TRC-002 The Reformed Catholic [17:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I almost called this podcast “The First Step’s the Hardest.” “Read? Whaddya mean, I got to Read?”

Well, the Bible does say that faith comes by hearing and you certainly can buy yourself an audio version of the Bible but nothing compares to reading God’s word and reflecting on His wisdom and plan for your life in His own words direct to you.

The one thing you don’t want to be is a pew potato: As a Catholic, all my life I had let other people tell me what the Bible had said. Once I started visiting churches that were Bible-centered and Christ-centered a whole new world had opened as I was challenged to read the Scripture for myself, both during the worship service and on my own time at home. As I started to understand more and more of the Biblical truths and someone actually presented me with a Christ-centered plan of salvation backed up by the words of Scripture, I asked “Why had I never heard any of this before?” Christ had always been “hidden in plain sight!”

Now, reading the Bible can sometimes seem daunting, or even scary, but here’s the good news right off the bat: you will never know it all! You can be born into a Christian household and read the Bible every day your whole life and when you’re a hair’s breath away from heaven at the age of 92 you will think you’ve only scratched the surface. That’s how rich, powerful, and living God’s Word is. Just like when you get married, the longer you are with your spouse the more and more you learn about them… you never stop learning. So it is with God, and God gives us this relationship through His Book.

Choosing a Translation:

First things first: If you are going to read a Bible, it’s gotta be a Bible you can read. If you open up and see words like “thy, thee, sitteth, saith, thou” that’s not the Bible you want to start with.

There are two basic types of Bible translations: word for word and thought-for thought. The word-for-word translations attempt to take each individual word in Greek and Hebrew and translate them into the native tongue (i.e. English) literally. Sometimes you run into some grammar problems like you would say, translating Spanish: In Spanish you would say “I’m going to the house of John” where in English you would say “I’m going to John’s house.” This is where translation shows itself as an art and not a science.

Some good modern word-for-word translations are the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New American Standard Bible (NASB). King James does have a more up-to-date translation but it’s accepted by many (myself included) that the ESV is the best and most readable modern word-for-word translation in print today. You can follow this link and watch a great video about its history, purpose, and acceptance by many churches today, and you can purchase your own ESV through their site or at the Online Resource Center at www.TheReformedCatholic.com

Thought-for-thought translations take the general idea of what the writer of scripture is trying to say and re-word it into a contemporary or more readable form. Sometimes nuances and underlying meanings can be lost but in general the Scripture is more readable. One of today’s most popular translations has been the NIV, or New International Version. More recently, a version called The Message has been written by a pastor originally for his young nephews, and is extremely contemporary and very readable but there is a lot to be said for the “dumbing down” of Scripture to make it more readable. I myself, when I first came to faith and decided to read the Bible in its entirety read the Contemporary English Version, or CEV. It’s very readable and holds a treasured place on my bookshelf as it was the first Bible I had ever read cover to cover.

What Type of Bible Will You Read?

Once you get past the translation, or version, of the Bible, you then have your choice of what additional information, if any, you want to have in your Bible. First, there’s just the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. This type of Bible contains only the Scripture and maybe some footnotes or cross references in the center or at the bottom of each page, but in general, is nothing but the Scripture. You can then choose to get a Bible with study notes of one kind or another. There’s the Life Application Study Bible that has notes on how you can take each verse of scripture and see how it can affect the way you live or how you can apply it in your life. There’s a Devotional Bible that can walk you through the Bible in a year or may have man or women-specific notes. There are Soldier’s Bibles, Firefighter’s Bibles, a Boys’ Bible and the list goes on. Each one gives helpful instruction for each type of application in your life, wherever you are.

I have a confession to make here… I used to tease my wife as to the number of Bibles she had when we met… I asked “Isn’t one enough?” Now I have more Bibles than she does (though right now I pretty much stick to my ESV Reformation Study Bible when I’m at home and I have a small travel NIV when I’m going out!)

A Quick Walk Through – From Genesis to Maps!

If you have a Bible, go get it and turn to the Table of Contents. The Bible, as you probably already know, is divided into two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. All together there are sixty-six books in the Bible and they are divided up into the following sections:

Old Testament

• The Pentateuch: Genesis through Deuteronomy
• The History Books: Joshua through Esther
• Poetry and Wisdom: Job through Song of Solomon
• Major and Minor Prophets: Isaiah through Malachi

New Testament

• The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• Early Church History: The Book of Acts
• The Epistles, or letters to the local Christian churches: Romans through Jude
• The Book of Revelation: God’s ultimate plan (we win!)

Understanding what you should understand…

Though the writings of the Bible are intrinsically simple (that is, even a child can understand the major messages, like the teachings of Jesus, the story of Adam and Eve and Noah, etc.) there are parts that you definitely won’t understand in the beginning. Don’t worry about it… you’ll deal with that later.
If you are going to read the Bible straight through for the first time, I have one word of advice: after reading Exodus skip on through to Joshua… Your first read through should be like getting familiar with a new friend: in this case, you are going to see God’s historical plan for his people in a 10,000-foot overview. Many people get to the book of Numbers and quit, so don’t lose your momentum.

Also, pick a time to read every day for 90 days. The Bible, as big as it seems, like an elephant, can be consumed one spoonful at a time. Some days you will sit at a banquet, and other days you will just have a snack, but consistent, daily reading of Scripture is a great way to start and end your day. You know what they say about building a habit: it takes 14 days to build a solid habit, and then it’ll be hard to break. (Speaking of which, tomorrow is day 2 of my new daily exercise habit (ouch!).

Finally, don’t hesitate to use a pen and either underline passages that are especially meaningful to you or that you may not understand and want to go back to later to get more information. Many Bibles have generous space in the margins or blank pages in the back for just this purpose. Think of the Bible as an instruction manual for your life. Someone once made an acronym for the Bible that reads Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. The Bible is your life’s workbook. If you came and saw my first Bible, that CEV I was telling you about, it’s got a bunch of underlines. If you look at my current Bible, my ESV Reformation Study Bible, you’ll find underlines, stars, sermon notes, personal notes, references to other books and pages, and more. The evidence of a Bible that is worn out is a life that is not.

Going from milk to meat…

Once you get the 10,000 foot overview, it’s time to dig in. Either join a Bible Study, participate in one online, or get a book about a book of the Bible… Romans or one of the Gospels would be a great place to start. Check the Resource Center at www.TheReformedCatholic.com for some introductory study aids on the books of the Bible to get you started. Also, I’ll be going through the book of Romans on this podcast so stay tuned for that!

If you were a parent of a young child, would you be happy if they never matured and stayed on the floor in diapers drinking milk and eating applesauce all day? No… I don’t think so. As you are His children, neither is God satisfied with a ‘milky’ Christian. He wants you to understand the depths of the knowledge of his love, his grace, and the gift He gave us in the salvation offered to us through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ. You will only get this through the daily feeding on the meat of His Word, the Bible.
So now you have a good idea how the Bible works. Pick up a version you can read, with notes that are meaningful to you, and start your relationship with Him today.

“Hey God? I’d like you to meet my friend <insert your name here>…”

He asked me to tell you that…

-Anthony