Bringing the Bible to Life with the NIrV Minecrafter's Bible {A Review}

**Bible received for review. All thoughts are my own.

My son- like so many his age- absolutely, positively LOVES Minecraft!

All day long I am hearing about all the different things you can do in the game, different modes you can play, different elements available... to be honest, when he talks about it, I'm honestly feeling like I'm listening to him speak in a different language. It makes no sense. But to him, it makes perfect sense. He understands it. He loves it. He takes it all in.

Wouldn't it be great if we could take that concentration and love that so many boys (and girls) have with this game, and use it for teaching them the important things in life?

Enter the NlrV Minecrafter's Bible!

Do you ever feel like it's more fun to exist in the computer world than the real one? Is that the only place you can control your destiny? Well, God is the original great world builder, and he gave us the power and the skills we need to make changes in the real world. The Minecrafter’s Bible, NIrV contains the full text of the New International Reader's Version (NIrV) of the Bible (from Genesis to Revelation) as well as 24 color tip-in pages featuring full-color illustrations in the style of wildly popular virtual-world-building games. Featured stories include the days of creation and great builds of the Bible.

Sounds pretty amazing, right? It gives us the chance as parents to use something our children already love to draw them into the Word. Let's be honest, sometimes reading the Bible for kids and adults alike can be a little bit confusing, boring even. These events happened so long ago that it can be so hard for our kids with this world of technology to truly understand and envision what they are reading. This Bible changes that. Throughout, there are fun ways to apply Bible lessons into their Minecraft play. They are given a passage to read, then asked to complete as task within their game. For example, when you read about Solomon building God's Temple you are asked to go into the game and build your temple. Now, they aren't just READING this story but they are bringing it to life. Many of the challenges are just like this- building something directly from the story- like a slingshot from David and Goliath, a stable from the nativity or an Armor of God. Others are a little more abstract and focus on the lesson of the story. For instance, they read the story of Jonah and are then asked if there are challenges within the game that they are running from and encourage kids to go ahead and face them head on. Each of these fun pages also features illustrations showing some of our favorite Bible stories in a typical Minecraft style.

Now, I will say in an effort to bring a balanced review, there was a part that stuck out to me worth sharing. One of the later readings and activities talks about the ABCs of Salvation--- admitting your sins to God, believing that Christ is savior and confessing your faith in Jesus. Now, for some of you, that lines up perfectly with your beliefs on the topic so there is no issue, but for others who believe that baptism is also a crucial part of that process, it's certainly worth knowing beforehand. I don't think that this is any reason not to choose this Bible, but something to note and talk to your children about if necessary.

For the Minecraft fan young and old, this truly is a fun Bible that will help make reading more accessible. Now, my son personally is already a fan of Bibles and has quite the collection, but it seems as though this one has become his favorite! For the kid who isn't into Bibles, this may be just the one to change that! And if they're going to play, shouldn't something GREAT come from that?

The NIrV Minecrafter's Bible is available to purchase now at your favorite Christian book retailer.