At 11:21 PM 9/1/2012 -0400, Doris & Chris wrote:
>Version Information
>
>Why was The Message written? The best answer to 
>that question comes from Eugene Peterson 
>himself: ""While I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to
>realize that the adults in my class weren't 
>feeling the vitality and directness that I 
>sensed as I read and studied the New Testament in its original Greek.
>Writing straight from the original text, I began 
>to attempt to bring into English the rhythms and 
>idioms of the original language. I knew that the early
>readers of the New Testament were captured and 
>engaged by these writings and I wanted my 
>congregation to be impacted in the same way. I hoped to bring
>the New Testament to life for two different 
>types of people: those who hadn't read the Bible 
>because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who
>had read the Bible so much that it had become 'old hat.'""
>
>Peterson's parishioners simply weren't 
>connecting with the real meaning of the words 
>and the relevance of the New Testament for their own lives. So he
>began to bring into English the rhythms and 
>idioms of the original ancient Greek—writing 
>straight out of the Greek text without looking at other English
>translations. As he shared his version of 
>Galatians with them, they quit stirring their 
>coffee and started catching Paul's passion and excitement as he
>wrote to a group of Christians whom he was 
>guiding in the ways of Jesus Christ. For more 
>than two years, Peterson devoted all his efforts to The Message
>New Testament. His primary goal was to capture 
>the tone of the text and the original 
>conversational feel of the Greek, in contemporary English.
>
>Language changes. New words are formed. Old 
>words take on new meaning. There is a need in 
>every generation to keep the language of the gospel message current,
>fresh, and understandable—the way it was for its 
>very first readers. That is what The Message 
>seeks to accomplish for contemporary readers. It is a version
>for our time—designed to be read by contemporary 
>people in the same way as the original koin 
>Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were savored by people thousands
>of years ago.
>
>That's why NavPress felt the time was right for 
>a new version. When we hear something over and 
>over again in the same way, we can become so familiar with
>it that the text loses its impact. The Message 
>strives to help readers hear the living Word of 
>God—the Bible—in a way that engages and intrigues us right
>where we are.
>
>Some people like to read the Bible in 
>Elizabethan English. Others want to read a 
>version that gives a close word-for-word correspondence between the original
>languages and English. Eugene Peterson 
>recognized that the original sentence structure 
>is very different from that of contemporary English. He decided
>to strive for the spirit of the original 
>manuscripts—to express the rhythm of the voices, 
>the flavor of the idiomatic expressions, the subtle connotations
>of meaning that are often lost in English translations.
>
>The goal of The Message is to engage people in 
>the reading process and help them understand 
>what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather ""a reading
>Bible."" The verse numbers, which are not in the 
>original documents, have been left out of the 
>print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading.
>The original books of the Bible were not written 
>in formal language. The Message tries to 
>recapture the Word in the words we use today.
>
>Copyright Information
>
>The Message text may be quoted in any form 
>(written, visual, electronic, or audio), up to 
>and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses, without express written
>permission of the publisher, NavPress Publishing 
>Group, providing the verses quoted do not amount 
>to a complete book of the Bible and do not account for
>25% or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.
>
>Notice of copyright must appear as follows on 
>either the title page or the copyright page of 
>the work in which The Message is quoted: "Scripture taken
>from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 
>1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group."
>
>When quotations from The Message text are used 
>in nonsaleable media, such as church bulletins, 
>orders of service, posters, transparencies, or similar media,
>a complete copyright notice is not required, but 
>"The Message" must appear at the end of each quotation.
>
>Permission requests for commercial and 
>noncommercial use that exceed the above 
>guidelines must be directed to and approved in writing by NavPress Publishing
>Group, Permissions, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado 
>Springs, Co 80935. (http://www.messagebible.com )
>
>
>
>
>below are the download links for "the Message" audio Bible.
>
>This is a multipart split archiveyou need to 
>download all 8 parts of the archive to a folder 
>on your hard drive and start extracting the 
>first part. Extracting the first part will 
>extract all the remaining parts as well. 
>Decompression software like Winrar, 7-zip, etc. will do the job.
>
>forwarded download links:
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/2buhl0
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/k376s4
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/fr9kc5
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/47adh0
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/g0i5en
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/7dby58
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/ztdexg
>
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/oldox4
>
>
>Additionally, here is "The Mesage" in plain text 
>format and divided up into individual books:
>
>http://www.sendspace.com/file/59psoz