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 Post subject: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:32 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
I have a friend that is very analytical. She asked me tonight how she could form the habit of regular Bible reading and study. She said she always seems to make it much more difficult than it should be and then she finds herself making excuses not to take the time because she's left with more questions than answers.

I tho't I'd ask here if anybody might have any ideas for a Bible study for an analytical type person that doesn't want to get more confused and have more questions but would like to just read the Word and apply it to her life.


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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:44 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm
Posts: 8115
http://www.goarch.org/chapel/

I have an email subscription to daily readings from our Church (available at the above link). I find it helpful because the readings are usually fairly short (with a few exceptions), and they also have some info on the Saint(s) of the day usually.

I find that hearing about the Saint of the day is helpful, because these are the people who put the Word into action.

Even if the reader doesn't "believe in Saints," as such, reading of Missionaries & Martyrs who served God and gave their all can keep the focus off of the what-does-the-writer-mean-by-the-use-of-the-definite-article-here type of focus.

I think the most important thing is to focus on faithfulness in small things, and focus on & apply what parts of the reading we DO understand, instead of trying to do something "big"

(sometimes being analytical is a matter of looking for loopholes - if we hold our own feet to the fire on the parts we DO understand, that can help with that part.)

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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:15 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:05 pm
Posts: 3524
Location: Central TX
How does she make it more difficult? Does she spend too much time reading the notes and extras in the Bible? I got a Bible that has no notes at all at the bottom. It's just the Bible text. I love that because it was distracting to me when I had a Bible and half the page was filled up with notes that was mostly just someone's opinion and half the time I didn't agree with it. It does have cross-references to other related verses which I love, so if I want to delve a little deeper into a particular verse, I can look up the related verses that shed more light on it. But no distracting notes. Don't know if that would help her or not.

If she has to analyze everything really closely, maybe she needs to just read small portions at a time so she doesn't get overwhelmed. I can over analyze scripture sometimes and find myself taking forever to finish my reading.

Our church uses Lifeway for Bible studies and we use these booklets that has a section of scripture to read each week, usually a few chapters of the Bible. Then it explains the verses and ideas. It's all in little bite size, manageable chunks. It's not too in depth, but we talk about it in Sunday school and it can lead to some pretty in depth conversations.

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Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).


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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:19 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:32 pm
Posts: 135
Taken from a friend: Read the Gospels and write down every commandment Christ gives us. Read them again and write down every promise. Read them again and write down every claim Jesus makes about Himself. And so on.


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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:23 am 
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Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:16 am
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Location: The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
Carli-I LOVE that idea!

Anna-I'm going to sign up for those daily readings!

Sis-Sorry I don't have any advice but I sure do glean a lot from your questions and the answers offered by the ladies here. :)

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“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
― Mother Teresa


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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 8:47 am 
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:16 pm
Posts: 2311
Location: Sunshine State
I really loved when I was part of Bible Study Fellowship

http://www.bsfinternational.org/Classes ... fault.aspx

I spent 6yrs straight doing this, started off doing the morning classes then switched to the evening classes. Their format worked for me, helped me stay accountable. There is a group class where you give your answers to the questions from the worksheet, then there is a lecture and then take home next week's worksheet that includes commentary. Each day of the week there are a few questions to answer so you stay in the word every day.

I so enjoyed being amongst 250-300 woman studying the word every week. That alone revived me after a week of homeschooling the kids.

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"...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26


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 Post subject: Re: Bringing the Word into focus.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:44 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:22 pm
Posts: 8837
I looked Briva, and the closest one to us is at least 65 miles, but... it reminds me that I have a book of theirs, I think.... Oh, nope. It's by somebody else. Still, I'd forgotten about that book so maybe that's a place to look, too. ;-)


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