About the Author
The author is a blessed husband of a Proverbs 31-woman, father of nine, grandfather of twenty-nine, and great-grandfather of three (so far). He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and atmospheric science and a master’s degree in education. He was baptized in 1986 and has served as Sunday school teacher, a church deacon for nearly seven years, and a nonvocational church elder for fifteen. He enjoyed a thirty-six-year career as an actuary for the New York State Retirement System, the last thirteen as the chief actuary. His father was a home builder. The author used what he learned in his youth to build a six-hundred-square-foot dining room addition on his house used to host over fifty family members for various celebrations. He is now retired and takes pleasure in puttering around the homestead, feeding and housing songbirds, and a daily nap. With far fewer years ahead than behind, he determined to leave his children with his understanding of what the Bible teaches. To coax them to ponder it, he wrote it in the form of a book.
The Backstory
Parents have an obligation to teach their children God’s Word.
“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:19)
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Psalm 78:1-8)
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)
After the nest was empty, I sometimes thought that I should put in writing a summary of milestones and concepts in the Bible as I understand them. Retirement provided the time, and I put together a tightly packed five-page document with an introduction page, three pages briefly describing the main teachings of the Bible in 34 numbered paragraphs in quasi-chronological order, and a fifth page providing bible citations for each of the 34 paragraphs. I e-mailed it to family members on February 25, 2024. (I also sent a second document on eschatology [the part of theology concerned with human destiny] which had a time diagram that evolved into the chapter 3 diagram.) The following 3 paragraphs are a summary of the introduction page (note that my father had some form of cognitive decline starting around age 70):
”And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.“ (John 17:3)
This document has the objective of leaving to posterity in writing what I believe the Bible teaches. I hope that it is useful to your souls (though obviously not perfect, and perhaps not even very good). I am not aware that my departure is imminent, but we do not know what a day may bring forth, and family history cautions me not to presume that I will escape cognitive decline in these golden years, perhaps beginning soon.
Everyone should know what they believe and why they believe it.
The last statement has become a tagline. I wanted my summary to include what I believed (and why) with respect to various theological controversies, such as the sovereignty of God in salvation (not Arminian), a complementarian position on gender roles (not egalitarian), a cessationist position on apostolic era gifts (not continuationism), a metamorphoses position on Old Covenant Israel (not replacement theology, supersessionism, or dispensationalism) and an amillennial eschatology (not pre or post millennial). I also weighed in on some cultural controversies (e.g. gender “confusion”, intimacy commandments, etc.).
I was not satisfied with the response, or the lack thereof.
What to do? The five-page document was tightly packed. It was built in the same manner that I would put together study notes for college exams. That style suited me but probably was too dense for most. I decided to unpack it and expand upon it, using it as a quasi-outline. I laid it out in the form of a book with one or two of the 34 paragraphs forming a chapter, led by the texts from the primary Bible citations. The secondary citations formed the foundation of the appendix. As the expanded document took shape, I sent it around for comment. Again, I was not satisfied with the response. It was as if my family members thought they had too much on their plate to wrestle with doctrine. In their defense, they do have full plates, and they have heard it all from me before.
But what if they forget?
It eventually dawned on me that I could explore having my developing story published. At least then family members would have a book instead of pdfs. The day may come when they have a bit more enthusiasm for what I have to say, and they’ll see that book lying on a shelf somewhere and give it a read. (I thought that was more likely than tracking down pdfs.) I web searched ‘Christian Publisher Review’ and quickly settled on Covenant Books because I liked the name, and its address at the time was located a few miles from where my parents retired and ultimately expired (though I have come to understand that the employees all work remotely, and the mailing address has since changed to that of another publisher in their consortium). The website indicated that getting a manuscript published was a long shot, but that all who submitted one would be paid the courtesy of some feedback. I thought that at the very least I would learn something to improve what I left to posterity.
But lo and behold, Covenant Books sent a publishing agreement. Astonishing.
That changed the situation. My target audience was still those who call me dad. However, if non-descendants benefit, then so much the better. There may be other caregivers that would like to leave their wards something in writing, but do not have the opportunity to retire and write. They could use my book and point out what chapters they agreed with and explain why they did not agree with other chapters. Our sovereign God will use it as He sees fit. Further, it occurred to me that if the book should sell a few copies, it might leverage my family members into paying a bit more and earlier attention. Dads are sneaky that way.
Dear Reader, You Are Here(ish) was born.
I signed the publishing agreement, made the downpayment, and submitted a more refined draft of the manuscript on December 9, 2024, the twelfth anniversary of the departure of our youngest child, Abigail.
My children and others that I sent the manuscript to seemed excited about the endeavor. However, the most common feedback I received was that it was “too hard” to read. (I dislike reading and very rarely read a book for pleasure. If I read something to be better informed, I will usually skim and try to find the bullet points.) Some of my family members were avid readers but prefer material that is less dense (and no doubt much better written). I wondered if I could do better.
I decided to attempt an edition that was easier to follow. The original manuscript used the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV). That’s the version most frequently used by the church I am a member in, and I have seen where it has been assessed to be for an 8th to 10th grade reading level. That level suited me. Reading level is a tricky thing. I am sure that some of the avid readers in my group consider their reading level to exceed that range but still found my book “too hard.” Some authors have a felicity of expression and write in a genre that makes reading fun and not toilsome. I do not possess such gifts, and Bible related reading can often require a level of concentration beyond what comes naturally. I wondered if I could rewrite the manuscript using a Bible version that aimed for a less developed reading level.
I chose the CEV bible (4th grade reading level). It is primarily a thought-for-thought translation, which is not ideal, but the Bible’s original manuscripts were written for developed readers, and therefore word-for-word translations are going to be for developed readers. What of the less developed readers? What of young people, those with English as a second language, and pleasure readers who may read a lot, but prefer lighter texts that paint pictures that inspire the imagination and do not require dictionaries and pondering? I decided that using a thought-for-thought version to try to reach this group was a compromise worth making.
I will note that the CEV does seem to take liberties where the original language may be offensive to women and Semites (e.g., Eve is called a partner, not a helper. Woman are told to put their husbands first, not to submit to their husbands. Instead of “the Jews” it has “the people” when referring to opponents of Jesus). To what extent the translators’ interpretations impinge on doctrine is in the eye of the beholder.
The CEV edition duplicates the ESV with respect to the table of contents up through the Afterword. However, I may make or stress some points in one version that I do not make or stress in the other. Well-developed readers new to the Bible could benefit from reading the CEV edition first for their initial climb up the learning curve, and then the ESV edition to climb further.
I wanted my manuscripts to be full of Bible verses and passages, because it is God’s Word that saves sinners. I discovered that you cannot use as many verses as you please. The ESV translators allow use of up to 1,000 verses and up to 50% of the words in the book without written permission. The CEV translators allow use of up to 500 verses and up to 25% of the words in the book without written permission. I decided to use the verse count limits as controls on the size of the book. Therefore, using the CEV forced me to reduce the number of Bible verses. It also put the remaining verses and passages in a lower reading level. Further, I simplified the vocabulary in my words. (I tried to stick with words that could be found in the CEV Bible.) I also tried to be more straightforward and reduce the need to ponder. I decided to replace the appendix with Bible reading guides that take a different approach than the ones typically available. I submitted the CEV rough draft to Covenant Books and was again sent a publishing agreement.
Here is a glimpse of my vision:
1) Dear Reader, You Are Here(ish) – CEV edition for less developed readers or little familiarity with the contents of the Bible,
complete with Bible Reading Guides
2) Dear Reader, You Are Here(ish) – ESV edition for more developed readers and some familiarity with the contents of the Bible,
complete with a robust appendix for further exploration
May God be glorified by how this unfolds.