Rating: 
Summary: Let's not 'Revolve' and say we did
Review: I am a Christian (of the Southern Baptist flavor). I am a supporter of making the Bible available to those who want to read it and understand it. Sadly, I can't endorse Revolve. Most of the other reviews have brought out Revolve's insane biases. I wish not to repeat any of that. In saying that, I found many things that disturbed me about Revolve while thumbing through Matthew. First off, the text has a lot of stats sprinkled through the text such as "42% of teens had quiet time". What does this have to do with the Bible? Revolve sports calendars, like other mainstream magazines for teenage girls. This leads to two observations. Some of the activities listed are pretty corny. One activity that Revolve suggests teenage girls do is to bake bread with mom and celebrate as a family. The calendars also have for certain days the birthdays of celebrities that 99.9% of teen girls can relate to. What happened to Lincoln, Washington, and MLK? The worst thing about Revolve is the lack of respect and tolerance for other people's beliefs. There is a question on what to do if you meet a witch. Revolve decrees that you are haul your friend to church and let God do the rest. Groovy.
Another of Revolve's sidebars instruct teen girls that's it's OK to pray with someone of the opposite sex but to exercise caution in doing it. In my mind, that's pretty messed up. There are two good things about Revolve. One are profile of charities. This could expose teen girls to something beyond themselves. The translation used is the New Century Version, a very good version. In short, none of these two good things can save Revolve. I think the publisher has tried a bit too hard to be hip. I see teen girls being interested for a short while, then being totally apathetic thereafter. Here's the bottom line: There are better Bibles for *all* youth. Revolve is not one of them - sadly.
Rating:
Summary: Did I miss something?
Review: I've never been more embarrassed to be raised Christian. Why not change all the words in the bible? Why not change all the meaning? Bit by bit its original message is degraded in a whisper chain of translations until the person at the end is left with something resembling The Book of Mormon. There are all sorts of people who interpret the bible for any number of reasons, including Nazi's, cultists and well meaning fund raisers, but the problem is the same no matter what the purpose. To change the words inevitably in some way alters the meaning. To interpret the words gives you only one point of view- the interpreters. God wanted you to have your own point of view. The author says that girls are intimidated by the big words and the old language of the bible. Why girls? Are they so stupid? Are they so much lesser than other parts of human culture that they need a bible written especially for them in the language of pre-adolescent morons? If girls are so pathetically ignorant, that they can't understand things people educated and uneducated alike have understood for over 1000 years, maybe they should spend a little less time shrinking their pores and a little more time paying attention at school. All this book does is say that girls are freaking idiots and so much so that they need their own version of the bible (with lots of pictures) to be able to hold their short lived brainless attention for more than 5 minutes. So anyone supporting this book supports the empty brains of girls everywhere saying "it's ok pretty thing, if you don't understand the big mean complex world, we'll just make it conform to you so you can go about putting on your make up and not have to deal with anything so bad as reality." The best a girl who relates to this book can hope for is a husband who understands how practical yet conversationally useless she really is. That way she won't have to understand anything past simple "godly" commands. "Go make my dinner and fold my clothes and when you're done with that and putting the kids to bed go lay down on the bed naked. I'll be in eventually to please myself then you can know you've done gods work. Oh yeah... and I love you." Girls please don't short change your self ever by thinking you are too stupid to understand something as complex as a book. There is more to you than make-up and boy angst. You were born with a brain because God wanted you to use it, not so that it could be used by those around you. If you want to start your own religion, rewrite the bible (or any religious text) in your own interpretation. If you want to be a Christian read the bible. If you want to be a Muslim read the Koran. If you want to be an idiot read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Revolve is wonderful!
Review: I'm a 14 year old born again Christian in 9th grade. I'm enrolled in honors english and as much as I love writing, I've always hated reading. It's been such a great difficulty that I've gotten through but few pages of the Bible within the last couple of years. I found out about Revolve in Reader's Digest magazine. I thought it was a monthly magazine but it's really a Bible feauturing only the New Testament. It looked interesting, modern, and exclusively just for teens like me. Since I conviently had a gift card to Borders, I picked up a copy. This book is totally AMAZING! I love it! I reccomend this to all teen Christian girls. It changed my view about the Bible. Instead of it being huge and overwhelming, now it's easy and I actually look foward to my daily reading plan each evening. In addition to more comprehensible scripture, they have realisitc questions from readers and answers from the publishers on the side. Revolve also features beauty secrets about how to go about using makeup yet still focus on that God made you in a reflection of Him, beautifully. This book has little paragraphs here and there about what to do as a Christian in all scary situations like rape, pregnancy ect. along with useful hotline numbers. Don't interpret this a teen magazine. This is REAL and ALIVE-- it's the Bible! It's not superficial or fake. I know a lot of Mothers above me on these reviews don't seem too happy about it, but isn't it what their daughters think about it the most important? I'd be the first one to say "it sucks" if it did. This is a GREAT gift for your daughter. It's a survival guide and now that I have it, I couldn't live without out. God bless whoever made this book, it changed the way I think, act, and live.
Rating: 
Summary: Revolve Review
Review: To all those who jeered, got a good time out of, and felt entertained by, Revolve, this review is aimed at you as I give my own opinion about this New Testament/Seventeen magazine cross. Teenagers (and children and college students, too) have a hard time with church. If you look at statistics for the amount of teens that bother to go to church, the number is rather daunting. Less than half of all teens attend church at all, and many teens and college students that I have met throughout my life would not attend church if you paid them a million dollars to do so. They would not touch the Bible with a ten foot pole. My generation is that unhappy with evangelical Christians and with church in general. But many, many teen girls read Seventeen, YM, Teen People, and Cosmo Girl. Sales of these magazines are through the roof. I remember as a teen that sometimes these magazines would sell out, whereas the teen Bibles that reviewers feel are better than this (I'm more partial to my study Bible myself, but alas, I was raised in church) would sit on the shelf at the bookstore and yellow with age. The fact that this "Bible Zine" made the Teen bestseller list says a lot! This means that teens are interested in God. Perhaps this is the way to reach my generation, a generation of "mosiacs" who have iPods, computers, TV's, discmans, and Insta Messenger to take their time. My generation hates reading. Our idea of reading is the boring books we are forced to endure in school and the handful of magazines we read on a monthly basis. Revolve, while it does look like Seventeen, is very different. It is a New Century version New Testament with comments, character bios, quizzes, and quotes from guys throughout. There are parts that I did not agree with, such as "revolve girls don't call guys" but for the most part I thought that this magazine/Bible is a very good way to reach my generation, many, if not most, who do not know Christ. Telling us that our method of reading the Bible is wrong is just plain rude and snobbish. If you feel that way, perhaps you should stay in your stuffy, boring old church with its pipe organ and shrinking population. Teens, college students and even children see church as stuffy and boring with overly judgmental people in the congregation who are completely not into accepting us as we are. This Bible shows teens that there is someone out there who will take them as they are. It is such a shame that His people are not willing to accept us as we are. Oh, and by the way, once you finish revolve, it has a note at the end to tell you to go by the complete Bible made by Thomas Nelson, and meant as the "next step" for girls who start with Revolve. A twenty-one year old
College student
Logan, Utah
Rating:
Summary: nice idea, but it doesn't work
Review: I am a college student and during my Intro to Bible class this bible was brought up when it first came out. It is really a nice idea and all, but it is never going to accomplish what it is setting out to do. Firstly, if the "Biblezine", as it has been dubbed, is going to add sidebars about how to be beautiful and that it comes from the inside, don't clutter your pages with girls who are all the same build (thin, no curves) and are all wearing the latest trends and fashions. A friend of mine has just bought a copy of the Refule Bible for guys, and as we did with the Revolve...we are all Christians attending a Christian school and we sat around in our lounge reading through the sidebars making fun of it. Some of the lists are worth it, but for the most part it seems that the writers were only grasping for something to write because they had no other ideas. Two sidebars from the Refuel for guys Bible were "How to wrestle an alligator" and "how to rope a steer"...and both made very loose, hard to come by relations to the Bible at the end...I'm sorry, but I just don't see what this has anything to do with scripture. Connections that are made to scripture or Biblical ideas is poorly thought out and it seems like its one of those times when they're stretching it just a little too much. If kids are reading this, I can guarantee its not for the Biblical scripture. Even my friends and I read through it for the "other stuff"...if a teen is looking for a magazine that has spiritual concepts, check out Brio or Breakaway by Focus on the Family, or Guideposts for Teens. The connections made in these magazines will FAR surpass any found in Revolve or Refuel. To read scripture, buy a teen a BIBLE...not a BibleZINE...
Rating:
Summary: Great way to read the New Testament!
Review: I'm 14yo and I've always wanted to read the Bible regulary, but after a few days of trying to read it, I would get bored with it. This New Testament is just amazing, I love reading it, and it keeps my interest with the notes and Q&A parts in it that help explain it. It's easy to read, anybody can understand it, and I love the quizzes! The reading plans in the back are great too! I can't wait for the OT Revolve's coming out soon, and I would recommend this to anybody!
Rating:
Summary: An appealing introduction to the New Testament
Review: I believe that many of the problems with teen society today stem from a lack of spiritual guidance and parental guidance. While I don't agree with all of the rules and suggestions presented in the sidebars in this version of the NT (girls don't call guys; men are the natural leaders), I find that it's presented in such an appealing format for teen girls that it might just actually get them to read it! As a Chirstian, I believe that that's a good thing. I don't think God cares which version we read. As for the concerns about sending women back to the "dark ages", God gave us free will. To me, this means that we are given the information and then the choice to decide which path we will follow. This is how I can be unworried about the parts I disagree with. I don't HAVE to accept every editorial in there as dictum from God. Don't like the Top 10 lists and quizzes, then skip them! They are sidebars, not scripture. These were parts written by humans in today's times as helpful suggestions to live with modern concerns like peer pressure, smoking pot, getting into sexual situations you may lose control over, how to select friends/boyfriends, obeying your parents, and comparisons of historical biblical women to today's world. There's another upside to this format...the ability to blend in. No teen likes to stand out as the "religious geek" in the crowd. This NT allows girls to carry it with them if they so choose without worrying about the stigma attached to carrying a Bible around. I am 37 with a daughter under 2, and a neice who is 14. I got a copy for each of us!
Rating:
Summary: What a great concept!
Review: The first thing that caught my attention about this was Revolve's bright, "trendy" (if you will) cover. At first I thought someone had just put a magazine in the wrong section of the bookstore, until I took a closer look at it. I'd heard of the concept of Revolve, being the New Testament formatted similarly to a fashion magazine such as Seventeen or YM. The bright colors and interesting layouts of Revolve make it very attractive and much easier to read and become involved in. I love carrying it around and flipping through the pages. It gets a lot of attention too, being such a unique concept, from people around my who typically scoff at my possession of a Bible. It enables me to share the Gospel in a much easier fashion, and I suppose it makes me all the more approachable. Some of the questions posed in the columns ("Blab" for example) are really interesting and the advice (not all, but most) is easy to apply to your own life. Being a teenaged girl who struggles with the same problems as other teenagers, it has been a valuable asset and has renewed my interest in spending quality time with God! Meanwhile, I also recommend Refuel (the guy's version of Revolve). My friend has a copy and loves all the lists and question and answer columns, which he says really help him out in his daily struggles. While the concepts of both Revolve and Refuel may seem controversial, I have had nothing but great experiences with both versions and I strongly urge any teenager to get a copy!
Rating:
Summary: As Long As Their Interested
Review: I think that this is a great book. I am a youth leader and I work with high school students. Its not that girls are so shallow that they need something like a "YM" magazine to read the bible, but it helps them to get interested. People need to understand that a lot of high schoolers dont like reading the bible because its a big book and nothing but words. With this magazine it helps them to get them interested in the bible, and their not imbarased to show their friends b/c it looks cool. Try thinking when you were a teenager you may or may not have read the bible but think of how you were attracted to any kind of magazine on the shelves. You wanted to read it b/c it looked cool. (well I know I did) Just think like a teenager not like a grown-up.
Rating:
Summary: The New Crusade
Review: I am a youth leader and one day I saw some teens during church reading this magazine and I was quite offended because I don't see them in their bibles like that and it was during the sermon. Then they asked me to look at the magazine and I was so happy to see that it was a bible. All the kids are so excited about it and they love reading it. So now the kids have something they like to read and are still reading the word and are happy about it. I love it and can't wait to see how the boys react.
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