the text is actually saying.

However, I saw two immediate downsides with this mode of delivery. First, he was dependent upon a person in the back of the auditorium running the slides to advance each part of the passage from which he was reading. Because the person advancing the slides did not do so in anticipation of the next part of the text, there was a pause at the end of each slide full of text, regardless of whether the break was a natural break or not. This drastically reduced my friend’s ability to read the biblical passage with any kind of natural sounding expression, and ultimately the reading of God’s Word became a necessary “task” rather than a meaningful part of the sermon. This is not too different in the end result from sermons I’ve heard in my lifetime in which a biblical passage was rushed through, read with little meaning or expression, so the preacher could get on to the “meat of the sermon.”

Secondly, I really believe that there’s something psychologically (meant in the most positive sense) beneficial for people to see a preacher or teacher actually reading from a physical Bible. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been a lifelong Baptist, and most of us have a high view of Scripture anyway, but to me there’s a certain perceived authority that comes from having that Bible in hand. I realize God’s Word is God’s Word and still just as authoritative whether it’s on the lips of someone speaking it, on a scroll, on a Bible’s printed page, on a computer screen, iPad, projector, or tattooed on a right ankle. But I also know there’s  perceptual difference if you and I are about to have a heart-to-heart talk, and I place a physical Bible between us as opposed to my iPhone with BibleReader pulled up (and that’s not a knock against BibleReader).

Now, if you know me at all, you understand that I’m often the first to embrace technology of many different kinds. Sometimes, I’m probably guilty of embracing technology simply because it’s “new and shiny.” So, I’m not coming from the perspective of a Luddite here. Further, most of my time spent in Bible study—whether for personal or professional reasons—is in front of Accordance on my MacBook Pro. And since the iPad was released, BibleReader has been my main Bible on-the-go for settings such as the Wednesday morning Bible study I’m a part of. But in those instances, I’m not in front of a group. That’s the difference. And if in front of a group, whether in the church or in the classroom, you will still see me use a physical Bible.

In the Bible study I teach on Sunday mornings at church, I do use my iPad—but not as a source for biblical readings. I’ve been carrying my iPad for running my Keynote slides. It’s much more convenient than carrying my entire laptop. So I run the slides from the iPad, but I teach from my Bible and a page of notes (once Keynote for the iPad gives us presenter notes, I’ll stop bringing the page of notes).

As the class and I walk through a passage together, I don’t “hog” the reading of Scripture. I invite others to volunteer to read. But I often make a statement something like this: “Now, if I could have a volunteer to read _______ with a loud and clear voice, with great expression and annunciation.” That usually draws a bit of a laugh, especially from newcomers, but I really do mean it.

Public reading of the Bible seems to be quickly becoming a fading skill. My first preaching experiences came when I was in college in the late eighties on our mission trips and at the little country churches fairly close driving distance. My Louisiana Tech BSU director, Lynn Hawkins, spent time with me to show me how to read the Bible in front of an audience. He taught me how to hold it up in front of me, but not covering my face. He demonstrated how it should be held in one hand while the other hand traces the words I’m reading, allowing for periodic eye contact with the congregation without losing my place. He told me not to rush through the reading, but to read the Bible with clarity and expression—as if it were the best thing I’d ever read. He told me that it was okay to read a verse or two from my notes, but when reading more than a couple of verses, and especially when reading a main passage, it should always be done from the Bible.

For better or worse, and regardless of the already mentioned fact that Scripture is Scripture is Scripture, people want to see a Bible in your hand if you are engaged in public proclamation of God’s Word. I really believe that. And I believe it crosses multiple generations.

I certainly can’t be accused of not embracing new formats. Since I first got my iPad, I’m now convinced that electronic books are (for the most part) much more practical than their physical counterparts. In fact, I don’t care if I never buy a physical book again. When looking at a new title, I immediately look to see if it’s available as an eBook. But if you hear that I’m going to be teaching or preaching somewhere, don’t let it surprise you when you see me holding a very non-tech, analog, turn it page-by-page…Bible.

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Jul 14

Yes, I occasionally put Amazon ads in some of my posts, but this isn’t one of them. This is just my way of passing on a good deal.

Amazon is offering free Prime memberships to any student with a .EDU email address. That means FREE TWO-DAY SHIPPING on any order.

Go here to sign up: http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info

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Jul 13

If you’ve submitted a comment here since July 5, no, I’m not censoring you—unless you’re a spammer.

I’ve discovered that there’s a problem with my comments here on This Lamp. I kept receiving notices of new comments that were blank. At first, I thought these might actually be some kind of spam comments, but I kept getting them. And I noticed I wasn’t getting any new comments.

I’m trying to get to the bottom of the problem. If you know what might be causing it, please email me directly at RMansfield@mac.com.


Okay, I believe comments are now working. If you don’t mind, throw out a comment or two on this post to test it out. We don’t need many–maybe just four or five.

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Jun 25

I received my copy of the brand new 2010 HCSB Minister’s Bible a couple of days ago from Amazon (I’d had it on pre-order since January of this year).

My previous copy of the HCSB Minister’s Bible (2005) has been my most used Bible in the last five years for public teaching. I’ve even used the contemporary wedding ceremony in the ministerial helps section twice in wedding ceremonies I performed. I’ve also used this Bible for a couple of funerals I’ve led, although I didn’t use the funeral messages provided in the back.

The original HCSB Minister’s Bible wasn’t perfect, but it was the best wide margin Bible available in the handful of translations I’m willing to use publicly. And the more I used it, the more I liked the HCSB. Again, the original edition wasn’t without its flaws, but overall, I thought very positively toward this Bible as detailed in my original review back in 2007.

My chief complaint about the original edition (I was not the only one complaining) related to the very thin pages that often tended to curl after writing in the margins. Although I haven’t written in this Bible yet (that will change before Sunday), I can report that the new HMB is indeed thicker than my original edition but contains essentially the same number of page (1806 for the original edition and 1824 for the new edition). But there’s more to the difference in thickness than I originally thought. I learned just today that my original 2005 copy of the HMB had thinner paper than the later printings of the same edition. The 2010 HMB takes advantage of that same thicker paper in the later print runs.

Original HCSB Minister's Bible shown on top of 2010 edition. The new edition uses thicker paper than first and second run printings. Click to see larger image.

Not only does the 2010 HMB have better paper, it has slightly wider margins for taking notes—always a welcome addition. Slightly is the keyword here. I am certain that these are officially considered one-inch margins in both editions. But when applying a standard ruler to the margins, I find that the 2005 edition is slightly less than one inch, while the 2010 edition is slightly more than one inch. The difference is only about a two to three milimeters. No doubt print runs could affect such small degrees of change, too. Nevertheless, I welcome even a little bit of extra space.

Slightly wider margins (in my measurements): 2010 edition on top.

When comparing the two editions, the text of the 2010 HMB has print that is much easier to read as well as subject headings that are slightly more bold than the original edition.

Of course, those of us who appreciate the HCSB had been waiting for was the updated 2009 biblical text most of all. The publishers are not calling this a second edition HCSB text, but from my examination of it—comparatively speaking—changes seem to be more extensive than the 2007 ESV text was to its original edition, but less so than the 2004 second edition NLT to the 1996 text. It’s fair enough to say that there are at least minor improvements to the HCSB translation on every page and many major changes as well. I posted a preliminary survey of the changes to the text a few months ago, and I hope to write more on this in the future.

Note 2010 copyright for the HCSB Minister's Bible and 2009 copyright for the HCSB text.

I continue to prefer the HCSB over other very good English translations due to its translational precision and willingness to break from tradition for the sake of accuracy (i.e. John 3:16). The 2009 text has not only made stylistic improvements, but it has also fixed odd translations such as in Eph 2:2 and the use of deluge in the original edition’s passages of the flood story.

In spite of my praise of the updated translation, there are some passages I wish were rendered differently. For example, in contexts where Paul is clearly addressing men and women, I would prefer the HCSB render ἀδελφοί as “brothers and sisters” (or at least acknowledge such in a footnote as the ESV does). And I’m not wild about the masculine universal man in Gen 1:26 having seen firsthand it’s potential to cause misunderstanding of the text among those who don’t understand the generic use of the word. However, the benefits of the HCSB elsewhere are so great that I’m willing to use and even adapt the translation on the fly when I need to. And I believe I’ve earned this privilege when I’ve taken the time to study a passage in the original languages beforehand in my preparation for teaching it.

In my review of the original edition, I mentioned my hope that the publishers might consider moving the ministerial helps to the center of the Bible. When performing a wedding with this Bible in a more traditional, nearly one-hour service a couple of years ago, the lopsidedness of keeping it open to the back grew awkwardly heavy in my hands after a while. Unfortunately, this very helpful section of materials remain in the same place.

All of the ministerial helps that I listed in my original review remain in the 2010 edition. A new article has been added: “Eight Traits of Effective Church Leaders” by Thom Rainer. The concordance in the back has been updated to reflect the 2009 text; the full-color maps are the same.

The bonded leather cover of the original HMB was good quality for what it was, but many of us had requested a nicer cover. A couple of years ago, Lifeway released a “Limited Edition” HMB that included a handcrafted cowhide cover (see my pictures of this edition here), but to my knowledge, these were never sold in stores.

The 2010 HMB comes in two bindings: a genuine cowhide leather that looks identical to the limited edition cover and an edition with imitation leather. My copy, as can be seen in the pictures on this post, is the nicer cowhide edition. However, although I have not seen the imitation leather binding, I’m told that it is of very high quality polyurethane which has become a popular alternative to real leather in recent years. From what I understand, the imitation leather is actually more supple than the genuine cowhide and has the potential to outlast real leather. Surely, for the more budget-minded, the imitation leather will be a perfectly suitable choice, and most seeing it will probably believe it’s actually leather.

This post isn’t just another review for me. Beginning this Sunday, I am adopting the 2010 HCBS Minister’s Bible as my primary teaching Bible. It’s a bit sad to retire my previous edition, especially since it was the first Bible that I adopted when I stopped using the NASB for public use after nearly two decades. I’ve got quite a few notes in the margins of the previous edition, but I don’t know that I will transfer them (unless I just transfer them to Accordance and BibleReader). There’s something nice about starting fresh with a wide-margin Bible. In spite of the ability to make more extensive biblical notes electronically, I still enjoy using pen on paper making a minimalist set of “reminders” in the margin for when I teach the Bible.

Since the HCSB has now received it’s post-initial release textual update, I’m under the assumption that the text will be fairly “set” for a while. With that and the improvements in the new HCSB Minister’s Bible, I anticipate using this as a primary English Bible for at least a decade or more.


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Jun 15

I need your input.

Friday, I am presenting a session at IWU’s “No Educator Left Behind” Conference regarding classroom instructional use with the iPad. I’m going to start with a Keynote presentation on the iPad, but eventually move to simple demonstration using a document camera.

I wanted to insert a video clip early on in the Keynote presentation demonstrating the iPad’s ability to show video as part of a presentation. My first idea was to include a clip from the movie version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—the part where the Hitchhiker’s Guide is actually introduced—because the iPad is kind of like the Hitchhiker’s Guide in some ways.

But upon watching that clip again, I think it’s a bit too sacrilegious in content for the context and might even take away from my presentation. Therefore, what would you think of as an appropriate, brief (1 to 2 min. max) clip related to the iPad?

And I don’t mean simply an iPad commercial. Let’s assume everyone’s seen those. I’m looking for something parallel in concept to the iPad from a movie or television show. If you’ve got any good ideas, please leave them in the comments below.

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Jun 08

If you’re an Accordance user, or even if you’re just interested in the interaction of Bible and technology, you want to make plans now to attend the first Accordance Users Conference in Mesquite, Texas on September 24-25, 2010.

There are two keynote speakers lined up: Dr. Martin Abegg of Trinity Western University and Dr. Daniel Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary, plus a number of other speakers on a variety of topics related to Accordance, the Bible, and technology.

I will be taking part in two panel discussions: “The Impact and Future of Mobile Bible Software” and “Ask the Accordance Experts.” A full schedule of all sessions can be downloaded in PDF form.

Read more details about the conference, including location, registration information and costs at the Accordance Users Conference webpage.

See you there!

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May 24

A friend from my high school days asked me on FaceBook what I thought of the Lost finale. After some pondering last night and then sleeping on it, here are my initial thoughts. I wrote most of this on FaceBook, but decided it might go well here, too.

My friend asked me, “What was ‘real’ and what was not??!!” Here is my initial answer.

All along the writers had said that the events on the island were not a dream, not hell and not purgatory.

But what threw me was the final scene and then the last shot. The final scene, of course, being that they were all dead and gathered in the church. And then, the final shot showed the airplane wreckage which made me think that perhaps they had all died in the airplane wreck at the very beginning of the show six years ago. That would have been a bit of a cheat to me, but that was my immediate thought right as the show ended.

But after reflecting on things for a couple of hours afterwards, and listening to the initial exchange between Jimmy Kimmel and Matthew Fox on Kimmel’s sendoff show last night (ironically, the rest of the actors seemed clueless about much of the show), and then sleeping on it, I believe my initial conclusions were wrong.

If everyone died in the initial plane crash, then the writers simply lied for six years in all of their interviews. Let’s assume this is not the case and that the passengers of Oceanic 815 did not die in the crash.

Therefore, everything that happened on the island was “real,” but the writers did play a bit of a trick on us in that the flash-sideways of season six, was in fact, a kind of purgatory (for lack of a better word).

Part of the key is to go back and listen to Christian Shepherd’s explanation to Jack at the end. “This is the place that all of you made together, so that you could find one another.” The people in the church had formed an inseparable bond with each other due to the events that had taken place on the island—a bond that lasted even into death. This was the outcome of Jack’s first season speech “We either live together, or we die alone.” Because they had chosen to live together, they were now united even in death.

Note that Michael wasn’t there. He had betrayed them. We had already learned he was still on the island, like a ghost unable to move on. Ben was invited to the church, but didn’t feel like he was quite ready—even though he had been made aware of what was happening. There’s really a lot of emphasis on SELF-redemption in the show as opposed to the redemption of Christ, although there was certainly a strong emphasis on elements of Christian tradition throughout the show.

There had been hints to the reality of the flash-sideways existence, though. Eloise Hawking/Widmore, who seemed to be more in the know than anyone, in both the “real world” and the afterlife, was very concerned that her son Daniel not be “awakened” just yet, no doubt because she felt guilt over killing him and wanted more time with him. Why she couldn’t get that time together with him in eternity is a question I can’t answer.

Plus, all of their lives were a bit idealized based on what they would have hoped for in life. Hurley was lucky, not unlucky. Locke had a good relationship with his father (there was a picture of them together in an earlier episode this season) and his fiance, Helen. Jack was a successful surgeon and had a son with Juliet, whom he got along with well, even though they were divorced. Sawyer was on the right side of the law instead of the wrong side. The only ones who didn’t seem to have it so well were Kate and Sayid, but I suppose the particulars could be played with and argued.

Thus, I presume that when the plane left the island with Lapidus, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Richard, and Claire, it really did leave and they would have lived the rest of their lives off the island. More evidence of this—Hurley told Ben at the church that Ben had made a very good Number 2, which implies they went on to have a full life with other experiences and adventures on the island.

Were the bigger questions of the show answered? Not really. Exactly what was the energy source of the island and what was the island itself? Who originally made all the rules? We don’t know. The writers said that they were not intending to answer all the questions.

There had been speculation for years that Lost was based on some kind of ancient mythology, and while there are certainly elements and themes from various mythologies, in the end, the writers seemed to be writing a new mythology for the island all on its own.

So, the energy source becomes something symbolic and not specific.

That will be enough for some viewers, but not for others. Some of the folks who wanted very specific answers will be disappointed. Others, who can live without having every single question answered will be fine and perhaps enjoy some of the debate as to what these things mean.

But what do you really want? One of the most disappointing scenes I’ve ever seen in cinema was the whole “scientific” explanation of the Force as the result of something called “midichlorians” in The Phantom Menace. I really don’t want that level of detail. So, while perhaps I will always have questions over the nature of the island on Lost, I’ll have to settle for the fact that it was simply a magical place where the normal laws of physics and time do not apply.

The above is what I have so far. I’m still reflecting. I’m certain there will be discussion for years to come.

Good series, though. I’d have to put it in my top ten, if I had one for TV shows. No doubt, it would be fun to “study” in detail once the final series is released on Blu-ray.



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May 19

UPDATE: The NLT Study Bible is now available to purchase and download.


Tomorrow (May 20), OakTree Software will release The NLT Study Bible for Accordance. In addition to the NLTSB, this will also mark the release of the 2007 NLTse text and notes for Accordance. OakTree has given me permission to post a few screenshots.

Click on the images below for a closer view.

The Instant Details info displays the result of hovering over the key number (1249) in the cross references.

An article from the NLT Study Bible

The high-res maps in the back of the NLTSB are also included in addition to the many other images.

Look for a full review on This Lamp in the coming days.

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