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Born to Die
by Chuck Bagby, BurningHeartBibleStudies.com, © 2014,
229 pages, $10.99 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-0-9911520-0-1
Have you ever wondered what happened during the first 30 years of the life of Jesus? The Bible is very silent about that period of time, and yet much is known from secular history and from secular writers that lived during that period. What Dr. Bagby has done is to research these writings, and build a good background of what the New Testament does reveal.
The book is broken down into ten chapters that deal with the role of Christ, the ancestors of Jesus (good and bad), the birth of Jesus, The role of the Magi, the trip into Egypt and back, the role of John the Baptist, and the background of the Pharisees and Sadducees and how Jesus addressed their challenges. There are eight additions to the book including a glossary, a discussion of 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, translation and pronunciation helps, and references and autobiographical material.
This book is well written, easy to read, and very informative. Scholars and Christians I respect have endorsed the accuracy of Bagby's writings, and there are numerous black and white pictures and charts and diagrams that would be useful for teachers and preachers. It also answers some of the challenges that atheists and skeptics give to the accuracy of the Bible. We recommend this book highly.