The Bible

[SixTen]

So I started reading the Bible, like last week or so. I am not a very religious person, but I wanted to read it in full anyway.

But every time I open it up, I read a couple pages before getting too tired to move on and fall asleep. I read a lot, so I usually finish a good chunk of a book before setting it down. But I started last week and I am only on chapter 26 or so of Genesis. (For those of you who haven't read it, the chapters are very short.)

Anyone else have this problem?

[theplustwo]

Well, alot of the Bible is geneologies and stuff, which is pretty tiresome reading. Plus, the fact that it is such a thick book can be daunting. But it is good to have read it, so you know what people are talking about when they quote various passages and whatnot. The new testament is much easier reading, however. :)

[AtmaWeapon]

It is also dependent on the translation you are reading; for some people KJV is tough to read. I prefer it for some reason unbeknownst to me.

[Ich]

I tried doing that back in the Ninth grade, but got hung up partway through. I like the RSV, because it's the closest to a translation of what they would have said back then; NRSV has all this "If any man" changed to "If anyone" and so forth.

[Drunken Tiger]

Yeah, i just tend to skip to the stories... :shrug: And i have one that has an index that relates to issues, so when i feel like it.. i just browse through that.. I know people who can just sit down for hours reading.. :shrug:

[kariqual_insanity]

I tried reading the Bible front to back once, and couldn't do it. I would also get very tired and not to mention confused. There are a lot of people to remember. So I never finished it. The only book I read all the way through was the book of Revelation just because it talks about the End Of Days.

[Starkist]

For people who like history and fantasy and mythology, read the Old Testament from Genesis to the Kings, and Daniel, and then read the New Testament from Matthew to Acts, and Revelation. :)

I like the King James Version for the same reason I love Shakespeare.

[Jemsee]

I use the "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures".
It is a modern day translation. The oldest bible texts were used and a translation was made using everyday language.
The KJV was great for its day when everyone knew the language and wording.
Also this is a fresh translation; many Bibles are revisions of older translations.

As for reading it straight through, that may not be the best way.
Many have done it but you may try reading something you are more interested in.
During this time of year the 4 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John might hold your interest more.

Here is a website that has several ways on how to approach your bible reading.
http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/journey/
You may find it interesting. Don't know what version they use, but you could copy down the proposed schedule and just use your own.

[slothman]

You don't need to read it. Jesus dies. :D
I was watching a Biblical movie and they were saying "thou shall" and so forth. Then I realized they didn't speak English back then. "Thou" was only added because it was in use 1000 years ago when the Bible was printed. People may be used to it but it's as accurate as "you."

[aces2022]

Ya i had that sam eproblem when i tried to read it. Maybe it is because of all those sublimanal messages they say are in the bible. Anyone ever heard of that. I always wanted to see that stuff but never had the time to look many of it up.

[Starkist]

ACtually, sltohman, "Thou" and "You" can mean two very different things. It is only our modern language (and our smaller vocabularies) that blur the meanings of words so much.

[Archibaldo]

i remember last year a guy came to our school and handed out bibles and every one was reading them in class. you look around and see a whole bunch of kids with little red books. it was very strange.

[bigjoe]

The bible has been translated through many different languages, but its original meaning is not entirely lost. Someone had the ingenious idea of numbering the verses. While there are a few books to which this doesn't apply well, Revelations is the one I'm concerned with. I have compared dates in modern times to verses in Revelations and found striking similarity. For better clarification, read first 9:11 and surrounding verses. Then read 3:11 and surrounding verses. Finally, read 1: (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showpost.php?p=912744&postcount=14)06 and surrounding verses. In that order. I'm not saying this has any correlation whatsoever to the real world, but it's an interesting read, especially when you know the number of days those date/verses are seperated by. (and by that, I mean 9/11/01, 3/11/04, and 1/06/ (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showpost.php?p=912744&postcount=14)06)

Distance between 9/11 and 3/11: 911 days
Distance between 3/11 and 1/06/ (http://www.armageddongames.net/forums/showpost.php?p=912744&postcount=14)06(My 21st birthday):666 days.

Numerology is silly though. It's just something you can do for fun or maybe to predict people who take it more seriously.

[SixTen]

During this time of year the 4 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John might hold your interest more.

I tried that about two years ago. The gospels are basically the same story, retold four times. I couldn't stand that.

[King Link]

The Bible is, for the most part, a religious, written history as seen by Christians. I take the Bible and its readings very seriously, and I find it very interesting. However, I've never read the whole thing; in fact, I doubt I've read even a quarter of it, even though I have officially been confirmed in the Christian faith. Basically, it is a reference for support, knowledge and different views authors had on Christianity and what they saw. It is difficult to read.