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Site Owner/Operator
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| Ok, never have done much reading of the Bible although plenty of it has been read to me over the years. I did what appears to be the amatuer thing and started reading from the front cover and a friend suggested I quit that and start at John. Just wondering if there is a good way to read the Bible since apparently cover to cover isnt the way to go.
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Regular Joe
 
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(This is going to open a hail storm.)
As someone who just got a degree in Biblical Studies from the illustrious Cincinnati Christian University (formerly Cincinnati Bible College), I will submit a few suggestions from my lernins.
First thing: There are some assumptions that one has to make concerning how to read the Bible.
One, it was written a long time ago. This has many ramifications:
- The words used then might not mean what they mean today
- The customs of the people might not be/aren't what they are today
These three by themselves are huge. So when your reading something about meat, you might be thinking about a piece of beef, but they might not have been. One incidident by itself might not make a difference, but multiply it by thousands of historical and literary contextual differences and you can be reading and wonder why not a damn thing makes any sense.
Instead of starting with the Bible, I'd recommend looking at something to provide a little background on the situations. For instance, if you wanna read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and/or John, it would help to know about the Jews' relationship with the Romans (not that great) and why they didn't like tax collectors (they were viewed as collaborators, the same way that diehard Iraqi's would view anyone working with the US military).
Two names to research for your first assignment: Hillel and Shammei (boy I hope I spelled those right).
I lack people-skills.
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Trooper
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| My favorite version is the HOLY Bible. Jes kiddin. A parallel Bible with say King James (my personal favorite) next to a more modern translation or even a Living Bible is helpful. A Study Bible in parallel would give you cross references and foot notes. John is a good place to start but then I would suggest praying and asking for guidance. We are all different and God may very well tell you to do something different than He told me. I went from John to Daniel, but I was in a time of trial and it helped me a great deal. Seventy weeks have been decreed to make an end was the sort of help I needed. You may need something else. Forget the begats for now. Get a Bible study program for your computer. I have PC Study Bible and a bunch of add ons. I like that one but I believe there are some free ones. These help in cross referencing many books such as dictionaries and commentaries. I forgot one thing. While it is good to have the additional information that outside studies give you like those commentaries and dictionaries remember that they are the words of men and that the Bible is the Word of God. Don't elevate the words of men over the Words of God. Be more concerned about what God has to say than what some man had to say.
 The hippo is unpredictable and aggressive with old scars and fresh, deep wounds providing signs of daily fights that are accompanied by much bellowing, neighing and snorting.
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Green GI
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One page at a time. Just kidding.  Just read it. The more ya read the more you understand. The Bible is pretty cool in some places, sucks in others, and repeats itself many times. That book is a compilation of history by many authors.
C Co., 1st/75th Ranger, 80-81, RS 5-81Were you born worthless, or did you have to work at it?
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Site Owner/Operator
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| Had a pal of mine (and fellow paratrooper) over to the house yesterday looking at my computer, he is a deacon in his church and we talked about this, launched into about a 2 hour discussion on a wide range of topics. I think I'll just prop it open and see where it lands.
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Trooper
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Go to the Bible Bookstore and get one of those "Through The Bible In A Year Study Guides" and follow that.
The hippo is unpredictable and aggressive with old scars and fresh, deep wounds providing signs of daily fights that are accompanied by much bellowing, neighing and snorting.
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Recovering SkyDiver
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| I can make a couple of recommendations. Reading the Bible is not like reading Grisham or Clancy or Cussler. My preferred version is New American Standard (NASB) but everyone has their own flavor. I prefer a topical approach, that is read what topics apply to you and then use the reference column to find references to the versus or other like topics. A great place to start is by using the Nave's Topical index at Biblegateway.com: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/ By the way, BibleGateway.com is a great resource for searching the Bible for any verse and it is free. I highly recommend it for your study as it contains any translation if you wish to try some until you get the feel for your flavor, but nothing will replace holding God's word in your hand and dividing it yourself. An Example of a Topical Search using the online tool: Say you are dealing with issues of Anger. You go to the Topical Guide and type in Anger: It lists where the word is used. You see examples of God's Anger as well as different characters in the Bible. Moses: He was denied entrance into the promised land because he became angered with the people and he failed to follow God's instruction to 'touch the rock with his staff', instead he smote the rock out of anger. You will find an example where a donkey spoke! That is right. I had no clue, but an Angel of the Lord blocks the way of a donkey, the donkey traps Balaam's foot between a wall and himself in fear, Balaam can not see the Angel of the Lord. In anger he says to the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." The Donkey speaks back saying, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" In this way you can find ways to study God's word in the area's of things that are of daily importance to you in your life and find ways to apply the word. You can also use God's word not unlike a hyperlink, because as you search one topic, often you will find yourself onto a search of yet another. For example, Are there examples elsewhere where man and animals speak to each other? Well, I'll save you a search, no. But you get the idea. In my NASB I also use the columns to make notes to myself and I keep a topic index in the back with just verse listings by topic, so for example: Romans 14:11, Phil 2:10 is also the reference to Isaiah 45:23 or uplifting verse reference like 1 Cor 10:13 and Matt 19:26. I like the Psalms when I need uplifted and the Proverbs when I am feeling Philosophical. There are of course appropriate times of the year for reading certain passages, here is a feast calendar: http://biblia.com/jesusbible/leviticus5.htm It helps to understand that Jesus was a Jew and that early Christians were a celebrating people. Humans are by nature one who celebrate life. Use the associated versus's to understand the life of Jesus in the new Testament and the events going on in his life. Then, use your own knowledge of world events in the middle east to contrast the strife between the cultures now. It is eye opening and give you new revelation on your own faith. Lastly, I recommend the New Testament for Book Reading, because it is the basis of your faith and the old Testament for reference reading if you must choose priority. You should read ALL of the Bible, but put it in the perspective of the promise of God. You are living under the current promise delivered by the New Covenant. Read the old for perspective, but the new for hope and relevance.
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