As part of a New Year's resolution to become more familiar with the word of God, my husband and I have decided to start our own little Bible study. Our process is inspired by a combination of a blogpost on the First Things website and a talk we received from Lighthouse Catholic Media by Matthew Kelly called "Building Better Families." The First Things post is called "How to Change Your Mind," and its author makes the bold claim that following his four step program will transform your life - not in the way that a January detox program will rid you of non-organic toxins in your colon, or some "Auras for Dummies" book from the New Age section at BN will help you determine the color of your own chakra. Nope. Following his advice, he says, will transform your life by helping you to truly internalize the message that is meant to give us real peace and shed light on the real purpose of our lives. What are these magic 4 steps, you ask? Simple:
1. Choose a book of the Bible
2. Read it in its entirety.
3. Repeat step #2 twenty times.
4. Repeat this process for all books of the Bible.
Easy enough! As the author says, Christians often talk about having a Biblical worldview yet most have only a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible. They attempt to build a framework without first gathering the lumber and cement needed to create a solid foundation. The benefits of following this process should therefore be obvious. By fully immersing yourself into the text you’ll come to truly know the text. You’ll deepen your understanding of each book and knowledge of the the Bible as a whole. So true. And so simple. If you're going to have a religion based on the word of God, you should probably be familiar with that word. Just a thought.
Anyway, you can check out his post for more detailed info. about how to go about this process, and a list of of NT and OT books from shortest to longest. My husband and I have started with the Letters of John (since the author recommends working shortest to longest, NT to OT). We read all three of them last night, and will try to read them each night for a week, moving on to the next shortest book when this week is over.
For someone like me, who is torn between having too little familiarity with the Bible and being overwhelmed by the thought of plunging in, solo, on page 1, I think this little experiment is going to work really well - if my husband and I can just stick to the regimen. So what does God give us? A little encouragement - today's NT reading for daily Mass is from John's first letter. Looks like I might be on the right track...
Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4-6).
Anyway, you can check out his post for more detailed info. about how to go about this process, and a list of of NT and OT books from shortest to longest. My husband and I have started with the Letters of John (since the author recommends working shortest to longest, NT to OT). We read all three of them last night, and will try to read them each night for a week, moving on to the next shortest book when this week is over.
For someone like me, who is torn between having too little familiarity with the Bible and being overwhelmed by the thought of plunging in, solo, on page 1, I think this little experiment is going to work really well - if my husband and I can just stick to the regimen. So what does God give us? A little encouragement - today's NT reading for daily Mass is from John's first letter. Looks like I might be on the right track...
Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4-6).
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