GoBible Review and 20% Off Coupon

With Christmas a mere week away and New Year's right after that, people are starting to enter resolution mode. Many people consider giving up a vice like smoking or attempting to lose weight. Both are noble goals. Instead of giving up something this year, though, I'd like to issue a New Year's challenge -- start something this year instead. I challenge you to grow closer to God in the upcoming year by reading from His Word (the Bible) every day! Now, it wouldn't be a fair challenge if I wasn't willing to participate myself, so I promise to accept the challenge as well.  I will be using the GoBible to help accomplish this challenge! What's the GoBible you ask? Keep reading to find out.

The GoBible is a portable audio Bible that fits in the palm of your hand. I am reviewing the Original edition which, although a little pricier, comes with the following features:

• Contains entire Bible for Catholics
• Over 80 hours of audio, preloaded
• Searchable by verse
• Story index of 230 popular Bible stories
• Topic index
• Holiday/events index
• Bookmarks
• Narrated Rosary and common prayers
• Daily readings by year and cycle
• Voice menu for sight impaired

The first question you may be wondering is "What translation of the Bible does it use?" The GoBible does not use the NABRE (what you hear at Mass) or the RSV-CE (Ignatius Study Bible).  Instead, it features the NRSV-CE. I spoke with the people at GoBible, and they told me that the NABRE was not made available to them, but they also reassured me that the NRSV-CE has an imprimatur, which is a huge plus. For those unfamiliar with this version, it is a bit more literal than the NABRE and does include some gender-inclusive language. This means that in places where the word "men" is traditionally heard, this translation will instead say "people." Rest assured though, God is still referred to as He. There is no gender ambiguity when it comes to the Almighty!

The next question going through your head probably concerns the audio quality and how the Bible is read. In a word, it is AWESOME! GoBible tasked Emmy-Award winning narrator Stephen Johnson. He has what can be described as a smooth, deep voice. For those who don't know who he is (like myself before doing some research), "Stephen Johnston's work with all major Christian Publishers has provided a unique audio library of almost every major Bible version including, KJV, NKJV, NIV, ESV, NASB, Message, CEV and various Bible productions including Dramatized versions of the above. At 65, Stephen is deemed by his colleagues as a "master narrator", with worldwide sales of his many productions. No other person in history has narrated and produced the number of Bible products he has." I'd say he's definitely qualified, and they made a good selection.

So what are my favorite features? That's a tough call, as the more I use the product, the more I love about it. For starters, I love the daily Mass readings. Since my wife and I can't go to daily Mass at this point in our lives, we try to pray with daily Mass readings every night. This helps keep up focused on God, while staying within the rhythm of the Church calendar. Having these readings available in audio format, I can now listen to them several times throughout the day and reflect and meditate on them, or simply rest while listening to them. I also like the popular Bible stories feature. These stories are great for getting your children interested in reading the Bible. Lastly, I love the Rosary feature. I only wish there were more prayers on here, like maybe the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as well.

Lastly, I love that the GoBible also has accessories o expand how you listen to the Word of God. For example, if I want to listen to the Bible on my commute to and from work, it's not very safe to put earbuds in and drive. GoBible has a solution for that with the FM Audio Transmitter. Simply connect the transmitter to your GoBible, plug it into your car's power socket, and BAM Bible over your car's speakers! With Catholic Radio, Catholic CDs, and now the GoBible, my car can be a place of worship on wheels!

I cannot recommend this product enough! For a limited time (until January 3, 2014) GoBible and Carmel Communications have teamed up to offer my readers a 20% discount AND Free Shipping on all orders! Just enter the code SST20 at checkout. So if you are like me and love the Bible, you will want this product. If you are Catholic and wish you knew your Bible better, this is a product you need! So take me up on my New Year's challenge, pick up a GoBible, some rechargeable AAA batteries, and read your Bible everyday! You might love it so much that you read through the entire Bible in a year. What a feat that would be!

This product was provided to me for free by GoBible and Carmel Communications in exchange for an honest review.