Making Sense of the Bible , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - David Whitehead

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93 pages

English

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I Want to Read the Bible, but Where Do I Start?The Bible can seem like an intimidating book, but it may be easier to understand than you think. Making Sense of the Bible will teach you how to enjoy studying it on your own. David Whitehead has been helping people engage with the Bible for years, including through his popular website, The Daily Bible Verse. The Bible is an incredible gift from God to you, and this brief "user's manual" will teach you how to get the most out of it. Perfect for individual or group use, this book answers basic questions like how to know which Bible version is right for you, and from there introduces you to its stories, people, and major themes.In the end, reading the Bible isn't just about knowledge, it's about connecting with the God who speaks through His Word. Let this engaging book help you hear what He wants to tell you.

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	12 août 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441264022
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0780€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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© 2014 by David Whitehead
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www . bakerpublishinggroup . com
Ebook edition created 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-6402-2
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007
Scripture quotations marked NIV1984 are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968,1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Cover design by LOOK Design Studio
Author is represented by Foundry Literary & Media.
“This book is absolutely terrific! For anyone wanting a bright and clear primer on the Bible, this is what you’ve been waiting for. I unreservedly recommend it to anyone with questions about the most important book in history. I’m deeply grateful to my friend David Whitehead for this excellent work.”
— Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
“As a previously cynical, biblically illiterate new follower of Jesus I needed Making Sense of the Bible to take me by the hand and lead me through the path of the elaborate complexity and rich coherence of the Christian Scriptures. As a church planter and pastor I am always eager for a well-informed, relevant, and comprehensible resource that I can use to help the unchurched and initiate Christians to make sense of the Bible. As if having a conversation over brunch with a friend, David Whitehead accomplishes this while addressing the common questions and concerns many people have when engaging the Bible.”
— Robert Guerrero, New York City church-planting catalyst, Redeemer City to City
“This is a book that will renew your faith in the God of the Bible. I recommend it for every person who would say that they are on a spiritual journey toward Christ.”
— Jon Tyson, church planter in New York City, catalytic leader of the City Collective, author of Rumors of God and Sacred Roots
“ Making Sense of the Bible will help elevate the relevance of God and show how people can grasp the big concepts of Scripture.”
— Dimas Salaberrios, president of Concerts of Prayer Greater New York
To my wife, Kathleen,
who has remained my inspiration and friend through the seasons of life . I could not have done this without you .
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Endorsements 5
Dedication 6
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction 11
1. Why Are There So Many Translations? 17
2. The Heart of the Reader 25
3. Writing Styles in the Bible 37
4. Abraham: Friend of God 45
5. The Gospels 55
6. The Epistles 63
7. The Old Testament Narratives 77
8. Moses: The Man Who Saw God Face-to-Face 91
9. Poetry in the Bible 101
10. David: A Man After God’s Own Heart 119
11. The Prophetic Literature 129
12. Jesus: God With Us 139
Epilogue: A Final Word 149
Appendix A: A One-Year Bible-Reading Plan 155
Appendix B: Where Can I Learn More? 161
Notes 165
About the Author 171
Back Ad 172
Back Cover 173
Acknowledgments
Many people have helped me along the way to creating the book that you now hold in your hands. Stefanie Peters spent hours nurturing and editing my writing skills. Carl Vasser has been the technical engineer behind The Daily Bible Verse , causing that humble commentary to be used around the world. Chris Park of Foundry Literary & Media, and Andy McGuire of Bethany House, took a chance on this new, unknown writer. Last but not least, the Community of Grace has given me many wonderful opportunities to test and adjust this material in the bold landscape of New York City.
I am deeply indebted to each of these and many others on this journey. Thank you.
Introduction
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
—2 Timothy 3:16–17
T he goal in reading the Bible is not to simply read the Bible . The goal in reading the Bible is to get to know and interact with the God of the Bible .
Sound radical? I stumbled on to this understanding when I first became a Christian, and it has been the way I have approached the Scriptures for more than thirty years. For me, the Scriptures have been a guide in the darkness, a lifeline when I have felt overwhelmed, and much-needed correction when I have overestimated my own spiritual importance.
There are a lot of books about how to read the Bible, so why do we need another one? In many ways, this book is an extension of my experience in writing the daily online devotional The Daily Bible Verse (www.thedailybibleverse.org), which has taken on a life of its own on the Internet and now reaches many corners of the world. Of course, one of the wonders of the Internet is how it gives us the ability to interact with one another instantly. As I review the comments on my Facebook page and receive personal emails, one of the questions I am often asked is “How can I understand the Bible?” It seems that even the people who have been exposed to the Bible most of their lives don’t know what to do with it.
Most people in this country know what the Bible is. It is sold in most bookstores. Many families have Bibles somewhere in their house, even if it’s in the attic or other storage space. Bibles are often given as gifts, especially at times of a birth, marriage, or graduation. When I’ve mentioned the Bible in conversation, I have yet to hear anyone ask, “What is the Bible?”
The Bible fascinates people. Yet when one tries to read it, there is one obvious barrier: the Bible is a big book.
If you start at the beginning, it’s interesting enough: the creation, the flood, the nomads, and Egyptian kings. But beyond that, the Bible takes a different tack: laws for eating, building plans, family trees. Suddenly the reader gets bogged down in a lot of things that seem boring and irrelevant to current everyday life. There is much to be gained from these sections of Scripture, but because we don’t see the big picture, we can miss what God wants to say to us through the more detailed portions of the Bible.
This presents a problem in an age when people are reading less. A recent survey from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) states that nearly half of Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four read no books for pleasure. 1 Yet when Christians talk about growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ, people are told to read their Bible.
But it’s a really big book! My copy of the Bible has 1,326 pages. When I first looked at a Bible, I was pretty intimidated. My family did not attend church or talk about the Bible much except in vague terms. At a very young age, I determined that all religions were myths, and I turned to atheism as the only reasonable view of the universe.
At the age of twenty, my roommate became a Christian, and I was determined to get him out of his “religious phase.” Yet in my attempts to bring him back to what I considered sanity, I found that Christianity had better explanations about life than my own views of the world. I was confounded, and thus began my journey toward God. 2 I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but I became acutely aware that a force I couldn’t see with my physical eyes was drawing me to the historical event of Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection. I realized that if I were to make any sense of these claims about Christ, I would have to understand the claims of the Bible.
As a new follower of Jesus Christ, I didn’t know the difference between the Old and New Testaments. There was a major fear factor when I started reading Revelation—all of that stuff about beasts coming out of the water and the threat of Antichrist kept me up at night. I was thrilled to know that the Bible was there to help me, but it took a while for me to get up the