What is the correct way to read the Bible?

[Michelle]

I hope this doesn't seem too much of a ridiculous question to ask, but is there any set way a person should read the Bible? I have been trying to read it from start to finish as well as opening it at random. Both methods dont seem to work for me. The first method that I use is to gain some historical perspective on the Bible using a time-line. However I find that there is not much other evidence around to back up some things written in it (and especially regarding Moses). This leaves me extremely disillusioned as I want to weigh up the balance of evidence on both sides and there doesn't seem to be another side.

My second method works only on the rare occasion. Often I will open the Bible up and what I read makes absolutely no sense to anything I am thinking or doing at the time. In fact it doesn't even seem to relate to anything at all and there doesn't seem to even have a message. It leaves me totally confused.

Is there a Bible reading plan available anywhere not based on daily readings, but rather issues that a person can look up and study? Most of the Bible study plans that I have come across are either focused on a set daily reading plan seem to be based on a particular Church doctrine. I dont care about any particular Church, I just want to be able to do some reading without losing interest in what I read. I am not interested in right-wing Christianity, nor fundamentalism either. Just Christianity itself!

[YLTYLT]

Michelle,

Its sounds like you've got the right heart and right focus to not let men or movements influence you in the meaning of the Bible. That's good...

I have been told that the main focus when reading the Bible is to look at it as a mirror to see what things about me I need to fix. I offer a short prayer before reading, something kind of like: "Lord, fix me".

You may not always get something, but God honors persistence. Seek and you shall find.

As far as how to study. I do it several different ways. One thing I do is choose a doctrine that men have come up with and I try to prove it or disprove it. When Paul was teaching to the Bereans. They would not take his word for it but would listen and then search the scriptures to verify his claims.

With tools like biblegateway.com you can do word studies to see what certain words have a particular meaning. For instance the Fig tree has been generally thought to represent Israel. A lampstand is the church.
When you find a verse that confuses you take the one word that seems to cause the most confusion and do a word search to see how that word has been used elsewhere - and especially consider who used it elsewhere. I have found some interesting things this way.

As far as the Chronology of events goes. My pastor recently recommended a Chronological Bible. He said he like the one written by Ed Reese. I just order it from Amazon. It goes through the events of the bible pulling verse from different books so you can see how they fit together. For instance, the verses in I & II Samuel that tell the stories of David will be intertwined with the Psalms that David wrote, and the stories of Solomon with Proverbs, etc...
I have heard several of my friends say that this type of book gave them a better picture of the Bible stories.

But regardless of my method of study, I am always looking to the scriptures as a mirror seeking and asking the Lord to "FIX ME".

[Michelle]

A sincere and grateful thanks for the information. I will try this. And most important I will get the chronological Bible.

Please forgive such a very short post but I have been up since 3.30 am and it is now almost 10.00 PM so I am extremely tired. As well I only got two hours sleep last night and it is beginning to catch up with me.

[Canuckster1127]

I hope this doesn't seem too much of a ridiculous question to ask, but is there any set way a person should read the Bible? I have been trying to read it from start to finish as well as opening it at random. Both methods dont seem to work for me. The first method that I use is to gain some historical perspective on the Bible using a time-line. However I find that there is not much other evidence around to back up some things written in it (and especially regarding Moses). This leaves me extremely disillusioned as I want to weigh up the balance of evidence on both sides and there doesn't seem to be another side.

My second method works only on the rare occasion. Often I will open the Bible up and what I read makes absolutely no sense to anything I am thinking or doing at the time. In fact it doesn't even seem to relate to anything at all and there doesn't seem to even have a message. It leaves me totally confused.

Is there a Bible reading plan available anywhere not based on daily readings, but rather issues that a person can look up and study? Most of the Bible study plans that I have come across are either focused on a set daily reading plan seem to be based on a particular Church doctrine. I dont care about any particular Church, I just want to be able to do some reading without losing interest in what I read. I am not interested in right-wing Christianity, nor fundamentalism either. Just Christianity itself!

An excellent book on this subject is "How to Study the Bible for all it is worth" Gordon Fee, a professor at Gordon Conwell Seminary here in the states is one of the authors. It is a solid book written for the average Christian that gives tools on how to study, not indoctrintation on how to think. I recommend it highly.

[ScienceAndFaith]

I heard Dr. Carroll Osburn speak on the book Philippians. He was a professor of Greek at Abiline Christian University, and arguably one of the top 5 New Testament Greek scholars in the world. He was one of a handful of scholars granted access to the original Greek manuscripts archived in Germany. After his lesson I asked him how someone like myself could ever pull such insights from the text as he did.

He was very humble in his reply. He said that the key to understanding the text is to understand these are first letters written by real people to real people. We should learn to read what the actual text says before we try to uncover any "hidden messages" because often it's the "between the lines" part that divides Christians. He said to read the letters like you would read a letter from your child at camp. You would not break it down into verses and then analyze each word to death. You would not conclude that your child wasn't being fed dinner because he only mentioned lunch.

The only other thing he said in the brief time allotted was to note that there are certain key ways to determine the main emphasis of a book or chapter. One was prayer verses. Whatever they were praying about was obviously key to that section of scripture. Another was repitition. Greek does not have exclamation points so whenever you see a point repeated 2 or 3 times it's the authors way of highlighting something important. And another was the use of certain key words like urge, therefore, I plead, I beseech (however that is spelled!)...

I hope this helps. It made a rather significant impact on the way I now read scripture.

[Silvertusk]

I hope this doesn't seem too much of a ridiculous question to ask, but is there any set way a person should read the Bible? I have been trying to read it from start to finish as well as opening it at random. Both methods dont seem to work for me. The first method that I use is to gain some historical perspective on the Bible using a time-line. However I find that there is not much other evidence around to back up some things written in it (and especially regarding Moses). This leaves me extremely disillusioned as I want to weigh up the balance of evidence on both sides and there doesn't seem to be another side.

My second method works only on the rare occasion. Often I will open the Bible up and what I read makes absolutely no sense to anything I am thinking or doing at the time. In fact it doesn't even seem to relate to anything at all and there doesn't seem to even have a message. It leaves me totally confused.

Is there a Bible reading plan available anywhere not based on daily readings, but rather issues that a person can look up and study? Most of the Bible study plans that I have come across are either focused on a set daily reading plan seem to be based on a particular Church doctrine. I dont care about any particular Church, I just want to be able to do some reading without losing interest in what I read. I am not interested in right-wing Christianity, nor fundamentalism either. Just Christianity itself!

I would recommend reading it with some sort of study guide. I am using the Tom Wright New Testament for Everyone Series. (e.g. Luke for Everyone, John for Everyone etc..). I am finding them very refreshing.

[FFC]

Good Christian resources are definately very helpful...along with reading with an open mind and a heart for God. For some people the best way to start reading the bible is to crack it open.

[jenna]

Did you not read her post thoroughly? She said she tried this and it got confusing to her. For her this wasnt the best way. Yes, you gotta start somewhere, for me the best way is to find a particular subject, then study up on it. Find verses in a concordance that deal with the subject you want to learn more about.

[FFC]

Did you not read her post thoroughly? She said she tried this and it got confusing to her. For her this wasnt the best way. Yes, you gotta start somewhere, for me the best way is to find a particular subject, then study up on it. Find verses in a concordance that deal with the subject you want to learn more about.

What part of my post suggested that I did not read her post thoroughly? Maybe you need to read my post more thouroughly before you begin to pass judgement.

[jenna]

I did read it and I wasn't passing judgement, sorry you got that impression. You said the best way was to crack it open. She said she tried that and that didn't help her. That's all I was saying.

[FFC]

I did read it and I wasn't passing judgement, sorry you got that impression. You said the best way was to crack it open. She said she tried that and that didn't help her. That's all I was saying.

My actual quote was this:

For some people the best way to start reading the bible is to crack it open. I Was not inferring anything in regard to our original poster.

[jenna]

Ok, I still think you are a little too quick to defend perceived "attacks", but I apologize if I misunderstood.

[FFC]

Ok, I still think you are a little too quick to defend perceived "attacks", but I apologize if I misunderstood.

How long should I have waited?

[jenna]

Ok, you got me there! I'll stop now.

[Kurieuo]

I hope this doesn't seem too much of a ridiculous question to ask, but is there any set way a person should read the Bible? I have been trying to read it from start to finish as well as opening it at random. Both methods dont seem to work for me. The first method that I use is to gain some historical perspective on the Bible using a time-line. However I find that there is not much other evidence around to back up some things written in it (and especially regarding Moses). This leaves me extremely disillusioned as I want to weigh up the balance of evidence on both sides and there doesn't seem to be another side.

Take your time and enjoy reading the Bible from start to finish as it is using a Canonical hermeneutic. That is, read the text as is and as it functions for believing communities. Whereas historical critical hermeneutics are constantly searching for evidence for pieces of text, and looking at what alteria motives the author(s) have, it is good to read the bible canonically by presuming God did indeed inspire all the books within to form a whole even though they were written by various authors at different times.

I have found the Zondervan NIV Study Bible to be good for this purpose, and it has a good general commentary. Then whatever interests you either while reading or at the end of reading you can get commentaries or look into further.