人生行路 — The Journey of Life

I only changed the address of this blog like…two days ago?…and already I have a link from a major blog. Interesting.

The more major news on that blog, however, is the ESV Study Bible, which is said to be scheduled for an October 2008 release. Their blog has a good list of blog posts regarding the recent website launch. Unfortunately, I have to say that I’m personally more skeptical of this effort than I was about the Literary Study Bible.

I definitely relate to Richard’s comment at the Boar’s Head Tavern:

I think if you have more editorial words than actual bible text you don’t have a Bible anymore but a commentary. A commentary which (Matthew is correct) seeks to promote a Reformed perspective. Nothing wrong with that but perhaps it should be pointed out.

I’m still trying to understand the whole Calvinism / Arminianism divide. You’d definitely be able to tell that if you’ve seen my latest purchase lists from Amazon.com. For Calvinists, there’s already the Reformation Study Bible with R. C. Sproul at the conn.

What is this junk about people needing a study bible from “one’s own tradition” anyhow? Shouldn’t we be open to whatever God wants to communicate through the Word? And do such commentaries possibly take away from the Word? If I want commentary, I’ll read another book.

Meanwhile, I did finally receive an audio ESV the other day when we finally received some mail. This is also very much a blessing.

ADDITION: If they’re able to illustrate Solomon’s temple, how will they illustrate pre-Moses events which remain in theological or archaeological dispute as related to new-earth creationism vs. evolution, and variants thereof?  Are we in for illustrations of the Garden of Eden or Noah’s Ark?  (As a matter of record, I’m an evolutionist.)

Here’s a confession. I’ve been following Christ for over ten years now, and I’ve never read the entire Bible.

Earlier this year, I started off determined to read the Bible in a year. I had become a fan of the English Standard Version after having done much reading comparing it with other versions. By no means am I declaring absolute loyalty to this specific version, but it is the answer to much prayer concerning worries I had over the NIV.

I had also obtained a copy of the Literary Study Bible, which is also a godsend. I had never been able to really process the Bible in terms of entire books as opposed to individual chapters, or in particular places, individual verses. Most of us have verses that we’ve committed to memory, but how often do we really look at the whole thing? How many of us really figure out the structure of the book of Numbers? I certainly never had.

However, the most important thing that the effort taught me is that it’s bad for me to trust myself with sticking with a daily plan.

Before I elaborate on why, let’s get a certain lame excuse out of the way: “I don’t have time” doesn’t cut it. If God wants you to do it, He will allow you time. There’s twenty-four hours in a day, so figure it out. If you spend an hour a day on the Internet reading things like this article, and you’re not reading the Bible on a regular basis, stop reading this article, turn off your computer, and go pick up your Bible.

With that said, I’m here to offer you a different approach than lists that say “January 1st: read this. January 2nd: read this.” My current effort is going to focus on reading entire books. For one, it better enables the reader to process the entire book rather than series of passages. Secondly, it doesn’t have a time limit. If you take a week off, you can get back where you left off, or if you forget what happened beforehand, go back to the beginning of the book and reread.

This is not to argue that trying to read the Bible in a year isn’t a worthy goal, but for some of us it might actually be lofty. Anything is possible with God on your side, but when you’re someone like me who is constantly going in and out, not to mention waking up at “ungodly” hours for various work-related tasks, you might be better off just checking books off.

Somehow I got through the first five books of the Old Testament without a major hitch. The stumble came when I started reading Joshua, and no, that’s not Joshua’s fault; it’s mine for not relying on God to keep me going, or simply to have him direct me where I ought to be reading.

Accordingly, I’m making the switch over to Matthew, followed by possible alternation between OT and NT books. More importantly, I’ll be reading more Bible and less finance websites. That’s been swamping me over the past three weeks.