why so many books on how to read the bible?

Question

the bible is written in virtually every language. it's rather easy to follow, even with the somewhat older style of grammar used. so why are there so many books on how to read the bible? shouldn't it be up to the individual reader to decide whether or not it makes sense? shouldn't god's word have been obvious to every person, without need of an interpreter or someone to explain what is really meant by each passage?

for dd, i know some of these on the list are not howto's, but a lot more than just three...

http://www.shop.com/+-a-books+on+how+to+read+the+bible-p33584976-k36-st.shtml

Answer 1

ok. didn't know there were such books.

add: just googled it...got the same 3 books about a dozen times. i personally don't think i need an interpreter

add2: just checked out the link/books in it...you can sleep easy knowing i ain't gonna be ordering none of those..."how to read the Bible"...good grief. but, hey--it may help somebody out.

Answer 2

To fully understand the Bible, you need to know some of the history, culture, geography and language of the time. For example, can you tell me the relationship between the months of the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar that we use? It is the month a Adar, and God says to wait until the month of Tishri to do something, how long is that? If a man is traveling from Edom to Moab, how far is that? (Quick, tell me how far it is from Miami to Chicago without a map). Questions like that are much easier to answer with a reference to look them up.

Another difficulty with the Bible is understand the chronology of some of the book. For example, the letters of Paul are not arranged in chronological order, but rather from longest to shortest. Since they are not dated, how do you know which was written first? Even the names can be misleading, as it appears 2 Thessalonians may have been written before 1 Thessalonians.

When you get into the Old Testament, you have 12 small books at the end written by different prophets. Each of these books are read once a year in the synagogues by the Jews as part of a different feast day. So the books are arranged in the order in which they are read, not in chronological order. So it makes it difficult to associate the prophets with the time period when they wrote since they are "not in order". A reference book will help you with doing that.

There are literally thousands of people mentioned in the scriptures. Several share the same name. How many Johns and Marys appear in the New Testament? Having a guide book to the names, people and places makes it easire to keep track of the cast and locations. (Same reason they have things like "Cliff's Notes" to help students studying other literature.)

Are there also many images and themes which run through the scriptures. Nice to have a guide that shows you the different themes and images all in place to help you with the understanding.

I suppose that if I handed you a text on advanced micro-biology that given time you could understand it. But wouldn't it be a lot easier if you had reference books, other texts, a dictionary, and someone familiar with the subject to tutor you? It would make the learning a lot faster and easier. Why would the Bible be any different?

Answer 3

Good question.
There are different kinds of books on the Bible. Some are commentaries that give suggested interpretations of certain difficult passages. Some give suggested applications for our daily lives. Others show the principle of bible interpretation: you interpret what is unclear according to what is already clear.
As any Bible passage should be understood in the context of the rest of the Bible, it is helpful for a beginner to get a bit of guidance from someone who has studied the whole Bible thoroughly.
Some passages in the Bible are difficult at first. People have interpreted certain passages, for example, to give the impression that women were practically second rate members of God's kingdom. Anyone who takes into account the whole Bible will certainly understand that is not at all what the Bible teaches.
So all in all, I think those books are helpful. I find them especially useful in that some of them make me want to study the Bible more thoroughly.
Also, people who have had personal experience with God, putting in practice Bible principles, can be very helpful to the Bible reader.
But why so many books? Well, we all have different personalities. So according to our personality we will be helped by a different kind of writer.
As a pastor, I am perfectly bored by some excellent writers, other pastors are very much helped by the same! And vice versa: books that have really moved me to understand and appreciate the grace of God, have left other people bored. So I am thankful that we have a variety of such books.

Answer 4

Because there are countless lessons to be learned from the Bible - and so just as many different approaches to studying it.

Yes, it should be up to the individual what the Bible's stories mean, but it is often helpful to study it with others to bounce thoughts off of each other (similar to learning any subject in school and being broken into groups for discussion to provide a better or more complete understanding and application of what is being studied), or to study it with the added perspective of historians who can share knowledge about the time periods that the stories in the Bible are believed to have occurred in. Probably many other examples people will be able to come up with.

Does a person ultimately need an interpreter? NO. But there are many on here who use the Bible and it's passages as a weapon so often I that I wish they would consult one!

Answer 5

No, I disagree completely. The Bible was produced by a culture that was so far removed from ours that it is virtually impossible to understand it without some rather extensive background information. If you take a class on the New Testament at a secular college, I think you will see what I mean. Even something as simple as confusing a Gospel with a Biography, or argumentative rhetoric with a friendly letter can completely color you reading of the text - let alone the linguistic differences, philosophical references, rhetorical structures, literary genres, allusions to well-known events of the time, idioms, common literary devices, events occuring in the communities that produced the text, etc.

Answer 6

The bible is not easy to read. it's been proven hundreds of times that one passage means one thing to some and something completely different to others. That's why so many religions have sprung out of the Bible. Its all language. God wrote the Bible, but through imperfect humans. How can we expect to get anything He intended right? Because we are vain, that's why. The most we can expect is a general consensus of the facts and pray that God forgives us for our misunderstanding.

Answer 7

We need Bible scholars and learned theologians to helps us to understand the Bible, because, taken out of context, it can easily be misunderstood.
For example, if I didn't explain to you that Jesus Christ brought the New Covenant, and that Gentiles do not have to practice the Old Testament dietary laws, you might feel compelled to not eat pork or something. You need someone who is learned in the Bible and theology to help you put it all together.
So, we read books on the subject, concordances, etc., and we are always learning.
Years ago, before there were printing presses, this kind of opportunity was not available. But the prophets had said that one day "knowledge of God would fill the land."

Answer 8

Mos memories have cryptic meanings and are written in an previous english with incorrect translations. So no, i does no longer evaluate the bible ordinary or eye-catching analyzing. in the experience that your involved proverbs they make collections of merely those. bypass to a christian e book save and that they are going to element you in the excellent direction. The storytelling is amazingly stark and meant as a telling of history, so I lower back doubt you will locate it eye-catching in itself. however the bible is a great source of history to pre-agriculture messpotamia in the experience that your attracted to that. The previous testomony grow to be written earlier jesus, the hot testomony written afterwards. The OT is written as a definition to what a christian must be and the place they got here from. The NT in particular is dedicated to the arriving of Jesus and what meaning to christians. The NT is what's centred now days in maximum church homes with the aid of fact it has an extremely solid message of love mutually as the OT depicts god as being unforgiving or perhaps vengeful. so a tactics as organic entertainment maximum religious supplies are no longer possible recommendations, except your finding for some form of uplifting. yet while your involved in the history those books comprise, the context they're written, and expertise faith theologically, touch me and that i will provide you some recomendations.

Answer 9

Shouldn't it be up to the individual reader that they need a little guidance?

Some people have trouble with grammar, reading, and complex meanings. Not everyone is as advanced as we'd like to believe.

I'm a pretty good reader, but I have a study bible to help me with concepts and cross referencing. It does make the experience of delving into God's Word a little easier.

Answer 10

Great question! The mulititude of Biblical alternative reading to choose from is enough to confuse you. I have Christian friends that are addicted to Biblical alternative reading, to the extreme of not referring to their Bible, this leads to straying from the path. The Bible is God's word, period. Now, to read this alternative reading in conjunction with the Bible, okay; but don't get too involved with the alternative and forget the true word of God. I see and concur with your perspective 100%, friend.