Wednesday 26 November 2008

How Do You Read Yours?

8
I sat down last night with my ESV Study Bible, (I send some Bible love to my friend who gave it to me, I won't name you for fear of robbing your reward in heaven). After reading the introduction to Genesis I read through Genesis ch1-3 (the Creation & fall of humanity) While referring to the study notes below.

Then followed some line of thought or cross reference (I can't remember which) to Proverbs where I ended up reading ch2-5 while gleaning from the study notes below the main text. Then, again following a train of thought I turned to Song of Solomon, read ch1-8 & once again gleaned from the notes below.

I usually find myself doing this, particularly when reading in a study Bible or in a Thompson chain Bible. Jumping from one place to another following cross references or lines of thought that are provoked by where I've been reading.
Tonight I'll begin in Genesis ch4 in order to read through Genesis, how far will I get before I start moving around from book to book? I don't know!


This is the way I find myself reading through a Study Bible;

How do you read yours?
Or
If you don't read a Bible How do you eat your cream egg?
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About Boaly
Gary has been involved in printing the Scriptures for 20 years, enjoys photography and rambling online

8 comments:

Family Blogs said...

Thanks for those thoughts, Gary. I'm a lot more of a plodder, simply working through books using a reading plan.

Curious about your take on the ESV Study Bible's position on Creation and on the Flood. I think that they're fairly controversial from what I've read in online reviews.

Blessings,
A

11:29 am
Boaly said...

Yeh, of what i've read in the intro plus the notes I felt that although it shared all main veiws, & made an obvious attempt at being impartial it still came through as subtle as a slap in the face that the writer holds the 7 creation period view rather than a 7 literal day view which I am a firm believer in.
It actually has brought some hesitation to me about recommending the Bible to, especially young or new christians.

I'll comment more on it later, machine is running low on stock so I better load it up again.

11:45 am
Boaly said...

Just checked it out about the flood - it presents the assumption that Noah's flood was localized. Which i'm highly uncomfortable with since its such a huge thing & if it was local then God didn't fulfill his wrath in destroying man from the face of the earth, both man & beast & every living thing. (Gen 6:7)

So as I say in my previous comment my hesitation in recommending this grows, though I would say, & definately am finding it a very useful tool.

2:04 pm
Family Blogs said...

Thanks for your candour Gary. I had written a blog post on the issue but hesitated to publish it -I might go ahead anyway. I suppose my main fear is that people will use this Bible in the absence of other commentaries etc and take the views on Genesis as being the right approach. The consequences of the Flood issues are very wide ranging, in terms of God's future judgement as well as His activity in the past.

I've no doubt that there are many other virtues to the ESVSB, but this presents a handicap to its usefulness.

3:14 pm
Boaly said...

Flicking through it my guess is that these are the two major issues that I'll personally have it (they're also the only real major negative comments in reviews) so I'm still excited about the rest of it as a whole, but I know what you mean.

I share your fear "that people will use this Bible in the absence of other commentaries etc and take the views on Genesis as being the right approach."

Ideally it would be great to see Answers in Genesis being asked to do study notes for Genesis in Study Bibles, but then the other side of the argument would be questioning its usefulness I guess!

4:46 pm
Bolty said...

I love to choose a chapter and read through it slowly - stopping to pray over certain verses, phrases or words. I find this as an excellent way to engage with the living Lord through the living Word!

6:49 pm
Tim Millen said...

I'm presently reading through the Bible in chronological order using the Reese's Chronological Bible. I love the fact that I'm following the Biblical account in the order that the events actually happened - complete with the dates for each event.

In reference to the above comments about the ESVSB's position on Creation and the Flood - I am sad and not a little annoyed. So many people will be taking these study notes as fact! Why do these Biblical scholars have so much difficulty taking the text of the Bible at face value?
The only study Bible that I could recommend to new believers (with a clear conscience) is the MacArthur Study Bible - It's the only one I know of that actually teaches a young earth, six literal days and a global flood. Maybe there are others out there that I am not aware of?

9:30 pm
Boaly said...

Andrew, Bolty, Tim - thanks for sharing, seeing what others do is a great way to try other tested & proven methods of reading for ourselves.


In regards to the ESV, I have to say that now i'm past the flood i'm finding it very helpful.
Just read about Babel & on into Abram.
What a life we see in Abram!

The online aspect of the study Bible is highly impressive also.

But the creation & flood aspect are definately outstanding hinderances!

10:01 pm

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