'Unboxing' the Deluxe Scofield Reference Edition King James Bible
Unboxing videos have become a fad, with millions viewing videos of an "average joe" opening and removing a new and popular electronic gadget from it's box, peeling back the wrapping, examining and listing all the included components and then trying it out. What's the attraction? Maybe it's seeing something the viewer would never be able to afford. Maybe it's like Christmas morning. The fad has been called a tech striptease, or "porn for nerds."
There are even unboxing videos for Bibles. Here's a transcript of our "unboxing" meister Samuel Snardsfokken, a part-time Lutheran youth pastor in Eau Claire, Wis., unboxing a new Deluxe Scofield Reference Edition King James Bible.
TRANSCRIPT: "The first thing we notice is the compactness of the Amazon Prime box that contains our brand new Scofield Reference Edition King James Bible. The Amazon logo is prominently displayed, and the cardboard is sleek, almost like the feel of human skin to the touch.
"Shaking the box, I sense no movement, so the packaging seems to be of the highest quality. This Bible is well protected, and should be undamaged.
"Let's take a look…
"I'm taking my pen knife and carefully slicing through the tape around the box perimeter, allowing me to slip the tabs from each side and pull up on the cover in one simple movement. Inside, the outer wrapping of the Bible is merely a thin, white gauzy material, obviously meant to absorb any bumps or shocks along the way.
"With only less than a millimeter of space between the box and the Bible itself, there is barely enough room to remove the Bible and set it to one side.
"Underneath is an instruction booklet. Let's open it up…
"It's a guide, showing how to get this spiritual classic booted up and working for us. Besides a list of included components in English, Spanish, French, Korean and Russian, the booklet warns not to place it near an open flame or immerse it in water.
"The cover of the Bible we ordered is a rich dark brown faux goatskin, not often available. It is reminiscent of an antique leather-bound Bible, complete with elevated spine ribbing and gold foil. As I pick the Bible up, I can already sense that new-Bible smell - a faint vanilla scent from a combination of the odors released by the paper, binding adhesive, and printing ink used. Also, I detect a hint of the hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent, and alkyl ketene dimer, which makes the Bible cover water resistant.
"I see there is topstitching along the edges of the flexcover, which ensures durability, and gilt-edged pages that add a subtle elegance to this classic design.
"The only moving part in this Bible is the green satin ribbon that acts as a place holder. It can be manually moved to mark the section where you leave off reading, or to mark a significant passage you want to return to. As far as I can tell, it works flawlessly.
"I personally like to use my lucky $2 bill as a place holder, but that's just me.
"This edition includes black thumb-indexing tabs to help the reader navigate the different books. Perfect for Baptist Bible drill competitions.
"Now let's take this Bible for a spin and see how it performs!
"Opening to the Gospel of Luke, I see that Jesus' words appear to be all in red. [This edition also prints verses that most of us would like to forget in a faint, almost invisible light blue, so they are easy to ignore or skip over].
"The Scofield notes are distributed along the inner column and in footnotes below on each page. This 'new' edition corrects many of the Scofield references, and eliminates and expands on some of his more outlandish doctrines.
"The Index gives a complete list of all 66 Bible books (minus the Apocrypha, however). The Bible Atlas in the back contains a colorful variety of Bible places. The concordance at first glance seems to be adequate, containing bunches of Bible terms and a lot of funny, foreign-sounding names.
"This edition also includes a nice genealogical table attached in the back, where you can trace your family's lineage all the way back to Adam.
"One feature I dislike are the thin pages, made with what's called "scritta paper" - which supposedly contains cotton or linen fibers to increase its strength. Thin pages allow the Bible to be opened up entirely without damaging the spine. But it's still difficult to flip from page to page, and could make it easy to tear when pushing this Bible to its performance limits.”
Features We'd Like to See: Take a suggestion from the Patriot Bible and include the Pledge of Allegiance, plus some other American founding documents, as well as the Republican Party 2024 platform.
NEXT WEEK: Ajay Kumar will unbox the Deluxe Annotated Pocket Edition of the Bhagavad Gita.