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How do YOU read the Bible?
#1
Do you just read from Genesis straight through Revelation? Do you read chunks here and there? Im honest enough to say that even though I consider myself zealous about biblical topics and Nazarene Christianity, I feel I dont know how to read my Bible. Its obviously incredibly dense and varies in topics in the forms of epistles, letters, gospels, historical stories, genealogies, etc. etc.

I feel I need a Bible reading plan, in which I wont forget everything I read the next day due to overreading, and will stick in my mind and heart. I know such "Read the Bible in One Year" plans exist on traditional Christian websites (who I dont shun to be inferior or not good enough), but I thought I'd ask on this board since many are more familiar with my belief of Torah observant Christianity. How do YOU read the Bible?
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Elohim, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecc.12:13
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#2
Shlama Akhi Daniel,

This is easy. I do follow the 54-sidrot system for reading the whole Torah and Haftarot portions in a year. In addition, I have devised in AENT NT portions to go with the weekly Shabbat readings. The NT is classified by four "scrolls" that are the Gospels through Acts, The Major Testimonies (Hebrews, James, Jude, 1/2 Peter, Romans, 1/2 Cor), The Ten (all other of Paul's letters) and the Second Testimony of Yochanan (1-3 John, Revelation). The system sometimes puts just one of these "scrolls" to add and other times uses multiple scroll entries, depending on the size.

Beyond that cycle there are things I read daily, like the Psalms, Proverbs and Gospels. Job has been a particular favorite of late, as of course Esther was due to Purim just happening.

Great question. You can see a schedule of readings in the back of AENT.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
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#3
Shlama rungold,

Quite an interesting question, and I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this one. I suppose a good start would be, how did the 1st (i.e Jewish) believers read the Bible? As a "Torah-keeping Christian" I think you'll find this page quite interesting: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.torahwellsprings.org/Pages/parsha.htm">http://www.torahwellsprings.org/Pages/parsha.htm</a><!-- m -->. You can also check out lectionaries of different churches here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bombaxo.com/lectionaries.html">http://www.bombaxo.com/lectionaries.html</a><!-- m -->. Of course this is where "assembly reading" is concerned, when it comes to personal study there's no right or wrong way, I usually just open up anywhere & start reading but I hope the links I gave you will inspire you to create your own reading plan.

Oh, and akhi Andrew, lemme say that the "lectionary" you've devised for AENT is great too.
Shalom, Shlama, Salaam & Yiasou.
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#4
Thinking about this further, I would also actually love to read the entire Bible through (no I haven't done it yet), so anyone here who has recommend the best way to do it? I think audio is a good option.
Shalom, Shlama, Salaam & Yiasou.
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#5
Shlama Akhi Daniel,

Great question, I'm surprised no one has touched this here before in the general section.

How do I read? With questions. And prayer. And open mind. And help of others (e.g. commentaries).
But nothing can substitute my own meditation upon the word and how it applies/relates to my life.
I read on my own and also with others. When I read with my children they are expected to ask questions.
I like listening to audio but it is not the same as reading, I do not know why, cannot define it really. Love reading outloud, it is different.

I have done in the past a "linear" reading of all Bible books following toc (OT and NT in parrallel, "killing" chapters on a list as I went along), just to make sure my eyes have seen all the verses, so I have earned membership in the "read whole Bible society" but I wouldn't repeat it in the same way, books need to be read in different order to have a good perspective, and funnily quite often I read and say "I have never seen this before!". Now? Psalms and Gospels every day (almost), weekly Torah portion (but not according to the parshiot, bad me, I know) and the rest as I feel right and necessary for the moment. Currently the books read are Acts and Melachim, evangelist is Mark. I'm not the best disciplined person so sometimes miss a day. Sometimes I feel I should stay with one or three Psalms for several days and do not move to the next.

Hope this helps someone.

Question to Akhan Andrew: The Weekly Scripture Readings in AENT do not cover all of the Tanakh, correct? So Daniel and Christina would need to use some other checklist (or reading plan) to make sure they cover all text, if they want to. You guys have encouraged me to give the list from AENT a try. So, where is the question ... Oh, here we go - how have you devised the matching of NT readings for each week, what was the underlying idea? Any existing, historical weekly reading schemes you have used? I was always wondering how different historical churches (COE, RCC, etc) come up with such liturgical reading lists.

Peace and blessings,
Jerzy

P.S. Tanakh in audio is available at Mechon Mamre for free. It would be FANTASTIC if similar list of mp3 files with Peshitta audio was made available. Maybe there is one but I'm not aware? I have actually helped in the past in indexing Tanakh mp3s in a free program called Davar (it also has an electronic searchable Peshitta text of BFBS 1905, unfortunately not in unicode fonts yet, only in square script - no nice fonts as at dukhrana). If you download mp3s from Mechon Mamre site and put them in the audio folder of this program you can click "play" at a particular verse and it starts reading it to ya starting from that place. There are websites with similar things now, I know, I know, hard to catch up with what happens on internet now. Starting to develop a rambling habit, I'm getting old, I guess.
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#6
I would vote again for an audio Bible. I figured out that with my commute to work of about 20 minutes each way, I can go through the entire Bible 2 1/2 times a year. I don't think that this should replace regular, focused study. But, after a few years worth I imagine that your familiarity with the basic narrative and characters would be greatly improved. The only problem is that I couldn't find a version I really wanted. You are basically stuck with traditional Greek/English translations for now. Of those, I chose a New King James because I don't like the CT, and it was only about $15. If you are a NASB fan, they have this product as well for the same price.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product/966715595?item_no=562781&event=CF#customer_reviews">http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... er_reviews</a><!-- m -->

With this as a backdrop, I prefer to go through studies theologically: Six months on soteriology, six months on eschatology, etc. I do this with books of the various topics from Amazon and comparisons between Biblical text that I trust (primarily Peshitta based at this point).
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#7
Shlama Akhi Jerzy,

You ask:

Question to Akhan Andrew: The Weekly Scripture Readings in AENT do not cover all of the Tanakh, correct? So Daniel and Christina would need to use some other checklist (or reading plan) to make sure they cover all text, if they want to. You guys have encouraged me to give the list from AENT a try. So, where is the question ... Oh, here we go - how have you devised the matching of NT readings for each week, what was the underlying idea? Any existing, historical weekly reading schemes you have used? I was always wondering how different historical churches (COE, RCC, etc) come up with such liturgical reading lists.

Peace and blessings,
Jerzy

The dividing up of the NT to fold into weekly Shabbat cycle reading is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern Netzari movement. I am not aware of any ancient designs either by the COE or early Western churches that specifically were tied to the 54 divisions of the Torah. The COE did however divide the Peshitta into weekly "lectionary" sections, but Paul Younan would be the true expert on that. I know the contours of those divisions, but am not privy to the deliberations that gave birth to them.

As more Nazarenes get into Peshitta study, or even just looking at the Hebraic Roots movement in general, different suggestions came from people like Trimm, Moshe K, and others. My approach was to look at those (and some others) and make also some changes that I felt more closely mirrored first century linkages. So to my mind Shavuot should be linked to the opening part of Acts, various NT celebrations of Passover to the original, and so on. It was actually almost the last thing I did on AENT, largely an afterthought as I looked through the Tanakh I got for my Bar Mitzvah and reviewed the way Tanakh was divided.

The Shabbat cycle readings, at least in the traditions of the last 2000 years that have come down to us, were never meant to incorporate the Writings sections. That doesn't mean the Ketuvim were never part of synagogue service, but rather that they were not officially part of the main reading. Esther, Job and some others are read during certain holidays. In actuality, not all of the Prophets are used weekly either, but only excerpts designed to go with the full Torah, or what we call haftarot. Tradition however does talk of a previous practice of incorporating all of Tanakh in sections over a 3 year period, but that precise division has been lost to history.

The majority view right now is to follow the one year reading cycle of Torah and Haftarot, augmented with NT in some fashion for Nazarene use. I think though that in coming years, once Peshitta is accepted by a majority as base text, that exploring this matter again with a full Beit Din will be inevitable.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
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#8
The Gideons International has an excellent annual Bible reading plan covering the whole Bible. It can be be downloaded as a PDF at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gideons.org/ReadTheBible/ReadingCalendar.aspx">http://www.gideons.org/ReadTheBible/Rea ... endar.aspx</a><!-- m -->

Look for "Download now" in the middle of the page.

Otto
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#9
For The GIdeons International reading calendar, be sure to set your printer to "landscape" page orientation.

Otto
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#10
Andrew Gabriel Roth Wrote:Shlama Akhi Jerzy,

[..]

The majority view right now is to follow the one year reading cycle of Torah and Haftarot, augmented with NT in some fashion for Nazarene use. I think though that in coming years, once Peshitta is accepted by a majority as base text, that exploring this matter again with a full Beit Din will be inevitable.

Shlama Akhi Andrew,

Thank you for all the explanations. And for the effort of preparing and publishing the AENT.

Jerzy
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#11
Good post, sometimes its important to remember the reason we are studying the texts. For me it is to get a clearer understanding of the texts so we can read and understand!

I know I comment alot on posts that were done with last year, but me and my wife decided to go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I read it to my wife and "targum" the more semetic parts and subtleties I recognize from my own background, she's American but she gets most of it without my help.

Its great, and Its really meaningful to take a close look at the text together in this kind of systematic way, in my opinion the scripture really unfolds as you move through history, the revelation of the Meshikha and the true nature of our Father in the scriptures is like the dawn, shining ever brighter unto the perfect day.
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