Sunday 20 May 2012

Best way of Reading Bible


Introduction
The Bible is a collection of regional text of Judaism and Christianity. The English word Bible came from the Latin word Biblia and ultimately from Greek ‘the book’. The oldest surviving Bibles are the Greek manuscripts from the 4th century. The Bible was separated into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton who later became Roman Catholic Archbishop. In the 16th century, Robert Estienne, a French printer converted it into verses. The Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts. First, the five books on the teaching or law, comprising the origin of the Israelite nation, its laws and its covenant with the God of Israel. Second, the Prophets, containing the historic account of the ancient Israel. Third, the writing of poetic and philosophical works such as Psalms and the Book of Jobs.
During the three centuries following the establishment of Christianity in the 1st century, Church compiled Gospel accounts and letters of apostles into a Christian Bible which became known as the New Testament. The Christian Bible is separated into two fractions. The first is called the ‘Old Testament’ containing thirty nine books and the second portion is called the ‘New Testament’ containing twenty seven books. The Old and New Testament are commonly referred as ‘The Holy Bible’. The Bible is the best selling book with approximate sales estimated at a staggering 6 billion books.
People are confused about the large number of translated Bibles available. Some are Literal Translations which translate word by word and are very accurate though may be clumsy at times. Those following English, Dynamic Translation are the best as they translate concept by concept but are not as accurate as the Literal translation. For daily Bible reading Paraphrases are preferred as they have a smooth flow and put the Bible into contemporary concept.

How to Read The Bible

The Bible is its own finest teacher.  As the Bible is not arranged like an encyclopedia, hence you cannot get the sequence about God, Jesus, etc. We should remember while reading the Bible, the verses and chapter breaks, are placed in the scriptures by man.
Though it is advised to read the Bible, it has nothing to do with the pompous proclamation that ‘I read through the entire Bible this year’, as an alternative, it should be everything to do with knowing the speech of God and putting it into practice. The first way of thinking is marketing; the other is transforming.
There is no plan which can be depicted as the best way of reading the Bible as it depends on the individual how he/she wants to read the verses. Many recommend reading the Old Testament first and then the New Testament as New Testament is a follow up of the Old Testament. The reasoning behind it is that in the New Testament most of the people are Jews, and Old Testament teaches much about being a Jew, which helps in understanding, why the New Testament people say and do many of the things. As it takes about three to four months to finish reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, it is recommended to go through it the second time for better understanding.
There are many ways to study the Bible. The above method was just one of the recommendation of reading the Old Testament and New Testament thus giving a sequential understanding of the Bible. In more than 120 countries Bible reading has been made very simple by the Scripture Union; Pray; Read; Think and Pray. This particular technique is great for beginners; however, it can be geared in the direction of any level of learning. As we become more comfortable with Bible study, we start to develop our own modus operandi and discover favorite resources that will make our Bible study very personal and meaningful.
Pray    : Request God to unlock His Words for you.
Read   : Begin with the New Testament and read in sequence from Matthew to Revelation. Read about ten to fifteen verses or a chapter.
Think  : Feel about the subject you have read and raise some questions:
What does God say in the passage concerning the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit?
Does the passage educate some important belief about our life?
Are there any command to comply with, a caveat to pay attention to.
Does the passage recommend us to do in our daily situation?
Does it highlight on our professional life, personal life and church involvement?
Pray: Write down a wish to the God on the basis of what we have erudite from our Bible interpretation.
Starting Point while reading
We should start the Scriptures reading with the topic about Jesus, from the New Testament, particularly the gospels. A suggested guideline of reading the Bible is to finish, three to four chapters a day, which implies we can finish the Bible in a year’s time. It might take around three years to conclude if we read one section per day.
Go through the New Testament first, beginning with Matthew and going chapter by chapter until we arrive at the final section of Revelation. This will provide us an excellent idea about Jesus, Church and Christian livelihood. Then let’s go to the opening of Bible and read Exodus, Genesis and Deuteronomy which enlighten us about how things started and God’s order for formation, mankind and civilization. There are 150 Psalms. Read the Psalms in order from 1 to 50 and then take a break. Read Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Ezekiel, Amos, Haggai, Jeremiah, Jonah, Malachi, Lamentations, and Zechariah which should be of assistance in grasping the prophets. It is also suggested to go through the Wisdom Literature which contains Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, Ruth, 1& 2 Chronicles and 1& 2 Kings which will give an excellent grip of the past of Israel.
After this once more study of the New Testament from beginning to the end, followed by the next 50 Psalms. Then undertake the Old Testament ruling about Leviticus and Numbers. Finish it with some less famous books Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther, Obadiah, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, & Habakkuk. Draw to a close with last 50 Psalms.
Don’t just study God’s Word for the sake of studying. Be certain to put the Word into practice in your life. Jesus said, “But even more blessed are all who pay attention to the word of God and put it into practice.” Look also for “life application principles.” An example of a life application principle in the book of James is: “Make sure my faith is more than just a statement, it should result in action.” It’s an excellent practice to try and pull out these topics and relevance of our own as we contemplate, even prior to our beginning using other study tools. This gives a chance for God’s Word to speak personally to us. As we continue to do this type of verse by verse study, there’s no limit to the wealth of understanding and growth that will come from our time we spent in God’s Word.
Conclusion
The extensive history of the Bible beginning with Abraham to the chapter of Revelation covers around two thousand years. The manuscript of Bible provides mainly dependable, commanding insight into the personality and the will of God in addition to human nature. But the story those continue in the present and have yet to accomplish its conclusion. If biblical observer is right then the entire creations today still anticipate its ultimate emancipation. As the life is still not the way it should be and the anguish of naive people persists, we shall still wait for the advent of Jesus in the present to put together all things novel.
The Bible story progresses from a backyard to the backwoods to a conurbation. It moves from slavery in every kind of its forms, whether political or spiritual, to freedom in every kind of its forms. All the time, the progress has been wider or beyond, greater or deeper. Not all is established in the Bible story, but path shoots out through history. The Bible talk about all forms of sins and evil with their deadly consequences without self-control and it also asserts that they have already been dominated and will be totally destroyed or altered. As at the formation, so at the consummation, brightness will overcome darkness, and order will triumph over chaos.
Whatever time your voyage takes through God’s Word, it will be the best traveling you can ever take.  You will laugh and you will cry. It has everything that makes a very good book, and lots more but all true.  It can teach you the most important things in the life and the one to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...