MrsDrPoe: 2012 Challenge

It's the last Theology Thursday of 2011!  Once again, I'd like to encourage you all to join me with adopting a book and reading through the Bible in a year in 2012.

"How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.  Blessed are You, O LORD!  Teach me Your statutes.  With my lips I have declared all the judgements of Your mouth.  I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.  I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word." - Psalm 119 9-16

MrsDrPoe: The Importance of Context

Another Theology Thursday is upon us, and as always I invite you to open up your Bibles as we look at a portion of God's word. 

Several weeks ago I heard a parable about a man who attempted to have God speak to him by opening the Bible to random passages of scripture.  He first turned to a passage that said "Judas hanged himself."  Then he turned to one that said, "Go and do likewise," and the final passage he examined read, "What you must do, do quickly."  I was again reminded of this story while reading the account of Jesus' temptation in Matt 4:5-7:

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you.' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

As we discover from the man in the story and from Satan's antics, taking random whole or partial verses from the Bible and piecing them together can cause us to 'see' false commands of God.  Jesus points out in the passage above that the whole of the scriptures must be taken into account when determining the meaning of any one verse; thus, context is crucial!

Think about the Old Testament phrase, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."  Just about everyone is familiar with that phrase, and it is often used in our culture to justify vigilantes.  We can pick out verses in Ex 21:24, Lev 24:20, and Deut 19:21 that contain this phrase, so we can affirm that it is 'scriptural.'  If we further examine the context in Deut 19:15-21 however, we can see that if a man poked out another man's eye, the first man would by law loose an eye...but only AFTER two or three witnesses of the incident had presented their testimony to the priests and judges and they had determined that the witnesses were telling the truth.  Regardless of whether or not we are subject to the OT laws, this verse is so often misused because we fail to examine it in context.

In Mark 1:38 Jesus tells the disciples, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  This point- that Jesus came to teach and preach- should dictate our actions.  If we consider ourselves to be followers of Christ, and we are not reading, learning, and examining His teachings, we're fooling ourselves.  But in order to know the truth that He presents in the scriptures, we cannot pick out random verses; instead, we must read the Bible in its entirety...we must read verses in context to gain full understanding of the teaching of Jesus!

No matter our age, walk of life, etc., Christians should be a people who engulf themselves in God's word.  I hope that you see the importance of context and that you will choose to join us in reading your Bible daily today! (annual schedules, 90 day schedules)

MrsDrPoe: Reading the Bible in a Year

Another Theology Thursday is upon us!  A few weeks ago, I challenged you (and myself) to adopt a Bible book.  As I shared, my plan of attack is to read the gospels several times and then pick one to adopt.  A brief update on my own headway in this challenge: I've decided to attempt to read all four gospels once a week from October - December; then I will make my choice and read my adopted gospel once a week during 2012.  I suggested when I first presented the challenge that we couple this weekly reading with the reading of commentaries, etc. on our chosen book AND with the reading through of the Bible in a year.  Today I'd like to share with you a few example schedules for reading the Bible in an entire year, in hopes that, even if you choose not to adopt a book at this time, you'll find the task of reading all of God's word in a relatively short amount of time a bit less daunting.

The Full-Speed-Ahead Approach

This approach to reading the Bible in a year is the simplest by far:

All you do is read straight through the Bible, 3-4 chapters a day if you want to read 7 days of the week OR 4-5 chapters a day if you want to read 5 days of the week.  Only one bookmark is required.

The Little-Bit-of-Everything Approach

This approach is an extension of the Summer Bible Reading Challenge chart I borrowed from Mr. Ellis:

Using this plan, you will read a little from the Law/History, Wisdom/Prophets, and the New Testament each week.  The average number of chapters you read each day are the same as with the first approach; however, reading from different sections of the Bible may help you 1) focus more on what you're reading and 2) make more connections between different Bible books.

The Legacy-Reading Approach

This approach was actually developed by Hank Hanegraaff in order to encourage daily Bible reading:

 

The title of the program is actually an acronym for Hanegraaff's Bible reading suggestions:

Location - reading in a private, quiet place

Essence - comprehension of God's communication by reading whole books

Genre - better understanding through realization of types of literature

Author - grouping books written by the same person

Context - grouping books next to related books (Rev next to OT prophecy, etc.)

Year - reading once a year, every year, for the rest of your life

Using this plan you'll read 3 or 5 chapters per day depending on whether you're reading 7 or 5 days a week, respectively, in addition to 3 Psalms/week (you'll read this book once per year) and 1 chapter of Proverbs/day (you'll read this book 12 times per year).


Personally, I think I'll try the third approach in 2012; it looks interesting, and it's a method I haven't tried before.  Whether you use one of these schedules or not, I hope that this challenge helps inspire you to become a daily Bible reader!  

As another form of encouragement, feel free to comment about your progress and/or struggles.  I'll do the same periodically, and together we'll hold ourselves accountable.  Sound like a plan? 

MrsDrPoe: Bible Adoption Challenge

Happy Theology Thursday to all! School beginning and summer quickly coming to a close means that the Summer Bible Reading Challenge is almost over as well. How did you do? I hope you were all able to keep up with the reading schedule you picked for yourselves and that going through whatever plan you chose helped you grow spiritually in both your personal study and your study with others!

Since we're now in the habit of reading a portion of God's word daily (whether we were before or not), I propose another challenge: adoption of a Bible book. This idea is not my own; our friend, Mr. Holley, has been suggesting it to serious Bible students for years. In fact, Mr. Holley suggests the eventual adoption of multiple books (one from the OT and one from the NT, to start).

The process of adoption is relatively simple- you choose a book that you wish to adopt, read that book as much as possible (at least once a week), and simultaneously collect and read other books (commentaries, etc.) on your book. By the end of a year, you will have read your adopted book at least 52 times and added several reference books to your theological library. Another suggested "tool" for better understanding your book is to find someone else who has studied your book a lot; this person can help answer your questions, provoke new lines of thought, and suggest materials and references that will help you in your study. It also helps to start a reading-the-Bible-through-in-a-year program while you're "camped out" in your adopted book. This way you'll make connections with your book and the rest of the Bible and vice versa...it's like using the Bible as a commentary on itself!

Perhaps one of the best places to start is to try to adopt one of the gospels (although you may wish to read through all four multiple times before settling on one- you may set a goal of having a book chosen by Jan 1 and then spending a whole calendar year on it). Mr. Holley's book is Luke; Mr. Ellis' book is Mark; Mr. Poe has also adopted Mark. One benefit to starting with a gospel is that improved study of these books will automatically provide you with a method for sharing the story of Jesus. It's amazing how many questions can be answered from camping out in a gospel, taking the passages in context of the whole book instead of just a paragraph.

On a personal note: for the past few months I've been trying to decide on a gospel that I wanted to be "my" book...I'm currently studying Mark and Luke, but I also really like the idea of starting at the beginning with Matthew, and Mr. Holley suggested John because it bridges Matt and Mark with Luke. I plan to read through them all again before I make my decision...I'll let you know how that goes.

If you'd prefer to start elsewhere, that's cool too- the same procedure is used. The goal of course is to continue to adopt books, spending a year (or two) on in-depth study in each one, slowly building your Bible knowledge, faith, and relationship with Christ, brothers and sisters, and the lost. Just think of how many books you could immerse yourself in in a lifetime! I guess I'm not just challenging you (and myself) to a program for the upcoming year, but for all the years to come...are you up for it?

MrsDrPoe: Summer Bible Reading Challenge

I'd like to start this Theology Thursday off with a challenge that was presented to us by a friend of ours, Mr. Ellis (more on him later). Daily Bible reading is very important to our faith as Christians...after all, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" Rom 10:17. In an effort to help us to develop this habit, here are three different challenges:

The Gospels Challenge - by just reading a single chapter a day, you can read through all four gospels this summer. Here is a chart to help you track your progress*:


The New Testament Challenge - by reading three chapters a day, you can read the entire New Testament this summer. Here is the progress chart for this challenge*:


The Whole Bible Challenge - by reading thirteen chapters a day (on average), you can read through the entire Bible this summer! Here is the chart to help you keep up with your progress*:


*Click on the charts to enlarge them. The last one in particular is difficult to read as-is.

Mr. Ellis encourages readers to find three things in every day's reading: something new, your favorite part, and a practical application. He also suggests that readers journal, underline, and/or highlight as we read.

The thought is that each of us should choose a plan that challenges us without overwhelming us. If you're just starting to read your Bible daily, choose the first plan; if you're already reading daily, challenge yourself by increasing the amount you read through the second or third plans. I hope that this challenge can help encourage and strengthen you this summer!