This is part 4 in a series.
If you read yesterday’s post, and have decided to read through the Bible next year, I have a question for you: Did you read Genesis 1-4 yesterday? If not, go read that right now. Don’t read any further in this post until you’ve read Genesis 1-4.
Go ahead. I’ll wait….
Now then, if you have decided to take on this challenge, and have set for yourself a time and place, and begun to develop the self-discipline it will take to succeed, then congratulations! You are on your way. This post will give you some tools that may be helpful to you.
- Version Check: So you are planning to read through the Bible. Great. Which one? There is a long list of English Bible translations from which to choose. Which one are you going to read this year? This is an important question because some English translations of the Bible are easier to read than others. Bible translations and translation theory is something I have studied and thought about over the years at some length, and I believe that the most accurate and readable translation is the New International Version (NIV). Lots of Christians want to go to war over which translation is best. Although I like the NIV best, that does not mean that I dislike other translations. Each translation has strengths and weaknesses. Some Bible versions translate the Bible too loosely, in my opinion, for serious preaching and study. These would include the New Living Translation as well as The Message, the Living Bible, and other free translations and paraphrases. But I think that the New Living Translation is fine for simple Bible reading as it is more readable than the NIV and fairly accurate.
If you have hard, strong opinions about one translation or translation style over the others, I have a question for you. Would it be better to own, but never read, a highly accurate translation (NIV, ESV, NASB, KJV, whatever) or would it be better to actually read a “weaker” translation (such as the New Living Translation or even The Message)? That is not a false dichotomy. Most believers I know who do not read the Bible regularly are trying to read a translation that they don’t understand. Because none of the major evangelical Bible versions openly teaches heresy, I would rather one read a weaker translation than do no Bible reading at all. So, my advice to you who are going to read through the Bible this year for the first time is to read a Bible you can understand. You can always check a more conservative translation or ask a trusted pastor or friend if a question arises in your reading. Or you could read the more conservative translation you are comfortable with, but switch to a more readable translation for the passages where you are struggling to pay attention. Regardless of how you stand on the Bible version wars, put some thought into which translation you will read from. This one decision may be the difference between success and failure for you in reading through the whole Bible.
- The Daily Walk: This is a monthly magazine of daily devotionals, produced by Walk Thru the Bible. It tells you what chapters you need to read each day, gives you a paragraph or two of overview and summary, and gives you a few paragraphs to help you apply the text you read that day. I used this devotional guide for a number of years (although that was many years ago). It was a very helpful aid during my first few trips through the Bible. Assuming there has been no doctrinal drift over the years since I last used this, I would recommend it highly. Every month, when it came in the mail, it was like a little booster shot to my resolve to finish the entire Bible that year. You can subscribe here. You can view a sample here that will take you through the whole month of January.
- Special Read-Through-the-Bible Bibles. Another helpful tool for reading through the Bible is to use a Bible that is broken up into daily readings already. Walk Thru the Bible has one called The Daily Walk Bible. I’ve never used The Daily Walk Bible, but it is basically the same as The Daily Walk magazine (number 2 above).
The One Year Bible (New Living Translation edition here) is a product I have used in the past and I think it is very good too. It follows a different method for reading through the Bible. Instead of taking you straight from Genesis to Revelation, it has you read sections every day from the Old and New Testaments as well as Psalms and Proverbs. This variety of daily readings will help you to avoid getting stuck in some of the difficult sections of the Old Testament.
Another variation of this Bible is The One Year Chronological Bible This version of the Bible is interesting because it attempts to put the text of the Bible in a chronological sequence based on the events. In other words, it interrupts the book of Genesis before you get to Abraham in order to have you read the book of Job because many scholars feel that Job lived before the time of Abraham and his family. Likewise, the prophets are interspersed within the books of Kings and Chronicles and the Epistles are sprinkled in throughout Acts. So, as you read this Bible, you will get a sense of the flow of history as the Bible records it. I have read through this a number of times and I recommend it as a change of pace from the Genesis through Revelation approach to Bible reading.
More tips tomorrow. Until then, read Genesis 5-8 in the Bible version you can best understand.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }