Official Review: Gospel United by Betty Lee

[MsH2k]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Gospel United" by Betty Lee.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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The first four books of the New Testament in the Bible are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and are known as the Gospels. Written by four different authors, they hold accounts of the life of Jesus shared from each author’s perspective. More than one Gospel may contain passages about the same event, but there are times when a single Gospel has a unique slice that adds to the overall picture of Jesus’ life and ministry. In Gospel United, Betty Lee combines these four books “as if the authors had collaborated to write one book.” The contents are merged into nineteen groups with subtopics. Each subtopic lists the scriptures used and presents the combined text in paragraph format.

Lee acknowledged without hesitation that she had no “lofty degrees,” but she simply believed the Gospel. I appreciated her disclosure. I do not feel that advanced degrees are required to read, love, and understand the Bible.

There are many Bible translations available, so I wanted to confirm the one used for this book. The version given on the book cover is “Red Letter KJV (King James Version) Americanized.” I could not find that version. In addition to the KJV, there is a KJVA (King James Version, American Edition), but neither of these was the version used in this book. Immediately, I became suspicious. What changes were in this non-published version?

The author was meticulous in providing the scriptures referenced in each subtopic. I found only six verses missing in the references (all in Luke), but the content of those verses was also in other Gospels, so the information was not missing. That gave me some satisfaction, but questions about the version remained.

I read this book with the KJVA open on my Bible app for easy reference. I found that it was fairly close to the book’s version except for a slight variation in the spelling of names and additional explanatory text in the book.

It is a powerful experience reading the combined Gospels, especially when the accounts contain interlocking pieces of the puzzle, such as in the birth of Jesus. It becomes obvious to the reader that the Magi were not with the shepherds worshiping Jesus on the night he was born. I have yet to see a Christmas movie accurately depict the timing of the Magi arriving with their gifts! In instances like this, I appreciated the author’s work. This is what I liked most about the book; in fact, this is why I chose to read it.

Unfortunately, many experiences were not this gratifying. By having all the text of the four books included, it felt as if the author grouped verses by subtopic but without regard to context, which could be confusing. For example, one subtopic covered Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. The paragraph presented what he said to her about living water. His response also included statements he made about living water to a different audience and in a different context. They were combined, reading as if he said all of them to the woman at that time. There were several other instances like this.

I respect the diligence it took to compile the Gospels into this format and the commitment to publish this work, but for it to be useful to serious Bible students, there needs to be more disclosure. I rate Gospel United 1 out of 4 stars due to the importance of presenting the Bible accurately. I removed one star because of the version of the Bible used. I highly recommend using a published version of the Gospels. I removed another star because of the misrepresentation of scriptures when verses from different contexts are included in one subtopic, as described in the living water example. I removed a third star because of the lack of documentation in this book overall. There was no introduction or guidance to help the reader understand the author’s process in combining the Gospels. The entire book is scripture, so grammatical errors did not factor into my rating.

In its current state, I do not recommend this book to any audience because of the assumptions one needs to make before reading it. With documentation and clarification added, this book would be relevant to those interested in a deeper study of the Gospels, either for Christians who want to apply the Bible more fully in their lives or for those looking for ways to discredit the Bible because of perceived inconsistencies. I would not recommend this book to those who have not previously read the Gospels separately.

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Gospel United
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[fadjei]

It's unfortunate that this book was so disorganized. It is very important that ideas within the bible are presented accurately so this rating is definitely warranted.
Thanks for the review!

[MsH2k]

It's unfortunate that this book was so disorganized. It is very important that ideas within the bible are presented accurately so this rating is definitely warranted.
Thanks for the review!

Thank you for your comment.

[Nkoo]

I appreciate your honest review of this book. I think that authors should invest more time into writing their books so as to have a worthwhile book eventually. It is my hope that the author will heed your recommendations and do the needful. Thanks.

[Magnify3]

Thank you for this review! The book did sound promising until you mentioned the misrepresentation of scriptures.

[MsH2k]

I appreciate your honest review of this book. I think that authors should invest more time into writing their books so as to have a worthwhile book eventually. It is my hope that the author will heed your recommendations and do the needful. Thanks.

I can tell that the author worked very hard on this compilation, but perhaps she was so close to the work that she neglected to share her assumptions and approach with the reader. That absence of information puts the reader at a disadvantage.
Thanks for your comment.

[MsH2k]

Thank you for this review! The book did sound promising until you mentioned the misrepresentation of scriptures.

I don’t think the misrepresentation was intentional, but that was the result. I did get a couple of aha’s reading this book, but it was a lot of work because I felt the need to double check everything against the KJVA.
Thanks for your comment!

[Nisha Ward]

It's a shame about the book's flaws because I think, with more context and commentary, a book like this can be useful to those who love the Bible.

[MsH2k]

It's a shame about the book's flaws because I think, with more context and commentary, a book like this can be useful to those who love the Bible.

It really can. Even with my guard up because of the need to make assumptions, this book still highlighted some aspects I had missed while reading the Gospels individually. I know this was a lot of work, and I hope the author makes a few modifications to allow this book to helpful for many.
Thanks for your comment!

[8amaseter]

From the review, the work was marred by some misrepresentation of the Bible. This can be misleading especially to new students of the Bible.

[MsH2k]

From the review, the work was marred by some misrepresentation of the Bible. This can be misleading especially to new students of the Bible.

Yes, it can be misleading. Documenting the process that was used to combine the Gospels is very important for readers to be confident in what is presented. Thanks for your comment.