Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Bible reading
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
Here are some questions for you.
Do you read from the Bible at all?
Do you read from it daily?
Do you read from it weekly?
Do you read from it primarily when you want to look something up?
Do you read it in sequence or out of order?
Are there passages you know by heart?
Do you find a lot of antique cultural and historical references you don't understand perfectly?
Have you ever read all of the Bible?
Do you ever read some of it aloud?
Do you tend to read books about the Bible rather than look at the Bible itself?
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Og, King of Bashan
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# 9562
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by HCH:
Are there passages you know by heart?
A lot of them, although most I knew as lines from the Book of Common Prayer, something I sang in choir, or something I heard in a reggae song long before I identified them as a specific line from the Bible.
Most of my Bible reading is driven by the revised common lectionary. I will usually read the weekly readings a few days ahead of time, so that I can reflect before Sunday mass.
I did set out to read the prophets about a year ago, and made it all the way through Isaiah and a few chapters of Jeremiah before just stopping for no particular reason. I'm glad I did it, though. I was able to identify a few texts that I only knew from choir (The Song of Hezekiah, particularly, which we sing at Tenebre,) and the nativity narrative in Matthew makes a whole lot more sense when you have read Isaiah all the way through.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
Yes, I read daily. I use Bible study notes which give me a commentary on a passage daily and also give me a study plan to read chapters of both the Old Testament and the New Testament daily, so as to read the whole Bible in a year. Darllenwr and I were challenged to do this nearly 20 years ago, and it is part of our daily routine. It's amazing how when you read prayerfully, verses "jump out" as if you're reading them for the first time. It's not always an easy discipline, when you're ploughing your way through the descriptions of the dimensions of the tabernacle and its furnishings, for instance.
-------------------- "I say - are you a matelot?" "Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here" From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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balaam
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/4543.jpg) Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by HCH: Here are some questions for you.
Do you read it in sequence or out of order?
There's a sequence?
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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nickel
Shipmate
# 8363
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Posted
I've dipped here and there over the years, but never made it all the way through. Just last month, however, I started reading a big thick book entitled "Biblical Literacy", by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. It's marvelous -- he goes through each of what I call the Old Testament books (duh, I guess), giving both an overview of the "action" and some insights into what can be learned, both plainly through the language and indirectly, through thinking about the circumstances of the writing. It's given me more confidence to pick up and read a particular book now that I know what to look for. At my rate, I'll probably take another two or three months to finish "Biblical Literacy." After, I'll look for a similar overview of the New Testament - probably not as thick!
Ultimately I'll probably go back to dipping in, here or there -- but with more context, more of a clue what book or section might possibly address what is on my mind.
Posts: 547 | From: Virginia USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
I sometimes wish I could read the Bible in a more 'serious' manner, like a 'serious' Christian, but I've never found church Bible study groups very interesting, and I often give up with Bible study notes.
I've found that the easiest way for me to do it to simply to go from beginning to end, which I've done a few times. When you do that at least you feel you've achieved something! Just 'studying' a few verses here and there, plucking out the same themes you've heard in 1000s of sermons, feels inconsequential to me. (And these study notes and groups do always seem to focus on the same verses or books of the Bible.)
What I seem to be saying is that I appreciate the Bible as a very long story, rather than as a collection of themes. It's almost as if I'm reading it like a novel, looking for characters and situations that I relate to, trying to imagine myself living under those ancient conditions, facing miracles, etc, considering the differences between faith and life today and in the past. I'd like a Bible study course that approached the text this way, although I realise it's not terribly theological.
Anyway, I read my Bible (currently the Revised Standard Version) several times a week, but not every day.
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Arlie
Apprentice
# 18710
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Posted
My friend recommended me this site (link deleted) I hope you will find here what you are looking for [ 25. January 2017, 14:42: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Madame and I use the RCL and read each day to each other. Then stop and think and perhaps talk. That has always been a great feature of staying down the coast, reading, then going on a long beach walk together late in the afternoon, and talking.
-------------------- Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
Do you read from the Bible at all? yes
Do you read from it daily? yes
Do you read from it weekly? see above
Do you read from it primarily when you want to look something up? see above
Do you read it in sequence or out of order? both
Are there passages you know by heart? yes, many learned in childhood
Do you find a lot of antique cultural and historical references you don't understand perfectly? yes not perfectly. I have taken classes to help with that
Have you ever read all of the Bible? On my 3 reading from cover to cover because I had never read all in the King James and I was given a gift of King James in large print.
Do you ever read some of it aloud? often during the daily office,
Do you tend to read books about the Bible rather than look at the Bible itself? No read both.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Twilight
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/2832.gif) Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Graven Image: Do you read from it daily?
I read it daily from this site, because sitting in this chair, looking at the PC screen, is my default position these days. It's usually a fairly short passage, followed by some excellent commentary. I've been going there every morning for many years and still have no idea who or what denomination sponsors the site and to me that's a very good thing. It seems to have no political bias.
I'm also slowly working on a notebook where I copy the words of Jesus from a KJV. Reason being that there is something about the process of writing in cursive that imprints on my brain a little better than simply hearing or reading.
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Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
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Posted
Yes, daily but for one thing or another.
Usually to check something or to introduce or to counter an argument.
Parts by heart...but only things that have stuck eg from childhood or a particular service or a funeral. What? Am I an Evangelical? I Look it Up in my Very Own Bible (well, one of the 11 or so in the house). First, I thank Luther, Gutenberg and Cambridge UP in prayer, then think what a lucky, lucky girl I am to be able and allowed to read and THEN read My Bible with my God-given intelligence and my Presbyterian upbringing.
Read aloud most weeks in church
-------------------- She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
Daily. Use the Lectionary.
Havre read fom cover to cover when trying out a new translation.
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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balaam
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/4543.jpg) Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Twilight: quote: Originally posted by Graven Image: Do you read from it daily?
It's usually a fairly short passage, followed by some excellent commentary.
Short isn't everything, It's great, but it isn't everything. I have a three pronged attack:
- Read through a whole book to get the general feel, context and themes of the book.
- Work through a book using Lectio Divina.
- Work through a book a little at a time using commentaries
i often I use commentaries from a different Christian tradition than my own, so that I don't get stuck with the same old.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Twilight
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/2832.gif) Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
May I add one more question?
What's your favorite version?
I went through a class where we read it straight through in which our pastor had us buy NIV commentary Bibles. I like it for looking up things I don't understand, but my favorite to copy from is a large print King James.
My son greatly prefers the RSV based on my giving him my old Sunday School Bible from 1952 as his first one. I think in many folks heads the "right" words are the first words we read or heard. That's fine, but I'm having trouble finding new RSV's when he wears one out.
I like versions such as "The Message," when I'm having trouble understanding, but then I don't like those modern versions when they do something like translate The Beatitudes into "Happy are those..." At which point I go all "Get off my lawn."
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
Large print NIV with cross references. I've had a New Indispensable version since I became a Christian, 30odd years ago. My last bible disintegrated, and I brought a new one last year. It's the new NIV translation, and I sometimes have to compare verses in my old translation - which is good, because it keeps you on your toes. I like some of The Message, particularly 1 Corinthians 13 - "love doesn't revel when others grovel", which really gets to the point, in my view.
-------------------- "I say - are you a matelot?" "Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here" From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
NRSV was my go to Bible but after someone gave me a large print King James for a gift I am enjoying it very much. No doubt this is because it brings back my childhood where I learned much of the King James by heart. I am sure I will go back to NRSV at some point but for now at least it is King James.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Al Eluia
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/al_eluia.jpg) Inquisitor
# 864
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Posted
Do you read from the Bible at all? Yes
Do you read from it daily? Pretty much, and I read in church sometimes
Do you read from it weekly?
Do you read from it primarily when you want to look something up? Sometimes
Do you read it in sequence or out of order? I use mostly the Daily Office readings, which are sometimes in sequence and sometimes not, depending on the liturgical season
Are there passages you know by heart? Many
Do you find a lot of antique cultural and historical references you don't understand perfectly? Sure
Have you ever read all of the Bible? Depends on what you mean by "all of the Bible." I've read all of the books generally accepted by Protestnts a couple times but am not very familiar with the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals.
Do you ever read some of it aloud? Yes, at least in church
Do you tend to read books about the Bible rather than look at the Bible itself? Some of both
A note about translations: These days I mostly use the NRSV, mostly because that's what my church (TEC) tends to use. But I grew up on the King James and when I recall familiar passages it's mostly as rendered by the KJV. [ 23. January 2017, 14:25: Message edited by: Al Eluia ]
-------------------- Consider helping out the Anglican Seminary in El Salvador with a book or two! https://www.amazon.es/registry/wishlist/YDAZNSAWWWBT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_7IRSzbD16R9RQ https://www.episcopalcafe.com/a-seminary-is-born-in-el-salvador/
Posts: 1157 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jul 2001
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Baker
Shipmate
# 18458
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Posted
Do you read from the Bible at all? Yes
Do you read from it daily? Yes
Do you read from it weekly? Yes
Do you read from it primarily when you want to look something up? No
Do you read it in sequence or out of order? Out of order
Are there passages you know by heart? Yes. A good chunk of the second chapter of Luke(KJV), a few Psalms, and the latter half of the eigth chapter of Romans
Do you find a lot of antique cultural and historical references you don't understand perfectly? Sure, but I have reference works to look them up
Have you ever read all of the Bible? Not quite
Do you ever read some of it aloud? I've served as a lector, in church, a number of times.
Do you tend to read books about the Bible rather than look at the Bible itself? No
-------------------- Ad astra per aspera
Posts: 108 | From: Tottering-on-the-Brink | Registered: Aug 2015
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