Innervision | The Bible Experience

Several days before Christmas, I was introduced to a pending gift for someone else that was described as one of the hottest gifts of the holiday season. Little did I know that I also would be a recipient of the same gift. This one gift has probably meant more to me than almost every gift I have received before it and interestingly enough it was already in my possession and had been for years.

The gift – an audio bible.

But not just any run of the mill bible, this version is red-hot Inspired By . . . The Bible Experience: New Testament. This particular version of the bible features an all-star African-American cast of A-List talent including Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Angela Bassett, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin, Blair Underwood and over 200 other actors and musicians. To say that this project is a tremendous inspiration to me would be an understatement.

As mentioned, this 18 disc (and one DVD, which also includes the making of) only covers the New Testament. The cast is currently working on the Old Testament, which will be out later this year.

Now a person’s faith is there own concern and I won’t elaborate about my own, but I felt compelled to share the impact that this project had has on my understanding of the bible. I’ve always kept one around and am the byproduct of a very religious and spiritual upbringing. I’ve attended church for years and listened to various preachers using the bible and individual verses to get across a number of very serious and light points. I’ve heard the parables and listened to scriptures and I have one confession to make. I really didn’t have any REAL understanding of “the greatest story ever told.”

From the first disc to now the fourth, the story of the New Testament has almost played like a mini-series as I listen to the real Passion of the Christ. Don’t think it’s just actors reading, there is an incredible music score by Grammy Award winning musicians and lots of background sound mixing to almost give you the impression that you could be listening to actors on stage. I have gained more understanding of the messages in full context in the past couple weeks than in all the years of my life combined.

The casting for the series is the key. Underwood is Jesus, Jackson is God, Gooding, Jr. is Judas and Bassett an angel. Many of the same actors who participated in the New Testament will also be heard in the Old. The making of DVD, which shows the actors recording their dialogue, is amazing. Watch for Underwood who is gives a mesmerizing audio performance.

The interesting thing is that the company behind the project, Zondervan, has several of other audio book bibles and they estimate that they sell 60,000 annually; they’ve been selling 80,000 Inspired By . . . series a month.

Guess I’m not the only one who has been enlightened!