Getting Started With Serious Bible Study
Many people of faith are considering becoming a serious student of the Bible -- but they are unsure where to start. Becoming a serious Bible student needs a true commitment and a systematic approach, but it isn't quite as complicated and confusing as some might have you believe. In Video Bible Study want to outline a perspective general recommendations which can help you to begin.
A Definite Plan Needed
Among the most important things to be stressed is that in order to become prosperous in Bible study you must have an organized strategy. Lots of men and women believe this is past them cause they're too busy -- but in reality, the busier you are the more you require a strategy! With a plan in place, even if your time is limited, you will have the ability to understand exactly where you left off on your studies -- active people don't have time to fool around using a disorganized, hit-and-miss approach. There are, of course, that a great number of different kinds of Bible study programs and plans that are available -- you can discover many of them from Christian book publishers and from online resources on the Internet.
The main thing is to get an organized strategy -- if you were a student in college studying economics, as an instance, your instructor would map out a complete program that would take you through the entire textbook -- and this is the way you need to approach your study of the Bible.
The Value of Context
Ultimately, in your research of the Scriptures, your final objective is to make sense of everything -- to understand it, to translate it properly. "Context" has many different levels: the instant context, which would be the poetry and passages which encircle the one which you're analyzing, the publication context (how a particular Bible passage fits in with the subject or message of a specific book of the Bible), the literary context (how one prophetical writing, for example, fits in with the other prophetical writings), and ultimately the overall context of the entire Bible.
Know the Historical and Cultural Background
It's also important to understand something of the cultural and historic setting in which the writings of the Bible have been awarded. The documents were composed thousands of years back -- during times far removed from our own, if distinct countries ruled the earth, and when different traditions and ways of living prevailed. None of us is born with a built-in knowledge of those ancient times -- we have to take some opportunity to find out about them.
Luckily, there are a terrific number of resources available that can assist us in understanding the historical and cultural histories of the Bible -- Bible study tools like Bible Encyclopedias and Bible dictionaries can place the vast sources of biblical scholarship at our fingertips.
As you study the Scriptures, try to relate the message and significance of a specific passage of the Bible into the total message of the entire biblical book. For instance, suppose you're studying Exodus Chapter 20, the accounts of the giving of the 10 Commandments. You have to ask yourself questions such as -- who wrote the book of Exodus? Who was the book of Exodus written to? What is the Goal of the book of Exodus? Obtaining answers to those questions is critical to obtaining a proper understanding of what the Bible is all about.
Use Good Tools
Again, not one of us is born with this information already packed inside of our head -- we will at some point need to look up and explore this background using different kinds of biblical reference tools -- which means that part of your task as a serious Bible student is to build up, over time, a small private or household biblical reference library. It is not that you're trying to become a "bookworm" -- you should see these materials as tools, just as any contractor or contractor or a electrician has their own set of resources that they will need to get the job finished.
A Definite Plan Needed
Among the most important things to be stressed is that in order to become prosperous in Bible study you must have an organized strategy. Lots of men and women believe this is past them cause they're too busy -- but in reality, the busier you are the more you require a strategy! With a plan in place, even if your time is limited, you will have the ability to understand exactly where you left off on your studies -- active people don't have time to fool around using a disorganized, hit-and-miss approach. There are, of course, that a great number of different kinds of Bible study programs and plans that are available -- you can discover many of them from Christian book publishers and from online resources on the Internet.
The main thing is to get an organized strategy -- if you were a student in college studying economics, as an instance, your instructor would map out a complete program that would take you through the entire textbook -- and this is the way you need to approach your study of the Bible.
The Value of Context
Ultimately, in your research of the Scriptures, your final objective is to make sense of everything -- to understand it, to translate it properly. "Context" has many different levels: the instant context, which would be the poetry and passages which encircle the one which you're analyzing, the publication context (how a particular Bible passage fits in with the subject or message of a specific book of the Bible), the literary context (how one prophetical writing, for example, fits in with the other prophetical writings), and ultimately the overall context of the entire Bible.
Know the Historical and Cultural Background
It's also important to understand something of the cultural and historic setting in which the writings of the Bible have been awarded. The documents were composed thousands of years back -- during times far removed from our own, if distinct countries ruled the earth, and when different traditions and ways of living prevailed. None of us is born with a built-in knowledge of those ancient times -- we have to take some opportunity to find out about them.
Luckily, there are a terrific number of resources available that can assist us in understanding the historical and cultural histories of the Bible -- Bible study tools like Bible Encyclopedias and Bible dictionaries can place the vast sources of biblical scholarship at our fingertips.
As you study the Scriptures, try to relate the message and significance of a specific passage of the Bible into the total message of the entire biblical book. For instance, suppose you're studying Exodus Chapter 20, the accounts of the giving of the 10 Commandments. You have to ask yourself questions such as -- who wrote the book of Exodus? Who was the book of Exodus written to? What is the Goal of the book of Exodus? Obtaining answers to those questions is critical to obtaining a proper understanding of what the Bible is all about.
Use Good Tools
Again, not one of us is born with this information already packed inside of our head -- we will at some point need to look up and explore this background using different kinds of biblical reference tools -- which means that part of your task as a serious Bible student is to build up, over time, a small private or household biblical reference library. It is not that you're trying to become a "bookworm" -- you should see these materials as tools, just as any contractor or contractor or a electrician has their own set of resources that they will need to get the job finished.
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