Bible Reading

[Anthony]

How do you guys “read” the bible? Ive personally been drawn to Roman Catholic or Orthodox ways of reading, a prayerful meditation on the words im reading. The words not really being the “point”, but the place that reading puts you in, a feeling that God is close and present. Ive always found the Bible Study attitude to be spiritually dry and a worse to engage with scripture.

I asked ministry in my congregation and its generally an analytical frame, this is probably common across anabaptism.

[JohnH]

We have Sunday school books that have Bible references in the back, so I try to read those each day. It's only a few verses. I read it and think about it and perhaps consider if God is wanting to speak to me about something specific through those verses.

Sometimes I will just go read something else that I feel an interest in. Sometimes I like to read the Easter story and then the last chapter of Revelation, for example, as it brings me comfort.

I am also enjoying reading some of the apocryphal books and minor prophets as I haven't read them thru as much as the rest of the Bibe, but I have done so in essentially an analytical way, approaching it as literature.

[Swiss Brah]

Reading chronologically with my wife. Currently we do about half a chapter per day, consulting the faith life study Bible commentary and some other materials. I also try to focus on Divine Council language. We‘ve been in Isaiah for months now. I found going faster we glaze over many interesting things.

[Neto]

From time to time I start at Genesis and read straight through, sometimes taking notes regarding some specific topic (which I feel is a more honest way for me to do a topical study, to avoid doing word searches which might reveal more about what I am bringing to the Bible on my own, rather than letting the whole Scripture speak on this one topic).

I've also read through following a chronological guide - what many scholars regard as the order in which the different books were written. (But I do NOT ascribe to the theory of first mention, in which all subsequent passages on a given topic must be interpreted out of the first mention. For one thing, when I first heard this espoused as a method of interpretation, the person wasn't able to answer the question of whether one would follow the order in which the different books are presented in our common Bibles, or by the order of authorship, which is not really clearly known.)

Other times, often after having just completed a front to back read through, I just pick a book that I just happen to want to read again. Some months ago I came to the book of the Psalms, and decided to read the study notes for each Psalm first, then read that Psalm, before continuing on to the next. It took a long time to do that, but I learned things I never knew about some common characteristics of Hebrew Psalms.

Sometimes I read through very slowly, "camping out" on a single verse or short passage for several days, or even reading the same passage over and over, and concentrating on a single word or phrase each day.

(I have read through the Bible many times but never in one single year, except in Bible institute, where I took OT Survey the first semester, and NT Survey the 2nd semester.)

[JayP]

So I will put out something a bit controversial. I remember discussing the seven year cycle Rod & Staff use to cover the Bible in their Sunday School materials and saying it made no sense to me for it puts equal weight on all the Bible.

I think all the Bible has merit, but not equally in terms of our lessons. I am sure that might not sit right with some. But I think we are to pay more attention to the Gospels and NT than say some parts of the OT


AGAIN, IT IS ALLOF VALUE AND SHOULD ALL BE STUDIED AND READ. But I think ther Sermon on the Mount speaks more to us than passages about dietary restrictions.

Outlandish?

[temporal1]

i pray for the Holy Spirit to protect and bless, esp wrt anything-everything in scriptures, no matter which Bible, source or reference.
If i grasp anything, i credit the Holy Spirit .. ‘cause, for years in my young life i couldn’t understand anything. i “knew” or sensed there was something i wanted there. When i tried to read, nothing. i was confused. i didn’t know what to think.

Eventually, “the veil lifted”, suddenly, words had meaning.
This convinces me, understanding is a gift and blessing of the Spirit.
In His time. Then, i read about it. In scriptures! Quite an experience. Humbling.

This describes my experience pretty well:

The Scriptures: The Holy Spirit Enable Us to Understand
https://biblehub.com/topical/ttt/t/the_ ... rstand.htm

i don’t understand anything in full, i don’t expect to. Scriptures tell us we will understand in part, as we need to, not in full.
i’m satisfied with that.

John 16:12

12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. ..

Faith. Trust.

[barnhart]

So I will put out something a bit controversial. I remember discussing the seven year cycle Rod & Staff use to cover the Bible in their Sunday School materials and saying it made no sense to me for it puts equal weight on all the Bible.

I think all the Bible has merit, but not equally in terms of our lessons. I am sure that might not sit right with some. But I think we are to pay more attention to the Gospels and NT than say some parts of the OT


AGAIN, IT IS ALLOF VALUE AND SHOULD ALL BE STUDIED AND READ. But I think ther Sermon on the Mount speaks more to us than passages about dietary restrictions.

Outlandish?

It's not outlandish, and I agree. But at the same time when I read the Old Testament, I see Jesus everywhere. I see him foreshadowed in the cities of Refuge, in the rebuilding of the sheep gate, in the water from the rock, in the vision of God's presence passing between Abraham's animal carcasses so didn't have to, in the sacrificial ram that took Isaac's place on the altar, in the bronze snake on the pole, in the ark sheltering the faithful from judgement ect...

I have a friend who lead a Bible study with new believers who were native American. He was taken back by their enthusiasm to study Leviticus but in the end that proved to anchor their faith more effectively than anything he had in mind because it was the link between the religious customs they grew up with (ceremonies and offerings) and the fulfillment, Jesus.

[ken_sylvania]

So I will put out something a bit controversial. I remember discussing the seven year cycle Rod & Staff use to cover the Bible in their Sunday School materials and saying it made no sense to me for it puts equal weight on all the Bible.

I think all the Bible has merit, but not equally in terms of our lessons. I am sure that might not sit right with some. But I think we are to pay more attention to the Gospels and NT than say some parts of the OT


AGAIN, IT IS ALLOF VALUE AND SHOULD ALL BE STUDIED AND READ. But I think ther Sermon on the Mount speaks more to us than passages about dietary restrictions.

Outlandish?

Apparently a seven year cycle that puts equal weight on all the Bible didn't make sense to the R&S people either, considering that's not what they use.

[Neto]

So I will put out something a bit controversial. I remember discussing the seven year cycle Rod & Staff use to cover the Bible in their Sunday School materials and saying it made no sense to me for it puts equal weight on all the Bible.

I think all the Bible has merit, but not equally in terms of our lessons. I am sure that might not sit right with some. But I think we are to pay more attention to the Gospels and NT than say some parts of the OT


AGAIN, IT IS ALLOF VALUE AND SHOULD ALL BE STUDIED AND READ. But I think ther Sermon on the Mount speaks more to us than passages about dietary restrictions.

Outlandish?

It's not outlandish, and I agree. But at the same time when I read the Old Testament, I see Jesus everywhere. I see him foreshadowed in the cities of Refuge, in the rebuilding of the sheep gate, in the water from the rock, in the vision of God's presence passing between Abraham's animal carcasses so didn't have to, in the sacrificial ram that took Isaac's place on the altar, in the bronze snake on the pole, in the ark sheltering the faithful from judgement ect...

I have a friend who lead a Bible study with new believers who were native American. He was taken back by their enthusiasm to study Leviticus but in the end that proved to anchor their faith more effectively than anything he had in mind because it was the link between the religious customs they grew up with (ceremonies and offerings) and the fulfillment, Jesus.

I have mentioned this before, but one surprise I got while translating the book of James was in connection with his reference to 'the patience of Job'. The text says "You know about the patience of Job". Well, of course the Banawa man I was working with knew nothing at all about Job. At that time I said that someday I would tell him the story. Then I thought, What better time than now?, so I told him the 'entire story' off the top of my head. He was on the edge of his chair, literally. Realizing that a real connection had been forged between him and Job's story, I later did an abridged version of Job. I think that the element of the historical story of Job that touched a need in Sabatao's life and understanding of God was the explanation of how God allows some things to happen to teach and to guide us, and also (perhaps more importantly for the Banawa), to demonstrate 'in real time' the much greater power of God in comparison to all evil powers.

EDIT:
I will also point out that Jesus had a very high view of "the Law and the Prophets", and that is what He used to teach the two on the road to Emmaus about Himself. He could have just told it all from His own knowledge, as God Himself, but He used the Scriptures. Perhaps unsurprisingly, since it is the words of God.

[Swiss Brah]

You cannot fully appreciate the NT without a really ggod knowledge of the OT, and maybe some intertestamental second temple litterature.