The Plan Overview
The contents of the Bible are the most important things for you to understand in this lifetime. Very few people refute this statement, yet fewer still can say that they actually know Jesus as well as their chosen career or favorite movie. The distractions of our world have kept us from learning these First Things...and each of us must learn how to work around the obstacles that keep us from knowing Jesus. Sooner than we realize, we will meet Him face to face. The books you are about to study promise that repeatedly.
When you have completed this study, you will understand the story so well that you can then teach it to others. Learning and memory are improved by many different methods: Repetition is the most familiar to everyone who has taken an exam, but multiple modalities, desire, goal orientation, and receptivity play a part as well. The single most crucial element in learning complex concepts however, is the proper SEQUENCING of material. The proper sequence clears the two biggest hurdles: where to start (1) and when to read the hard stuff (2). Many of you have already tried and failed to understand the Bible because of one or both of these obstacles. Knowing what NOT to read early is as important as where to start.
Where to start reading the bible
The order in which the books were placed in the Bible was NOT meant to facilitate left to right reading. The texts were organized by length (longest to shortest) in distinct sections (history, prophecy, etc) to allow for the easy referencing of scrolls, centuries before the printing of books. A comprehensive reading plan must understand this LIBRARY concept and study the books early, middle or later in order to gain the greatest understanding of each.
The Plan
The First Wave
The Second Wave
The Second Wave
GOSPELS & STORYLINE
The First Wave of books must read easily, define Jesus thoroughly, and give you the storyline. The Gospels are the primary accounts of Jesus so they should dominate the introduction - along with a careful reading of Genesis and Exodus. The rest of the First Wave should then lay out the storyline chronologically. This run through the historical books is “horizontal” learning because it provides a broad outline as an overview.
The Second Wave
The Second Wave
The Second Wave
EPISTLES & PROPHETS
The Second Wave includes those books that further develop our understanding of the story, “vertical” learning per se. The Epistles are mostly letters to communities or individuals that more thoroughly explain what Jesus had just accomplished. The longer prophetic books from the Old Testament also belong here because Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel discussed at great length who was to come and return us to Paradise.
Third Wave
The Second Wave
Anytime Reading
REVELATION & THE TWELVE
The Third and Final Wave includes those books that are the most difficult to study. Revelation must be read late, when its abundant scriptural references can be easily grasped. Leviticus, the laws of the ancient Israelites, is very confusing if read early; but knowing that the boy Jesus read it first (and quoted it often) will add great texture to your understanding. The Twelve Books of the Minor Prophets, "minor" only because they are shorter in length, will be more easily understood when placed into a historical context (that you will then understand).
Anytime Reading
The Senses of Scripture
Anytime Reading
The Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament (Proverbs, Psalms) can be read at any time during your study. Emphasizing beauty, truth, and living well, Wisdom can advise and console any time, any day, every day.
The Senses of Scripture
The Senses of Scripture
The Senses of Scripture
Another key point in the study of Sacred Scripture is that the truth found here is seen through one of four lenses: the LITERAL, the MORAL, the ALLEGORICAL, or the HEAVENLY. The literal truth is foundational: The Faith stands completely on the absolute literal death of Jesus on the cross and the actual Empty Tomb of Easter Sunday. If either of these events did not actually occur, then this game is over and "our faith is in vain" (I Cor. 15:14).
Handouts
The Senses of Scripture
The Senses of Scripture
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