by Maureen Fiedler
I suppose it had to happen in this age of Twitter, but someone -- in this case, Jana Riess -- has actually "translated" (I use that term very, very loosely!) each chapter of the Bible into 140 characters or fewer. For those not into social media, that's the upper limit length for tweets, or messages on Twitter. Jana's book, which lays it all out, is called simply The Twible.
The results are often hilarious. The creation story from Genesis looks like this:
After 6 days of creation, G's totally wiped. Day off tomorrow! Key point: human beings very good. M and F in G's image.
The 10 Commandments come out like this:
G's Top 10 List. No gods, idols, or blasphemy. Keep the Sabbath holy and love Mom. Don't kill, cheat, steal, lie or look @ Xmas catalogs.
And the Annunciation in Luke:
Teen girl Mary chosen by G to bear the Savior! OK, the pregnancy raises some eyebrows, but a double thumbs up to Joseph for loyalty.
And the Christmas story:
Ma'am, the rooms are full at Bethlehem Inn, but there's a rustic barn out back that is quite charming. And the hay is complimentary.
From Galatians:
Paul says that when Peter came to Antioch, they had a blowout fight. Theology throwdown, apostle-style! Wish they'd sold tickets!
And from Acts 4:
The earliest Christians share everything in common, redistributing their wealth and property according to need. Bloody socialists.
I interviewed Jana Riess for "Interfaith Voices." Listen to the interview to find out what gave her the idea for the Bible in tweets.
