On deep Bible Study . . .

I have been reading through the historical books of the Bible (Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles . . .) I'm doing my own version of reading the parallel accounts simultaneously. That just means while I am reading the account of David in II Samuel, I am reading the parallel account in I Chronicles. If you want to try it yourself, it is quite easy to figure out by using the timelines in the back of a good study Bible. There are actual Bibles that have been organized by the chronology of the narrative, however I like to know what book of the Bible I am reading out of in order to not miss the themes unique to the book.

Sometimes I think that as long-time insiders of this thing called Christianity we come to believe that we have to do deep Bible study--I'm all for deep learning that leads to deep application. However, I think we often equate deep Bible study with lots of research, Greek and Hebrew lexicons, Bible dictionaries and a wide array of Bible commentaries. All helpful in their own right. I think we also equate deep Bible study with learning something new rather than applying something well.

So . . . my goal has been to read the historical books as story. There is a lot of meaning that can be gained from reading as much of the story in one sitting as possible. We get the big picture of what is happening versus trying to draw meaning out of an isolated account.

Remember the first three Stars Wars movies? If you hadn't read the books and only seen the movies, could you have guessed that the main character was Anakin Skywalker and not his son Luke? It is not until the first three episodes were finished that we are able to see that the main plot line is the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. It is amazing that the first movies did so well without developing that meta-story.

The Bible is a lot like that. There are several levels of story. Right now I am currently reading II Samuel and I Chronicles. In the two books there are individual accounts of the kingship of David. But read together with I Samuel there is a meta-story that is really the story of the leadership of two kings. Side-by-side the books show two leaders, King Saul and King David. In one you see a failure of nerve and the loss of integrity, in the other you see well differentiated leadership and redemption from moral failure. (Maybe that is why they are called I & II Samuel) Then there is a meta-story that ties all the books of the Bible together . . . the story of God's relationship with mankind, mankind's fall and then redemption through God's Son, Jesus Christ. Try reading the entire Bible in one or two sittings. I wonder what we would discover.

How do you like to read the Bible?

Back online after a while . . .

So it has been nearly 20 days since my last post. I have been a little underwater these days with preparations. We are currently trying to do the impossible--get the best deals on audio/visual equipment, to create an excellent environment and do it fast. I believe that you can only do two of those things at any given time. It can be excellent and cheap--but that takes time. It can be excellent and fast--but that take money. So we are trying to do all three--and I think we are succeeding. Let you know on September 14th--the grand opening of our Kidstuf Production.