Comments on: Reading the Bible

By: debdbuck

debdbuck — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:49:09 +0000

I’ve used http://www.BibleGateway.com for a long time to help me reference verses for websites and my own research. I recently discovered they have reading plans! I’m trying the OT/NT reading plan. For my first read-through, my goal is just that – read it! Not study, not analyze… just read it like I would one of my beloved fiction novels.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:22:22 +0000

Thanks for the good suggestions, everyone. I think I may give the Zondervan 3-yr. plan a whirl, Sister (though, maybe at a somewhat accelerated pace). I like the way it has you read the bible continuously but alternate between OT and NT.

By: Lynn Gazis-Sax

Lynn Gazis-Sax — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:48:32 +0000

What I've tried:

1)Pick a book at a time and study it. This works best if I have someone to study the book with (but sometimes I've done it on my own).

2)Lectionary. And sometimes Forward Day By Day to give me someone's reflections on part of the lectionary, which helps make it interesting.

3)A printed schedule I have that takes you through the Bible in a year, in order, but split four ways, so that you have some OT and some NT every day, and don't ever get stuck reading only some old census or genealogy.

4)As the Spirit moves me. When I try this, usually I'm moved to find really short Psalms :-). But at least I'm still keeping the habit of reading something daily, and I get a lot of Psalms.

5)Sometimes I've tried Liturgy of the Hours, but I've yet to do that consistently for any length of time.

At one point I made a point of reading through all the Apocrypha, in order, because all the schedules I'd ever used had included OT and NT and left the Apocrypha out.

By: Lutheran Zephyr

Lutheran Zephyr — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:09:30 +0000

I admit to not reading the Bible as much as I ought. However, it might be helpful to read the Bible in a systematic, book-by-book manner until you get a good grasp on the books and their themes, plots, etc., and then move to a lectionary-based reading schedule. Of course, you could alternate such schedules or follow the lectionary during particularly the “high” seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter, and ditch the lectionary for a book-by-book approach during the “green” seasons.

Kudos to you for having a daily practice of reading the Bible!

By: Chris T.

Chris T. — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:45:11 +0000

I read the Bible using the daily lectionary from the LC-MS hymnal. It helps with the OT issue, because you read through each book in its entirety. And you get through the whole Bible in a year, which is good. I feel like I would have a hard time staying focused with a longer-term reading plan.

By: Sister Mary Hasta

Sister Mary Hasta — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:39:58 +0000

Many, many moons ago, I was given a Zondervan's NRSV Student Bible. It had all sorts of nifty in-chapter bits of information, summaries of each book of the Bible, and most importantly, what they called a three-track reading plan. Which, hey, is now on the Internet. I'd done most of the two-week plans, the 180 day tour, and the read-the-whole-bible-one-chapter-a-day-it-takes-three-years plan.