So. How does one read the Bible?
Nancy wrote: It's freakin' 1am but I have to write this thought before I forget (it's the one I was going to write next earlier hehe) : I always thought that you were supposed to read the Bible from beginning to end, and I haven't even opened mine yet because I'm terrified of not being able to finish it... so maybe the way you're reading it would help! Thanks for the suggestion!
Heh. You think 1 a.m. is bad? It's 3:49 a.m. here, and I'm blogging. Eh. It's hot. I kept having the same dream over and over (something about life being two dances - one that is an expression of our personality, one that was a rejoicing of the opportunity to live a Christian life. Sound poetic? It's not - not when the dance finishes and starts again and again and again in the dream.)
Anyway, definitely don't be afraid of not being able to finish the Bible. I still haven't finished all of the Old Testament - I thought that it wasn't relevant and that I couldn't understand it and whatnot, so I avoided it for years. It's only been recently that I've been reading it the way that I have.
I've always thought of reading the Bible like eating a box of very expensive chocolates: you don't gorge yourself; you eat one and savor it. The Bible's the same way; read a little bit and meditate on it. There are times, yes, when I read the Bible more like a book - reading it for breadth rather than depth, but, to be honest, that's pretty rare.
I thought maybe I'd explain the different books of the Bible, to maybe help you think about where you'll want to start. Please forgive me if I'm saying things you already know; I just thought the explanation might be useful for anyone who is considering reading the Bible.
Also, you might be interested to learn that Genesis wasn't the first book of the Bible to be written, even though it's the first book in there. I just learned in reading Searching for God Knows What that Job was actually the first book that Moses wrote.
Mike just got up. He's a crazy man. Who gets up before 4 a.m.? (I'm sure he's probably thinking the same thing about me, sitting here typing away.)
OK. I'm going to start with the New Testament. It starts off with the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), which are four of the disciples' accounts of Jesus' life. I think it's pretty neat to see which stories overlap to get a sense of the different perspectives.
The next book is Acts; this book describes the early church - the body of believers right after Christ returned to heaven after His resurrection.
This is followed by Romans, which was written by Paul. It's probably the most specific book describing the Christian faith. It's very blunt, while also being deeply philosophical. This is the book many Christians use to explain why they believe in their personal need for Jesus.
After Romans are the two letters to the people in Corinth: 1 and 2 Corinthians. These are long letters written by Paul, explaining different aspects of the faith that those people were struggling with, including things like marriage and spiritual gifts. Remember, the church was just establishing itself, so beyond the teachings of Christ Himself, there wasn't a clearly defined "Christian life" at this point.
This is followed by Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. These are also letters, written to Galatia, Ephesia, Philippia and Colossia (not sure if that last one is right). However, these letters are short, only 4-6 chapters long. I like these books a lot - in fact, in beginning to get back into reading the Bible for myself, this is where I started.
Then you have more letters, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, as well as two letters written by Paul to a young and inspired believer named Timothy. In 1 and 2 Timothy, you'll see more instructions to the church: the role a woman should have, what a deacon/elder's life should look like, etc. In reading these books, I think that there needs to be a degree of cultural interpretation. For instance, someone who reads the Bible as if *every* word must be followed in order to be obedient to God is often called "legalistic," because some of the instructions don't make sense in our time period.
This is followed by two more short letter, to Titus and Philemon. I don't have my Bible upstairs with me, so I can't think of how to explain these two right off the top of my head.
OK. Next is Hebrews, which is a neat but - in my opinion - somewhat technical book. Since it's written to the Hebrews, a lot of it is about the Jewish law and what has changed since the Messiah came. There's a lot of talk about the High Priest and whatnot. I think that this would be a challenging book to start with for someone not familiar with the Jewish faith.
Ooh. Next comes James, another letter. I like this one a lot. It's got a lot of wisdom and suggestions for life, like not letting your tongue control you, and things like that.
Next we have 1 and 2 Peter, which I just read recently. The girl that I'm mentoring from Hector's youth group is studying 1 Peter with me. I find these books to be really encouraging and challenging (not challenging to read - more of a challenge in how to live life).
This is followed by 1, 2 and 3 John. I finished rereading 1 John today and will start 2 John tomorrow. 1 John talks extensively about God's love for us, and that if we love God, we'll demonstrate that love by loving other people.
Finally, the New Testament concludes with Jude (a short book warning against corruption) and Revelation - a prophecy of the End Times. A lot of people, like my brother, are fascinated with Revelation. For many, it's the only book of the Bible that they've read. I find it a little fantastical for my taste, but I'll probably start rereading it within the next week or so, as I continue moving through the New Testament.
This site has really good explanations of the different books of the Bible, probably better than I could explain at 4 a.m. without a Bible in front of me.
I'm going back to bed. Tomorrow I'll try to explain some of the more "key" books of the Old Testament, ones that might be more useful to you as you begin reading the Bible. I have a busy day, though, so I may not get to it until Friday.
I really hope this makes sense. My eyes have been watering the whole time I've been typing, so I'm pretty tired and out of it.
Heh. You think 1 a.m. is bad? It's 3:49 a.m. here, and I'm blogging. Eh. It's hot. I kept having the same dream over and over (something about life being two dances - one that is an expression of our personality, one that was a rejoicing of the opportunity to live a Christian life. Sound poetic? It's not - not when the dance finishes and starts again and again and again in the dream.)
Anyway, definitely don't be afraid of not being able to finish the Bible. I still haven't finished all of the Old Testament - I thought that it wasn't relevant and that I couldn't understand it and whatnot, so I avoided it for years. It's only been recently that I've been reading it the way that I have.
I've always thought of reading the Bible like eating a box of very expensive chocolates: you don't gorge yourself; you eat one and savor it. The Bible's the same way; read a little bit and meditate on it. There are times, yes, when I read the Bible more like a book - reading it for breadth rather than depth, but, to be honest, that's pretty rare.
I thought maybe I'd explain the different books of the Bible, to maybe help you think about where you'll want to start. Please forgive me if I'm saying things you already know; I just thought the explanation might be useful for anyone who is considering reading the Bible.
Also, you might be interested to learn that Genesis wasn't the first book of the Bible to be written, even though it's the first book in there. I just learned in reading Searching for God Knows What that Job was actually the first book that Moses wrote.
Mike just got up. He's a crazy man. Who gets up before 4 a.m.? (I'm sure he's probably thinking the same thing about me, sitting here typing away.)
OK. I'm going to start with the New Testament. It starts off with the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), which are four of the disciples' accounts of Jesus' life. I think it's pretty neat to see which stories overlap to get a sense of the different perspectives.
The next book is Acts; this book describes the early church - the body of believers right after Christ returned to heaven after His resurrection.
This is followed by Romans, which was written by Paul. It's probably the most specific book describing the Christian faith. It's very blunt, while also being deeply philosophical. This is the book many Christians use to explain why they believe in their personal need for Jesus.
After Romans are the two letters to the people in Corinth: 1 and 2 Corinthians. These are long letters written by Paul, explaining different aspects of the faith that those people were struggling with, including things like marriage and spiritual gifts. Remember, the church was just establishing itself, so beyond the teachings of Christ Himself, there wasn't a clearly defined "Christian life" at this point.
This is followed by Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. These are also letters, written to Galatia, Ephesia, Philippia and Colossia (not sure if that last one is right). However, these letters are short, only 4-6 chapters long. I like these books a lot - in fact, in beginning to get back into reading the Bible for myself, this is where I started.
Then you have more letters, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, as well as two letters written by Paul to a young and inspired believer named Timothy. In 1 and 2 Timothy, you'll see more instructions to the church: the role a woman should have, what a deacon/elder's life should look like, etc. In reading these books, I think that there needs to be a degree of cultural interpretation. For instance, someone who reads the Bible as if *every* word must be followed in order to be obedient to God is often called "legalistic," because some of the instructions don't make sense in our time period.
This is followed by two more short letter, to Titus and Philemon. I don't have my Bible upstairs with me, so I can't think of how to explain these two right off the top of my head.
OK. Next is Hebrews, which is a neat but - in my opinion - somewhat technical book. Since it's written to the Hebrews, a lot of it is about the Jewish law and what has changed since the Messiah came. There's a lot of talk about the High Priest and whatnot. I think that this would be a challenging book to start with for someone not familiar with the Jewish faith.
Ooh. Next comes James, another letter. I like this one a lot. It's got a lot of wisdom and suggestions for life, like not letting your tongue control you, and things like that.
Next we have 1 and 2 Peter, which I just read recently. The girl that I'm mentoring from Hector's youth group is studying 1 Peter with me. I find these books to be really encouraging and challenging (not challenging to read - more of a challenge in how to live life).
This is followed by 1, 2 and 3 John. I finished rereading 1 John today and will start 2 John tomorrow. 1 John talks extensively about God's love for us, and that if we love God, we'll demonstrate that love by loving other people.
Finally, the New Testament concludes with Jude (a short book warning against corruption) and Revelation - a prophecy of the End Times. A lot of people, like my brother, are fascinated with Revelation. For many, it's the only book of the Bible that they've read. I find it a little fantastical for my taste, but I'll probably start rereading it within the next week or so, as I continue moving through the New Testament.
This site has really good explanations of the different books of the Bible, probably better than I could explain at 4 a.m. without a Bible in front of me.
I'm going back to bed. Tomorrow I'll try to explain some of the more "key" books of the Old Testament, ones that might be more useful to you as you begin reading the Bible. I have a busy day, though, so I may not get to it until Friday.
I really hope this makes sense. My eyes have been watering the whole time I've been typing, so I'm pretty tired and out of it.
posted by Heather at 3:52 AM
3 Comments:
Heather, Thanks so much for taking the time to teach me all this stuff that has been confusing me for many years. I feel guilty of never going out of my way to properly research for these answers myself instead of hoping for the answers to fall on my lap. But I really think that everythign happens for a reason and I think that maybe I wasn't really ready then.
I have bought myself a Bible and "The Bible for dummies" LOL Just the buying of the Bible had me confused for years! hehe I didn't know which version to get, because I didn't even understand what the Bible was or why there were so many versions. (I kind of got some explanations of the different Bible versions, but it still confuses me.) I'm the type of person who doesn't always trust something unless I've seen it (in french we have an expression : being like St-Thomas) or unless someone I trust has shared their experience. But when I asked my friends about the different versions of the Bible, them being different denominations of the Christian church recomended me different versions. (Apparently one version excludes some books that they don't recognize as ... I don't know, as valid of the rest, I think Catholics are the ones who include the books? so confused hehe) Anyways, I settled on the NIV Bible just because I went to read quite a bit on www.biblegateway.com (the whole bible is there, different versions, you can hear it too, and it's searchable, so I just thought I'd mention it for when you're looking for those references hehe) Anyways, I settled for the NIV because for me it was the easiest to read and understand. At first I thought I would find a french NIV Bible, and I couldn't find one and when I finally did, I realized that the english version was much easier to read and understand for me :-s I don't know if I'm either losing my french, or if the french used in the Bible is 'old'er french. But I guess I should read more books in french. The reason I always read in english is because I really prefer to read the book written in it's original language, as opposed to the author's translated words that can lose some meanins. Unfortunately I guess I'll have to settle for the Bible in english because I don't think I could read it in it's original language anytime soon hehehe
Holy long paragraph Batman! I nearly gave myself a panic attack! LOL kiding :)
Got another question for you, but feel free to ignore it until your grad class is finished :)
Where do you see a "woman's place" in the church? What's a woman's role in the grand context of christianity and the church? Are men leaders and women supporters? Or do you think women should step forward more and take on leading roles in the community (which is still very much male dominated)? And what about a woman's role in a relationship? Are the two partners equals are do you believe that the man should be the head of the family?
I'm asking because of some discussions I've had lately and a while back with friends, some who are very devout christians and some who are not at all :-) I'd be interested to read your take on it.
Post a Comment
<< Home