Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I

June 13, 2012



My son Adam has set up a blog page for me (this is all very new to me).  We have decided that this blog would be the best way for me to go thru the Bible and post my thoughts.  Adam agrees that this will give him a shared insight of the Bible as a whole and a multitude of passages within.

As I post my thoughts, I will be less than organized as in writing prose, so I ask any reader to suffer me tolerance throughout.

I truly pray that Adam and I and any other reader will be truly blessed by this effort.

I consider this to be somewhat of a sobering undertaking due the importance of doing it properly. The prospect of misleading someone in the understanding of the Holy Bible is frightening due to its potential harm in a person's quest for spiritual growth. Therefore, I must make the disclaimer that all of my comments are opinion, given not by authority, but rather by permission.

I consider the Bible indeed holy. The Bible is to be studied in an attempt to know God, understand Him and His purpose for us and His expectations of us. The Bible is not to be worshipped. It is to be used as a tool in one's quest for knowledge and wisdom.

I consider the Bible to be perfect howbeit complicated for a full understanding. Although the Bible has a single Author, being God Himself, He used as many as 37 - 40 human beings as instruments for His writings. Over the centuries many additional people were used in documentations, translations, paraphrasing, etc.

For the absence of a more accurate term, I will conduct this by "expounding" on the word of God. Although I am not placing myself in the company of Ezra, this is the only way I know to go about promoting an understanding of the Bible in such a way to make it real and meaningful to the 21st century. (I mention Ezra because he was the first person I found in the Old Testiment to actually "teach" or promote an understanding of the scripture)  When I speak of the Bible, I am very careful in the refering to sections or passages as "symbolic" because I feel that this is a dangerous path and not only waters down the whole Bible, but promotes shortcuts in thoughts when trying to grow spiritually thru Bible study.

I've never read the New International Version, let alone teach it.  I've always used the King James Version. So, in order to try to expound on the NIV, I have obtained a copy and will read it, Genesis to Revelation, as I have done so with the King James, and will "think out loud" on this blog as I go along.  If I am ever confusing in my comments (possibly often) please request clarification as you go over any in question.

I've never created or posted onto a blog before. I guess any reader can post onto it. I hope.

This entire Bible study should take no more than 18 to 24 months.

I consider there to be 9 sections in the Bible:
The Law
History
Poetry and Wisdom
Major Prophets
Minor Prophets
Gospels & Acts
Paul's Letters (Epistles)
General Epistles
Revelation

Although the first 5 books are in the Torah (Law), Genesis, the first book, is actually more History and very interesting, giving a solid foundation for the entire Bible and all It encompasses. Ever wonder why it is proper to capitalize the word History? Because the word's origin is "His Story" God's Story.

The Book of Genesis

Human Author: Moses
Place: Egypt and Canaan
Date: 1450bc - 1400bc





4 comments:

  1. I'm excited about getting started.

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  2. Several weeks ago after seeing the teaching at 12Stone about wisdom and Kevin talking about approaching wise people, I had a clear message from God. He made it very clear to me that I need to learn His word. I didn't know how I was going to do that, but I knew I needed to. It was also very clear that my dad was going to be the one to do it, so I approached him with a very big request. "Teach me the Bible."

    I can't think of anyone in my circle of people I know that is more qualified to teach the Bible. My dad has read the Bible cover to cover 12 times. Hard enough as that is, he did it with the King James Version. I made one simple request after he decided to do this; to read the NIV version of the Bible.

    I am excited to see how God uses this blog as a tool to advance His Kingdom and build stronger Christian men and women.

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  3. Hi Merle and Adam,
    Mostly posting to test how comment on this blog will work. But also after this mornings mens group discussion, I'm hoping to have the commitment to follow you in this. Good luck, God Bless!

    And I love the cover photo.

    Ashley Z

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  4. This will be great and look forward to following along! And thanks for taking this on for many to follow along and ill pray for you to be able to find the right words for teaching as you guide us all through it...

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