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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | how do I read the Bible | Bible general Archive 1 | rhema518 | 14791 | ||
remember that the Bible is written on a fourth grade level. | ||||||
2 | how do I read the Bible | Bible general Archive 1 | Hank | 14824 | ||
Rhema, not to discount your statement about the Bible being written on a fourth-grade level, for that may well be true in a certain sense for certain translations, but what the publishers who write these blurbs for their translations are talking about really is that the vocabulary is such that the words themselves can generally be recognized by a reasonably bright fourth grade student and that the syntax of their translation is kept fairly simple. But their statement is somewhat inaccurate and misleading. While most of the WORDS may be fairly well understood at a fourth grade reading level, many of the IDEAS or thought patterns and concepts are far and away above the ability of the average fourth grader to grasp. Indeed, the Bible is written on so many different planes and degrees of complexity that a small child can read parts of it with full understanding but there are other parts that have challenged and even baffled the minds of many of our finest thinkers throughout the ages. So, when I see these simplistic blurbs on the cover or dust jacket of a Bible saying it is written at this or that reading level, I cringe. If I had small children (I did, but they got big all of a sudden!) -- if I had small children in the home, I'd sooner start them out on a solid Bible translation such as the NASB than to expose them to some of the paraphrased parodies I see taking up valuable space on store bookshelves. And I would pay no attention whatever to somebody's reading level rating scheme. I've seen fourth graders who could read many so-called college level books. I've seen college graduates who had a tough time reading a fourth-grade textbook. --Hank | ||||||