You get a book, you read it. From the beginning, of course. So i did.
i did know a Bible is not a typical book. So i figured i wouldn't read it quickly. A chapter a day was the recommendation, but the reading was good, easy.
On Christmas Day, i read:
- the preface
- the part about Adam and Eve & their sons
- i made it through the first genealogy
- & the part about the Tower of Babel
Five years later i started again, making it through once by age 19.
Once through the Bible, in 11 years. (That number does keep coming up, doesn't it? see About Me, LH sidebar)
The Preface
Looking at the Preface of that Bible today, i wonder that i made it through even that. i don't think i'd come across all that translation stuff before, though i probably knew about the King James Version and that English wasn't the only language in the world, even if i didn't know that it wasn't the language of Bible people.i still believe that reading prefaces & forwards are important. That's where you learn what the writer(s)/editor(s)/translator(s) are doing, & what they are trying to say.
The Journey Through
Usually i did try to read that chapter a day. Some days, if the story was good, i read more. One minor but memorable lesson that stuck is that the Longest Chapter in the Bible comes very quickly after the Shortest Chapter in the Bible. i read a LOT longer than i wanted that night!i learned early on that the versions of the story presented in Sunday school weren't the whole story - and i was glad of it! i didn't want to talk about Samson and all his escapades with my friends, and i am VERY glad that we didn't get into the collapse of the society depicted at the end of the book of Judges.
Some of it made me wonder - God sent a lying spirit? God wanted King Saul tormented? Some of it i still don't understand, and some of it i do now. Never did it occur to me to ASK anyone, and i think that has actually stood me in good stead.
And i was pleasantly surprised to find paragraph summaries of the books of the Bible - at the end!
Marks in My Bible, or Marks on Me?
As i went through, i marked any passage that "hit" me with my colored markers. Since then, i've learned this sort of thing is called "kisses of the King." (Less concise, you might also want to look here.)i was "well-kissed" that first time through.
But the colorful markings don't really mean anything. i learned that Sunday school lessons are oversimplified. We miss the good stuff, like the Minor Prophets, Pastoral Epistles, and Proverbs/Ecclesiastes.
It's easier to teach stories of miracles and children, but in these books are solid teaching for the life we live. Illustrated in the other books/stories, and always interpreted by other passages.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will eat its way like gangrene. Among them are Hymenae′us and Phile′tus, who have swerved from the truth by holding that the resurrection is past already. They are upsetting the faith of some. But
God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those
who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart
from iniquity.”
In
a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of
wood and earthenware, and some for noble use, some for ignoble. If
any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel
for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready
for any good work. So
shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love, and
peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to every one, an apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. --II Timothy 2:16a, 19-26
