Posted on 02/02/2015 4:37:58 AM PST by metmom
Glad I could help. If I can be of any more help to you, feel free to FReepmail me! :-)
The link worked for me.
The site is Biblegateway. If the link doesn’t work, you can just google it up.
Christ explained the purpose of parables in Mark 4:10-12.
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”
The full implications of that passage really troubled me when I was a younger man and still believed in free will theology. It couldn't be reconciled with the idea that God loves all the same way. That passage was among those from the Gospels that shoved me to the Doctrines of Grace and Reformed Theology. However, I had read that passage countless times before it dawned on me it contradicted what I believed. In other words, only when the Lord was ready for me to "see" it's meaning was it revealed. I believe the whole Bible works the same way. Men must be given ears to hear and eyes to see or they will never understand the Bible.
#1 they find ENGLISH ‘difficult’!
My answer is YES!
There is a good bible book (I don't think it's a translation as much as a rearranging; timewise) that attempts to place the events in the bible into a chronological order.
Our present bibles have books grouped as to category more than anything.
Try this one to get a fuller understanding of the Jewishness of Christianity.
It's based on the NIV; leaving the Hebrew words found in the Greek; instead of an English equivalent.
For me, it was a bit tricky at first, as one encounters a steep learning curve. Due to having to refer back to the dictionary in the back as I went along.
http://www.familychristian.com/complete-jewish-bible-new-international-version-side-by-side-reference-edition.html?gclid=CKif-Y7Dw8MCFUE0aQodLxcAMw
Ooooh!
This looks a LOT better than my first one; which was NOT a side-by-side.
I had to keep referring to the dictionary in the back.
This would be a LOT easier to read thru!
Because they don’t read Hebrew?
That could certainly play into it.
I think it would add a richness to Scripture that is missing in translations but that just can’t be helped.
It comes with translating stuff.
I’m glad to know I’m not the onl one who thought so.
I think it would add a richness to Scripture that is missing in translations but that just can’t be helped.
It comes with translating stuff.
I think my implied point soared over your head.
If one does go with the NIV, make sure it's the original 1973 edition of the NIV. The "TNIV" released around 10 years ago and the NIV updated edition released three or four years ago are politically correct monstrosities which take massive liberties with the text and are horrible translations.
Oh, I agree. I loathe the “politically correct” versions!
When I worked at a “liberal” seminary back in the 80’s, they were just starting with the “inclusive language” garbage. At the time I was a one-woman campaign against it!
Needless to say, I lost my job over my big mouth. It would not be the last time THAT would happen! LOL!
1 Cor.18For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. "…
1Cor s. 14But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.…
2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
Not only does God address His words of truth to those who are able to receive them, He actually conceals their meaning from those who are not.
The natural man must know in order to believe; the spiritual man must believe in order to know.
These are salient truths...And this is why Catholics need someone to interpret for them...But sadly, the ones who interpret are in no better shape than they are...
My first bible was “Good News for Modern Man “...It is written so that even a child can understand it.. I had never read anything in the bible when I bought that.. so anything “complicated “ was beyond my understanding I started to read the gospels,which are an account of the life of Jesus.. then acts..tells you what the apostles did after the resurrection of Christ.. the “epistles” were just letters written to the various churches ..
The OT can be very hard because it is out of chronicle order ...But the book of Isaiah is prophetic and beautiful ..The psalms are prayers
You can still buy that version ..and I would recommend it highly for a new bible reader
Since God in His infinite wisdom allowed (I would say caused, but most will be more comfortable with “allowed”) the Hebrew Scriptures (I would say the Old Testament, but some will object to that too) to come down to the nations of the earth with Genesis placed first and the Greek Scriptures (I would say the New Testament, but others will object to that also) with Matthew placed first, would it not be best to read each of the two from its beginning, the beginning of each God has seen fit to give us?
Why? Other than the obvious reason that one should begin with the beginning, might it not also be that our understanding of say, Exodus, would and should be shaped by what God has already revealed in Genesis? And so on to the end of the Old Testament. And would and should not our understanding of Mark be shaped by what has already been revealed to us in Matthew? And so on to the end of the New Testament. After all, God is a God of order, and not of chaos. It is He who reveals and not we who uncover.
That works, too.
That’s how I do my general Bible reading but other times I just read as I feel led, or what I’m interested in.
How one reads the Bible in the course of time and circumstances of one’s life will of course vary. I am only suggesting that the Bible is understood best when one approaches it in light of its God-given order, knowing that what He revealed in the past He did not forget as He gave each successive revelation. “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) Always assume that everything He said in the books that precede the one you currently are reading is still very much operative and, as a corollary to that, one cannot ever set something He said in the past against something He said later, and vice versa. Otherwise He is not who the very Scriptures we read testify He is, that is, eternal, almighty, omniscient, all-wise, just, and, above all things, merciful.
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