BAD GIRLS OF THE BIBLE: kind of grabs your attention, does it not? "Bad girls" and "Bible" aren't really words that belong together in the same sentence When we think of the women of the Bible, we tend to think of Sarah, Rebekah, Esther, Deborah, or Miriam. Who in their right mind thinks of Michal or Potiphar's wife?

As an outspoken teenager with a lot of ambition and attitude, this book was quick to apprehend my regard. The cover features a woman wearing a veil and a lot of eye make-up with the title in bold, white letters. It's the kind of cover you want to laugh at, yet take very seriously, all at the same time.

Yes, you can judge a book by its cover. Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs is everything you would expect it to be: clever, funny, and uplifting. BGOTB focuses on ten of the women of the Bible who, well... screwed up big-time. Liz places each woman into a category: "Bad to the Bone" consisting of Potiphar's wife, Delilah, and Jezebel; "Bad for a Moment" consisting of Lot's wife, Sapphira, and Michal; and "Bad for a Season but Not Forever" consisting of the woman at the well, Rahab, and the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet. Eve, the mother of all bad girls, is placed in a category of her own.

Each chapter is kicked off with a modern-day, fictional re-telling of the bad girl's story. Liz's narratives are often quite creative and magnetic, though some of the women don't change very much. Rahab the prostitute from Jericho is now Rae the prostitute from the Bay Area. On the other hand, most of the narratives give the women big-time make-overs. Lot's wife, who became a pillar of salt in the Bible, is now Lottie from Spirit Lake next to Mount St. Helens. I think my personal favorite is the Well-Woman, who is now Crystal the bartender from "The Oasis." All of the narratives and the lessons you get from them are true to the essence of the biblical story. On the downside, some of them tend to drag a little bit, but for the most part, they get you into the story right away.

After the narrative, Liz goes into a verse-by-verse analysis of what the Bible tells us about each woman. This is the fun part, and I do mean fun! Liz's commentary is as much fun as a Five Iron Frenzy concert or an episode of Veggie Tales. Satire is one of the weapons here at Tekton, and in BGOTB, it's one of Liz's teaching tools. However, don't go thinking that this book is all nyuk-nyuk and no brains. It's a devotional, not an apologetic, but Liz has done her homework. She provides us with plenty of insight into the kind of cultures these women were dealing with, and it's all documented. Liz raises a lot of points that may open your mind. Did you ever think of just how abused and neglected Michal was? How David's "dancing for the Lord" was just a drop in the bucket for Michal compared to the rest of her life? I didn't either until I read this book. And while BGOTB isn't an apologetic, there are plenty of points Liz brings up that you may find useful apologetically. Did you know that the longest conversation found in the Scripture between Jesus and a person is His dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well? That she was, in all ways, a social reject, and Christ was going way out of His way to talk to her, to reach her? I don't know about you, but next time an atheist or feminist tries to tell me that my God is a misogynist one, I know what passage I plan to point out. ;-)

Drawing on her insightful commentary, Liz closes each chapter with some valuable lessons taken from the lives of these women and related scripture verses, and how we can apply them to our lives. Listen to what she has to say, because it just might make you fall in love with our God all over again. After all, He took a prostitute and made her one of the descendants in the lineage of His Son; what's He going to do for you?

"That's all nice, J.J., but I've never really done anything that bad. I'm no Rahab and I'm no Jezebel. Am I still gonna learn from this book?" Hey, I've never done anything "that bad" either. You don't have to knock off your next-door-neighbor to enjoy this book. Even if the worst thing you've ever done is earned a couple of overdue library book fines, you're still going to love learning about the Bad Girls of the Bible. And if you are a former bad girl, like Liz, struggling to find the strength to leave your past, Bad Girls of the Bible may just be the answer to your prayers.