It’s a sign.
One might even say someone’s trying to send you a message. 
groan Not again!
Aaak. 667! The Person Across the Hall from the Beast!
Seriously, Hastur and Quadop have it right. If this is the first time mom has done this, I doubt she meant it in any way but a loving one.
Classically, there’s the infamous ‘present intended to offend’ (a fur coat for a strident PETA member, a membership in Handguns Control, Inc. to an NRA type) but this doesn’t sound like that to me.
Tell her nicely that you appreciate the spirit of the gift, but you feel like she’s pushing her beliefs on you. Hastur’s especially right about dealing with it now while it’s a minor annoyance rather than later, when it’s a major family-shattering thing.
Fenris
I asked my SO what she thought, and she suggested that your mom may have been influenced by others, especially if she is enthusiastic about her faith and “found religion” somewhat recently. She said a big hint is the fact that it’s a “dumbed down” translation.
Sometimes, well-meaning church members helpfully suggest to their fellows “oh, your boy just needs to see the word in a more contemporary context.” Someone may have suggested that a modern, “more hip” translation might be something you could relate to.
So she bought a modern translation (as it was probably recommended for her to do) and took the effort of making sure it was an expensive, good quality book (as far as the binding goes). Clearly, she meant well, but still there’s something disappointing about parent sending such a gift, because it implies that she isn’t listening to you. Gifts should be bought with the recipient in mind – it seems she tried to give you something you could both appreciate – something that would generate discussion (and indeed it has on the SDMB).
Rather than think you’re shallow, she probably thought “this is meaningful.” She probably left the price tag on so you wouldn’t dismiss it at first sight.
Anecdote:
My mom bought me a ceramic doll a couple years ago. The expensive, “collectors edition” kind. I’ve always one of those girls who hated dolls. Always. Hate them. But a couple years ago, she found this nice, expensive, collector’s item.
Now I live a rather bohemian lifestyle. I like fine things. Not dolls, but fine things that appreciate in value. So she thought “well, it’s a ‘limited edition’…” and thought she’d give it a try, sort of a gamble.
When I opened the box, the first thing I thought was “what the hell was she thinking???” She let me know that it was expensive and a collector’s item (translation: “please don’t hate it”.)
My mom re-gifted it herself, last year. She called me up and said “you don’t like that thing, right?.. 'Cause I know someone whose daughter would really like it.”
I’m guessing that your mom took a similar gamble and tried to give you a “meaningful gift” that you would like (if only for the binding.)
I wouldn’t take it as a comment on you or your beliefs. She took a little gamble.
$80?
“Uh… Mom? Thanks, but it turns out I’ve already got one. Did you keep the receipt by any chance?” 
You think that’s bad, try telling your Charlie Church dad he can’t pray in your house, like I did.
No I didn’t really, but I did email him before the family came for Xmas dinner to my place that there would be no coerced grace rituals where everyone is made to sit around the table holding hands while he invokes the Fetal Jesus (on Xmas Eve) or the B.J. (on Xmas day). He outwardly accepted my prohibition but inwardly was pissed.
I did make it clear when he got to town that I didn’t care if he and Mom wanted to fold their hands and speak a prayer at my table but that I didn’t want to be dragged into it. Which he appreciated, and we actually made it through the entire visit without fighting about religion or any sniping barbs from Mom as in previous years.
Instead we fought about what time the movie starts and whether little black kids study as hard as little white kids.
I agree that one should be very careful about how you react to gifts from Mom.
A few years ago, my mom decided to get me something that apparently everyone in the world wanted but me: a video copy of Titanic. When I opened it, I couldn’t help it: I laughed. The look of hurt on her face was so bad, it still haunts me years later. I felt like total, utter, walking shit and spent hours trying to apologize, but the damage had been done and she said something to the effect of “Well I’m sorry for getting you something that I thought you would like.”
(a side note. I kept the video, and discovered something very cool about it. It was in two parts: the first part was all crappy love story, the second was all death and destruction. I watched the second video time and time again, but I don’t think I ever took the first one out of its box )
Tell her it was a very sweet thought, donate it, and if she asks if you’ve read it/how you feel about it/how your conversion’s going, etc., just say “Mom, we’ve discussed this before and you know how I feel about all that.”
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It’s meant as a gift from your Mom. Could possibly be the last one you ever get. I’d keep it for sentimental reasons even if it was stored in the attic. If it was my Mom and I got rid of it she would be hurt. Although it is now your property and you’re completely within your rights to do with it as you see fit.
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Many times people give these types of gifts without any particular meaning. It’s something highly esteemed by them and they see it as a tremendous gift. Yes, it happens in our culture close to home as well.
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If it were evangelical in nature it could simply be the result of a recent revival at her church. Everybody’s doing it.
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I would hesitate to make light of the situation. Regardless of your religious differences you all may have a heartfelt discussion in your future. Perhaps many! It could be your Mom’s way of expression an emotion that she finds it hard to articulate. A gesture.
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Don’t take it personally. Don’t be ashamed if you do.
If you are right and this signals a slight shift in your mother’s attitude I would suspect that the price tag was left on so you wouldn’t toss/give the book away. Not to get paranoid on you 
“See, now that would have actually been a pretty good gift for me. I love old books too (another thing my Mom knows about me; I worked in a used bookstore for five years while I was in college, after all). That sort of thing would at least look good on a shelf, and would pique my interest”
That’s what you should tell your mom when she asks about the gift. Say “Thanks mom, but really I like the historical aspects of the bible most so the next bible you send me make it in the original Greek (or something)”->(I do suspect their will be more bibles in your future)
Good luck, I know where you’re coming from.
I’m sure that you’re right. I took a similar gamble on my gifts for her… she’s recently discovered that she enjoys writing, and has been writing columns for a local paper as well as helping work on some scripts for religious plays. I took a long shot and got her Stephen King’s On Writing, along with the style guide he recommends in that book, in the hopes that she’d get something out of both. She’s not much of a Stephen King fan, but I am, and I found On Writing a worthy book for anyone interested in writing, both as craft and as art. So far, so good… she seems to have liked it. But it was a gamble nonetheless.
My wife (always observant… she knows me better than I know myself, sometimes) pointed out last night that I am not considering the possibility that my mother just doesn’t know my tastes that well anymore. She hasn’t seen me for some time (every time we make plans to get together something interferes… last time it was my stepfather leaving his job of 20 years), and though we communicate via e-mail, phone, and snail mail, there are certainly barriers there to her knowing what I might like these days, just as there are some that prevent me from knowing what she might like. This furthers Eats_Crayons’ idea about the gamble. In my case, it seems to have paid off, but for her gift, she may have just missed the mark. For all I know, so did I.
Also, your reasons for the modern translation are probably about right. Though I find the idea that I’d prefer the “hip” translation more accessible kind of funny, as I’m decidedly old-fashioned in many ways, I’m sure she didn’t know that… my wife even suggested that this version is the translation my mother’s church is using, a distinct possibility.
Fenris, I’m quite sure that you’re right too. I know that she intended her gift in a loving way, and that she wouldn’t intentionally try to offend me like that.
Yeah, good point. Though my mom’s pretty healthy, and nobody expects her to go anytime soon, one never knows. Guilt, guilt, guilt.
Thanks.
It seems to me, after all the excellent comments and good advice I’ve been getting here and at home, that I’m probably taking some aspects of this way too personally. The Bible may not be what I wanted, but it was intended with love, I’m sure. That it’s not something to my tastes probably speaks more to the fact that my mother and I haven’t spent much time together recently than anything.
It also seems that a discussion of some sort is in order, but I’m not yet sure how to venture into that territory. Meanwhile, there’s an e-mail sitting in my in-box this morning from her, detailing what they thought of the gifts I sent for them. It’s a good opening for me (though she did not ask me directly about the gifts she sent us), but if I’m to start this discussion, I really don’t want to do it via e-mail. Guilt, guilt, guilt…
Many thanks for all who’ve commented here. Between you all and my wife, I’ve gotten some great advice. It’s helped a lot, and this little “sour note” isn’t bothering me so much.
Oh, and Otto…
wince Ouch… I know how that stuff can go. Reminds me of the year my wife and her sister both suggested to the rest of my in-laws (in what I felt were very reasonable terms) that the consumption of alcohol at the next family gathering be kept to a minimum. The response was… predictable, but should really be the subject of a different rant (one with much more cussing). Just let it be said that I know where you’re coming from…
I don’t know about Jesus, but that’s what Miss Manners would do. Follow her lead. God may be vengeful, but you simply do not fuck with Miss Manners.
I’m glad to hear this update, Otto. Pretty classy of you, if you ask me.
sigh Well, one battle at a time, I guess.
laughs True enough. Thanks for the laugh. That may just become my new motto.
It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under… Now THAT would make an interesting Bible.
The gift itself is not the real issue is it? Your mother no doubt thought that giving you a Bible would not only " help you see the light" but would also make her very happy. In fact the gift was probably as much for her benefit as yours. No doubt she got some happiness out of feeling that she gave her son something that she thought he needed. Let one of your gifts to her be that you will not rain on her parade. Just be gracious, and besides it will give you another funny story to tell whenever the conversation turns to Christmas gifts or Mothers.
Yeah… the presence of The Message in our home has started a strange, but sort of funny, habit. My wife last night asked “Where’s the Bible?” wondering if the baby had gotten to it. I responded “It’s safe.”
We both looked at each other and started giggling. She said “Is it secret? Is it safe?” (A joke for Lord of the Rings geeks like us.)
We may just keep it around for the comedic value.
I don’t understand why you would consider donating the book to a church. Wouldn’t that be supporting and helping to spread a belief system that you don’t support? If you sent your mom some of LeVey’s works, do you think she’d donate them to the Church of Satan?
Because I still respect the faith, even if I don’t support it directly, and I believe it’s important to do good when I can. Giving the Bible to a local church might do them more good than it would do me, so it strikes me as a good possibility.
Just out of the spirit of general goodwill, I suppose.
My mom? She just might. However, even if she didn’t, even if she threw them straight into the fireplace, that’s not really the point, is it? I can’t control her actions, only mine.
Eh, I guess. You’ve got a much more level-headed outlook than I do. I’ll give you that. I’d chuck the damn thing in the trash without a second thought.