Reading the Bible

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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on February 20, 2011 at 7:00pm

(Anna..Rick's friend)...I was raised as a Catholic on the Confraternity Version; I have been reading a lot of his books about the various versions and translations (I was raised German until my early 20's): it is a fascinating story; as an artist I especially like the development of national scripts as a sense of nations began to form after the collpase of the Roman empire.  This is a nice discussion, thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on February 20, 2011 at 10:13pm

  I asked Rick about it since I really didn’t know, my Bible is a German translation that was my grandmother Seifert’s.  Rick has an English American version that was an Easter gift from his Irish grandparents a week after he was born on Palm Sunday.  It contains the Apocrypha and according to Rick’s files was based on the Douay-Rheims Bible which in turn was based on the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome and was in wide use from WWII to 1970 for catholics,

  I looked it up on the internet, Wikipedia link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confraternity_Bible: lot of information and links there.
  Although I am not really Christian since I was 13, I have read it off and on over the years.  Rick has like 40 different versions and translations in his book collection along with replicas of The Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells from the 8th century and some other replicas that I love the art in; and several hundreds of other translations on disc: I have been looking at them since I moved in; he has one named "Zondervan's Translator's Bible" that has hebrew or greek on left page and literal translation on the right that I like alot (I can't read the greek or hebrew, but it is simple basic word equivalent English).  I know Rick reads the King James for the poetical nature of it and that one for study.
  Thank you for writing Amanda, I like your blogs; I am a questioner and a seeker also.
/Anna/

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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on February 21, 2011 at 4:33am

  Lol, Amanda, to give you an idea of my lifelong struggle with Christianity, I was born on Palm Sunday and the following Easter was given an enscibed proper Scottish Presbyterian newly finished Nelson Revised KJ by my Scottish grandparents and once the "heretics" were gone, my Irish Catholic grandparents gave me an enscribed Catholic Confraternity Bible.

  One side of the family produced a line of iternate wandering protestant ministers throughout the colonial period and expansion into Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio, and my family name "Primmer" originated by award of the Archbishop of Canterbury of the family name Primus, since 7 generations of males (pre Henry breaking off from the church), performed the Primus mass (the first mass of the day).

  And, grandma Orr although token Catholic, was a genuine "faerie doctor" from the mountains of Donegal who immigrated in 1893 and taught me the old pagan ways.

  Lol, green, orange and red upbringing as to faith.

  Anyway, I had already promised to take Anna on a survey of the local denominations, and now, of course, she has convinced me to got to mass with her this Sunday (Primus of course!) 

  I thank you for talking, helping her in relearning/learning, she is really enjoying it here. 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Ricprimus on February 21, 2011 at 4:15am

Choco, back in the beginning of January we had a major blog going started by David V. titled  Hermeneutics – What is that animal and can we eat it? Hahahha fo sure!; it had a lot of good discussions on the different approaches to Bible study, and, lol lots of side discussions; a lot is quite technical and there's some humor throw in it all.  Some of your questions may be answered there.  There is an entire category of Blogs too on the Bible; history on its making, versions, etc.

  As to question #1; well, most people follow one of the various plans out there, many church communities have their own, such as a chapter a day, etc.  If you already belong to a fellowship, ask your minister if they are on a plan; but, it is still personal choice, but I recommend, thoygh it is hard not to jump in the New testament right off, to do the Old testament first since it lays out the history, etc leading to the new, along with "foreshadowing" the events of the New.

  Question #2 also is largely a matter of taste, but again take into your church community, most use a relatively identical version amongst the members as a matter of ease in a Bible study group.

  My own tastes as Anna wrote earlier are the King James simply because I love the flowing, poetical language for the "feel" and I use a very precise literal translation for study (much of my art in the past, and probably in the future is based on a Scriptural passage in formal calligraphy then illustrated with a particular culture's symbolism and techniques along with a particular historical time frame).

  Scan the blog list here, there is a lot of excellent material on the Bible, how and who wrote it, the selection of which books were included, how to interpretate, etc).

  I hope this helps somewhat.

 

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Permalink Reply by Naomi Bair on February 21, 2011 at 12:25pm

Dear Choco,

I like reading the King James Version, and the Amplidied. The Amplified helps you to under stand the bible clearly. Get a bible that is not a Study bible. You can get a paralell bible which is both King James Version and Amplified. It is 2 bibles in one. I like that.

I am thinking now to get me a Scofield bible.  I always like reading bibles of my choice.  I recommend for you the PARALELL BIBLE.

Hope this helps.

Naomi

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Permalink Reply by John P. on March 17, 2011 at 9:15am

I read a 'King James Version', and an old 'Living Bible' to help me understand the old English.

 

Here is one reason, I had a NAS ( New American Standard Bible ) for years, and I always wondered about this passage John 7:8

 ⁸"Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come."

But later Jesus does go, verse 10,

 ¹⁰But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.

I always thought to mysefl, for 20+ years.  Why would Jesus say He's not going, then go? He never lied.

The King James says,

  ⁸Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come.

so the KJV, says" yet," and now many newer versions put that in the footnotes.

So, I stick to the hard to read KJV!   (and sometimes that old English is hard to read!!!!!!)

But I do read all other versions to help me understand the KJV.

I plan to buy an 'Amplified Bible' when I can afford it.

 

Blessings..

 

John

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Permalink Reply by SHYLEEJAN on February 21, 2011 at 9:45pm

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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Permalink Reply by SHYLEEJAN on February 21, 2011 at 10:03pm

HI Choco,

               What Noani say is true ,the two in one is realy good.whatever u cant understand in the King James the Amplified will bring it out clearly. Please read the bible from Matthew to Revelation that way u will understand so much why he came  to the earth. Then u can read from Genesis to Malachi and beleive me u will see what i mean,how different the law was before grace came along.

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Permalink Reply by John Lemmon on February 27, 2011 at 8:55pm

Hi Choco,

Just to add my two cents worth on this topic:

 

1. You need to work out what works for you. What works for some won't work for others, as you are finding out with the reading plan. As an example, I struggled for a long while to do personal study because I had been reading the bible and studying it for over forty years. The challenge for me was to keep motivated to read regularly. This may sound odd as every time I did study I always got value, but the challenge for me was to just get around to sitting down to do it.

My solution was to start a daily blog. I read a paragraph or so each day and write what I see and get from it. I do this at the start of the day every day and have been doing so since about mid November last year. It works for me and when I get stumped on a part, I write that too and ask anyone who reads the blog to help out as I don't pretend to know everything for a minute.

This works for me, but may not for others. As I said, you need to put your issue to the Lord and have him lead you so you find what will work for you...it may take a while!

2. As for the version, I mainly use the RSV because I grew up with it and have studied it for so long that when a scripture comes to mind it comes as the RSV. Unfortunately the RSV is no longer in print as it has been replaced with the NRSV which is a little different. There have been some changes that I do not like in the NRSV so I won't be changing over to it (just a personal preference thing...not "bashing" the translation). But I have the dilemma that my old RSV bible is getting pretty tattered and worn, so I will need to find a new bible translation sooner or later. This is how I have been looking at this issue and it may help you too.

For a study Bible I recommend any Bible that is a "literal" translation. That is, one that is as close as possible to the original Greek and Hebrew as you can find. There are many Bibles that are interpretive and they have their place, but for study we need the truth as close as we can get to the original tongues, thus the literal translation suggestion. You can see what path each translation follows by reading the translators preface, as this is usually a good indication of what you will find in the text.

 

Anyway, I think I've used up my two cents.

All the best in your search.

Your brother in Christ,

John

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on February 28, 2011 at 8:21am

Amen John - Well said my friend.

 

Choco -

 

Always ask God to give you wisdom and enlightenment. Study it don't just read it. Do not skip words you do not know the meaning of - have a dictionary with you or an on - line one. A bible dictionary would be even better.

Ask these three things:

 

1. What did this verse, verses or chapter mean to the original readers? Take the text back to its historical context.

2. What is the text teaching me, what is God trying to help me see there?

3. What is the application of the text? How do I apply it to my life?

 

Those are good questions to keep in mind but most of us won’t remember to ask them, special when the Spirit makes the word come alive and we are being filled with God's power, freedom and faith through our study. So by no means are they to be a strict regimen.

 

I pray before reading and feast on the word. The important thing is to read verse by verse .

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on February 28, 2011 at 8:33am

Hey you Bev - love you!

Great post my sista.

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Permalink Reply by OldPilot on March 14, 2011 at 3:53pm

1) At the beginning of the year I set out to read the bible entirely by the end of the year. Right now I am doing a bible reading plan that has you reading section on the Law on Sunday, History on Monday, Psalms on Tuesday, Poetry on Wednesday, Prophecy on Thursday, Gospels on Friday and Epistles on Saturday. Here is the website: http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html 

Also, I pick a book in the bible old or new testament to do an in-depth study. I will purchase a commentary, i.e. Barclay commentary on Romans for example, to give me another perspective.

 

2) I am reading the The Apologetics Study Bible: Understand Why You Believe  Holman CSB® translation. I am really enjoying this bible translation. I also like to read the King James, NIV, and ASVB. I like to see how different translators translate a bible verse. 

 

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