Youth-oriented Protestant groups such as Youth for Christ and Young Life accepted it readily. The Living Bible was well received in many Evangelical circles. So I did, and read the chapter to the family that evening with exciting results-they knew the answers to all the questions I asked! Reception It suddenly occurred to me one afternoon that I should write out the reading for that evening thought by thought, rather than doing it on the spot during our devotional time. I would paraphrase it for them and give them the thought. All too often I would ask questions to be sure the children understood, and they would shrug their shoulders-they didn't know what the passage was talking about.

Our family devotions were tough going because of the difficulty we had understanding the King James Version, which we were then using, or the Revised Standard Version, which we used later. The children were one of the chief inspirations for producing the Living Bible. In a 1979 interview by Harold Myra in an issue of Christianity Today, Taylor explained the inspiration for preparing The Living Bible:

The living bible online text