Big Dummies of the Bible: And How You Can Avoid Being a Dummy Too

by Stephen M. Miller

Have you ever done something so dumb you wince at the thought of it? Well, you're not alone. The Bible is full of characters who made some shockingly dumb moves. Here are a few examples:

A guy who sold his right to his family's estate for a bowl of soup.The couple who had the pleasure of having no rules, no boundaries--except one . . . a rule they decided to break anyway.The guy who fell in love with a woman who clearly was doing her best to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0849907705
• ISBN13: 9780849907708
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

An entertaining and exciting book!

Stephen Miller has once again brought the fun into studying the Bible. As a young adult Christian I find reading the Bible often quite dull. Miller does a great job keeping my attention. I love how he translates the message into modern day terminology and his own added style of humor. Big Dummies of the Bible taught me many things I had never learned before, and may we all learn from their mistakes!!!

Learn from the mistakes of others - then you don't have to do them yourself!

„Big dummies of the Bible" is a very interesting book that describes in a humorous way some dumb people in the bible and their dumb decisions they made. Each chapter has got a part called "Learning from the mistake". So Stephen M. Miller describes what we can learn today from the mistakes people made 2000 years ago - and it's fascinating to see how much we can learn from them.

Not your normal Bible study

There are 13 unlucky Bible people featured in this book. And if you're thinking this is just another retelling of their sad stories, you are so wrong. Try out a couple excerpts: Samson "In the bountiful dumbness of Samson, there's one scene dumbest of all. He's napping with his head on Delilah's lap--and he expects to wake up with hair." Miller explains why any knucklehead should have known better. Jezebel "Israel's queen of mean may have had excellent reason from the crib for growing into the most despicable, villainous woman in Bible history. A single word may have twisted this sister, contorting and distorting her character from day one." The word? Her name. Miller says that in her native language, "Jezebel" means "Where's the Prince?" As in her kingly father's complaint: "I don't want a daughter." When Princess Jezebel moved to Israel and married King Ahab, the Hebrews tweaked the pronunciation just a bit. The Hebrew version meant "Where's the Crap?" As in we don't even want to guess what her nickname was. Miller said that when Jezebel died, the new king turned her pagan temple into a public toilet. Miller added, "It must have seemed fitting." These are Bible stories loaded with the kind of bizarre insight and humor I've never read before. Each story has modern parallels and discussion questions for small groups and private study. There's a free leader's guide, too. It's on the author's Web site: stephenmiller.info. And take a look at that weird cover, with Delilah snipping Samson's curly locks. In case you're wondering, the tattoo on that muscled arm reads "Delilah." They say you can't judge a book by its cover. Don't believe it.

Great Book

What a great resource! Short and pithy insights into some of the most famous and infamous characters in the Bible. The author has sprinkled his insights with a liberal dose of humor which is very refreshing. This book would be a great one to use for discussion for Bible studies and small group gatherings. It's easily understandable to the believer and non-believer alike. It's encouraging to know that these people are the ones God chose to build His kingdom with. A great reminder that God uses the likes of you and me, as well, to build His kingdom! Jerry Cohagan (Professor, Olivet Nazarene University)

A great Bible study book

Big Dummies of the Bible is another great book by best-selling author Stephen M. Miller. Not only does it tell stories of the Bible that most people don't know about, but it does it in an interesting and rather humorous way. It provides many examples of how everyone is human. And humans make mistakes. It is in our nature. Now, I don't know about you, but when someone tells me, "just learn from your mistake" or "take this problem and use it to make you a stronger and better person" I think to myself, "Ha, much easier said than done." But, this book helped me to put some things into perspective in order for me to do just that-to take whatever kind of mistake I make, whether big or small, and let it be a lesson for the future. It's also nice to know that there are people out there that do dumber things than me.