The 45 Minute Bible

The following are two recent student testimonials about the personal impact that the 45 Minute Bible video has on people’s lives.  The testimonials come from one of the classes I teach in a secular higher educational setting.  I typically offer this video on an extra credit basis, with the assurance that full credit will be awarded regardless of whether the critique is positive or negative.  The critiques are almost all very positive–here are two student’s testimonials as an example.  By the way, The 45 Minute Bible is indeed only 45 minutes long and, at $10.00 apiece, they make excellent gifts (see the SHOP tab on the top menu bar and the dozens of comments under the 45 Minute Bible DVD product).

Justine F:

After watching the video, I was very interested to see how many people there are who do not know very many facts about the Bible.  After beginning this course, I realized how much there is to know about the Bible and how little I actually knew.  I had never read the Bible before or been to church and I felt completely clueless.  After watching the interviews with some of the young adults, it made me feel a little bit better about not being informed.  Although my family is not religious, that does not mean that I cannot be.  This has sparked a big interest for me to learn more about my culture and religion.

Each week, I learn more and more from the (assignments); this week I learned a lot from this video.

  • I learned that there are laws forbidding people in Israel to eat certain foods.  I would never have believed that someone could make a law forbidding a person to eat a specific food.  Pork is not allowed to be eaten in any shape or form if you live in Israel.
  • Another interesting thing I learned was that the Bible was originally written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  The Bible has been translated from these languages to all major languages of the world and even some languages of smaller groups of people.  Due to the Bible being translated, this means that there are versions of the Bible that depart in significant ways from the original words and thoughts of the original Bible.
  • The last thing I learned was that Jesus chose Twelve Disciples to groom for leadership in the future.  I was interested to learn that Jesus was spending so much energy and time finding men and women to teach how to become leaders.

After watching the video, I was very impressed with the filming and approaches used in the film.  Sometimes it is difficult for me to read the text or even the power points and understand exactly what they are talking about.  The video was very easy to understand but also very informative.  I appreciate during certain times in the video when they would include text on the screen as notes that I could copy down in my notebook.  Before beginning the assignment, I felt that a 45 minute video would be boring, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I was interested in the video from beginning to end and excited to feel that I was actually obtaining the information.  I would not change a single thing about the video.

Olusola B:

After watching the 45 minute Bible, I learned a lot of new things about the Bible. I must admit I was skeptical about this video because I don’t believe in the Bible, but now I realize the Bible was written to help guide people’s religious faith. I learned that some people are misinformed about the Bible due to issues we face today compared to issues during the Bible era.

  • According to the video, there were approximately 40 total authors of the Bible, and the Bible might have been written between 1400 BC and 100 AD depending on different views.
  • I also learned there are different canon of scriptures in the Bible. The protestant Bible have 66 books which includes 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books; Roman Catholic have 73 books including the protestant’s 66 books and 7 Apocrypha. The material of the Bible was originally written in the languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible was later translated to Latin and to other languages through the years.
  • According to the video, there was a 400 year gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The age was called the 400 years of silence but there was nothing silent about that centuries. The era was called the Axis age which was a change in the life of Israelites. The Persian government allowed some Jews to return to their devastated lands.

My critique on the video is it was well edited, and the graphics was not overwhelming. I enjoyed every aspect of it, and it was made in a chronological order. The content of the video was easy to understand. Overall it was an excellently made video, I give it 100 out of a 100.

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A shoutout to my nephew, Ben Blesse and his team, who did the videography and graphics for this video that is much needed in our troubled and biblically-uniformed times.  Michael Bogart, EdD