Good Manga For Outreach

Are you one of those who tried to read the Bible and got lost/fall asleep/not-reading-type person? Or are you one of those envious types where people can quote and relate stories from the Bible as though it is from the tips of their fingers?

In all fairness, you should pray and ask the Holy Spirit to aid you in getting to know the Lord deeper. It is afterall a relationship. There are many books out there to recommend on how to read the Bible (weird right?) to gain insightful and deeper understanding. It is not a difficult book to read actually but...for manga and/or anime addicts like me, imagine reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as Acts in comic strip format! Wouldn't that be amazing?

As you should be well aware, Japan has a very very small Christian community. I once read somewhere once that during Christmas, a number of curious Japanese actually went to churches conducting evening masses to take pictures as though it is a museum!

Anyway, in one of those days where I sense there aren't many things of interest to me to read from Kino, MPH or Borders, I would make a beeline to my usual Christian bookstore, Canaanland in Damansara Perdana to try to look for "things of interest".

Imagine my surprise when I saw this!

Source: http://www.mangalife.com/reviews/MangaMessiah.htm

At first, I am skeptical because I thought it might just be one of those Western type manga wannabe drawings. Turns out to be quite authentic. The producers, NEXTmanga.com are actually based in Japan and employs japanese artists to draw it. Take for instance:

The one on the left is Peter and the other is Andrew

Source: http://www.mangalife.com/reviews/MangaMessiah.htm

Ever wonder what the scene was like when Jesus cleared the Temple which was treated like a den of thieves?

Source: http://www.mangalife.com/reviews/MangaMessiah.htm

The best part is, it is all in colour and the paper quality is very good. And to make sure I don't simple recommend misleading representation of the good book, I made sure I read it page by page...:P

To me, it is quite close to what you will find in the Bible. Also, the names are more Jewish than Greek. So, it will be Yeshuah rather than Jesus and like the 3rd picture above, remember I mentioned den of thieves? They call it market which is correct but it only potrays half the picture. So for the complete picture, it is best to read the original stuff...:) But visual aid is not entirely a bad thing either...:)

And since it is only RM20 per book (there are 5 in total with Manga Messiah and Manga Metamorphosis being sold by Canaanland presently), I decided to by 1 extra for the winner of this year's annual bible memory verse competition in my sunday school. I hope the winner will enjoy it as much as I did. Can't wait for the 3rd manga!