Bible Question:
If I were to start afresh to read the bible or if a non believer wants to know about the bible which book shall I start to read 1st? Genesis in OT or Matthew in NT. I had so much "trouble" trying to stay at Genesis that I jumped to the 4 Gospels first and very much later tried Genesis again until I'm stuck at Chronicles. Jumped again to Acts - Galatians and then tried to go back to Chronicles. Am now reading other materials (books) that is subject based, scriptures are refered from the bible to support what was discussed. I find that I understand the scriptures better this way but its bits of pieces here and there. I don't see the chronological order except to where I had read in the bible. My Pastor wants us to at least read the bible cover to cover once. If I do so, I know I will just run thru without understanding the scriptures. What should I do? Reading postings in this forum also helped a lot. |
Bible Answer: It might not be the book of the Bible that you’re having trouble with as much as the language of the interpretation that you’re using. The King James Version used the language of the time of the translation, i.e. 1611. To me it is hard to understand at first. Although, it’s what I grew up with in church. It’s probably the reason I could never read the Bible. I’d read it on Sundays, and put it down through the rest of the week. I could never get past all the thee’s, thou’s, shaltnot’s and wherefore’s.” We were given a paraphrased Living Bible when we were married by my mother-in-law. I never could read it either. It just wasn’t the Bible to me. Then came the NIV. They put the Bible into today’s language and I could understand it. I picked it up and haven’t put it down since. Now, I have 2 different study Bibles in NIV. One different reference bible in NIV. A 'standard' Holy Bible in KJV, a reference Bible in KJV. A copy of the Net Bible with it's study notes. I also have the Living Letters translation that puts still a different light on the words as well. I use the web, currently, to access the other translations that I don't have in print form. So, you might try a different version of the Bible. Try on the web. NASB is here on this site. http://www.blueletterbible.org/ is another site that offers a more 'literal' version such as KJV or NASB. The English Standard Version can be found here: http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/browse/ . The Net Bible, an entirely different translation, can be found here: http://www.bible.org/default.asp . This site has a bunch of study materials just like the blueletterbible.org site. The Net Bible is very close to the NIV, but still a bit different. For beginning Bible readers, I would right now highly recommend the Daily Study Bible from Zondervan publishing. Either in the NIV (recommended for readability in today's English ( you can see it at: http://www.zondervanbibles.com/0310919797.htm )) or the KJV. Personally, I feel that you can't have too many translations. What one doesn't make clear, a slightly different viewpoint, or wording of a passage might bring the passage into the light and make it clear for you to understand. I hope this helps. Russ |