Two weeks ago I decided to test myself to see if I would be able to read The Bible in a year. My dad just did it and finished it up in June. Josh tried doing it last year, with some of his friends, but shooting Talladega Nights kept his schedule so busy he didn't have time to finish.
I think it would be a pretty important and interesting read and I would like to be able to say that I am dedicated and disciplined enough to accomplish such a task. And considering I can't find a church in Chicago that I like, I have nothing else to do on Sunday mornings. So I thought I would try and test myself.
I knew that reading the New Testament would be easy. I've already read/studied most of it (between that class on Paul, and the summer of 1989, when my sister and I first saw The Seventh Sign with Demi Moore and decided to read the book of Revelations while sunbathing).
The Old Testament, on the other hand, would be a challenge.
So my test was this: read one book from the OT.
I tried reading Job about 3 months ago when it seemed everyone in my life was going through some sort of struggle, but about half way through I got bored and instead read "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants". :)
This time, I decided to read Kings. I love history and I've been told it's an interesting book. And it is! I only have a couple more chapters and I'll be done with that book. I think I will try and tackle Kings II next (seems like a logical next step) but I've also come to the conclusion that I don't think I'm ready to attempt the whole Bible.
Maybe I will try and keep my goals obtainable, and take it one book at a time.
10 comments:
If you like I Kings, I'll bet you'll also like I and II Samuel and I and II Chronicles. Job is a very difficult book to get through. Don't judge the rest of the OT by that. I also enjoy Genesis and Daniel. I love the "stories" books. The prophets can be kind of long and redundant, and forget about reading Leviticus until it's the very last one you have to read. Psalms and Proverbs are really relatable (especially when you're having a crappy day) and they're short, so you could read one chapter a day easily. Pslam 1 is one of my favorites. I love the imagery.
I'm not sure which version of the Bible you're reading, but I highly recommend the New Living. It's very easy to read and the language is more modern, which I feel makes it much more powerful than the other translations. If you're not already reading it, you can take a look at it on Thursday when you're at our place. !!!!
(Sorry for such a long response.)
don't apologize for the long response, i appreciate the insight and suggestions!
i am reading a new standard edition, or something like that. it's modern english and fairly easy to read.
thanks again for the feedback!!
hey mom, you would know this info: how many books are in the Bible all together?
I'm not Mom, but it's 66.
holy crap. you knew that off the top of your head?
see, i know a decent amount about the NT and Paul and such, but i didn't know how many books there are total. i feel like that is something i should know.
damn me for screwing around during sunday school! ha ha
I think there are more books out there, but the Catholics are holding them in book-purgatory.
So the conspiracy theorist would say...
Marry someone who studies religion. I promise you would know way more than you ever cared to.
my mom tells me a lot of stuff that i normally wouldn't know (she's sorta a preacher, in her spare time)
and she words it in a way that makes it interesting.
she should translate Job to make it more interesting.
geez. and i'm reading chuck palahniuk.
You might also want to try finding a commentary to go along with the book of the bible you are reading - it can offer more insight into what you are reading, more context.
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