Logos, Kindle, and Extended Reading

Occasionally on this blog, I like to post programs and apps that are helpful to me in my study of the Bible.  I posted about my library and Zotero some time ago, and slightly more recently about a great flashcard program called Mnemosyne.  In a similar vein, I learned a cool trick with Logos recently that I would like to share.

First, a disclaimer.  From what I can tell by reading the Logos EULA and browsing their forums, this is perfectly legal as long as you do not send the end result to anyone's Kindle but your own.  From what I gather, you are free to use your purchased Logos content in a variety of ways as long as you only use it personally.  It is a little more complex than I make it sound, to be sure, so be certain not violate you own conscience.  (For more, see Logos CEO Bob Pritchett's response to this question).

I got the idea to try and figure out how to do this from an incredibly interesting Kickstarter project that I saw a couple of weeks ago.  The idea was to make reading the Bible like reading other books.  By removing the tiny print, verse numbers, footnotes, and chapter divisions, it makes the experience of reading the Bible more like reading other books (in a good way).  Check out the project here.  If I had any spare funds, I would certainly support it.

Before you get started, if you have an older version of Logos, be sure to update to Logos 5 for free (super cool, right!?!).  Once that is finished, it's a relatively easy process to turn your Kindle into a long-form Bible Reading tool.

Once you open Logos, go to "Tools" and under "Passage" click on "Copy Bible Verses."  There are three things you need to do in the fields that say "Copy [format] from [version/book] to [program]."  The last two are the easiest.  For the version, I picked the ESV, but you can select any Bible that you would like to read from (including Greek, though I don't think the Kindle yet supports Hebrew).  For the program, you just select your word processor (for me, that is Word).

Setting up the format is a bit trickier.  There are several presets, but none of them fit what I wanted.  Fortunately, Logos allows you to make your own.  There are a lot of settings, but I ended up with the following:

%NoCharFormatting

%NoRedLetter

%NoFootnotes

%NoCitation

%UseBibleParagraphs

=ForEachVerse

[VerseText]

Basically, this give you just the Bible text in paragraph form.  The end result will look like this:

Don't forget to add the book title to the beginning of the doc

 After you have a format you like, open your desired word processor, type the section you want to copy, and hit enter.  It seems best to copy about half a dozen chapters at a time, depending on how much data you can fit on your computers "clipboard."

Once it is in Word, format it how you would like it to appear (I prefer single-spaced, 1/2" paragraph indents, no spaces after paragraph, justified text) and save it.  I am doing each book separately, so I created a folder under "my documents" in which to store them.  You may want to save them with a number before the book title (e.g. 01 Genesis) so they stay in order.

After you have your document properly set up, you have to find your Kindle's email address (detailed instructions from Amazon here).  You simply got to "Your Account" and click "Manage Your Content and Devices."  Click on "Your Devices" and select the devise you would like the document sent to.  Once selected, your kindle's email address will be displayed with some other info.

The last (and easiest) step is to send an email to the email address with the document you just created as an attachment.  Once that's done, sync your Kindle and you're good to go.  Let me know in the comments section if you have any question or if you found this helpful.

Poetic lines are indented using the settings above, which is nice.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

Mnemosyne/Mnemododo- Crazy Name, Wonderful App

It has been a long time since I wrote a blog post; almost ten months, to be exact.  I have wanted to post more, but life has been extremely busy.  When family, seminary, ministry, and eating are considered, this blog has fallen down the priority list.  That said, I enjoy writing, and since I am tired after an outstanding weekend class on shepherding taught by Chris Florence and do not feel like doing schoolwork while I wait for the first Union game of the new season to kickoff (#DOOP), I am going to tell you about a great program with a ridiculous name: Mnemosyne.

The name is not really all that ridiculous.  Μνημοσυνη was the Greek goddess of memory, so a flashcard program designed to help one remember all of those Greek, Hebrew (and French) words seems an apt namesake for such a program.  I was made aware of this program during finals in the Fall, and it has not disappointed.

So what is Mnemosyne?  It is a powerful spaced repetition program.  There are two sides to this program: the first for your desktop/laptop computer, and the optional (but worthy) second part for your Android mobile device (named Mnemododo). The "cards" are very powerful, and can incorporate sound, multiple "sides," colors, and images.  Don't feel like typing in hundreds of Greek and Hebrew cards?  Not a problem.  You can easily import card sets from sites like quizlet.com or cram.com.  Personally, I suggest the sets made by "tpyles" for both Greek (based on Trenchard down to 20 occurrences) and Hebrew (down to 50 occurrences).  Start with the most common words, and load more as you work your way down.

Each card has stats kept for that specific card.  Once your cards are set up, you rate how difficult the card was for you to remember on a scale of 0-1 for unlearned cards and 2-5 for review cards.  Five means the card was too easy, four was just about right, three or two mean it was either too difficult or you missed the card.  Mnemosyne, based on each card's specific data, will keep track of the best time for each card to show up again.  Sometimes it may be a day or two, others will not show up for some time (some of my cards are next scheduled to show up in 120 days).  This means that you are not wasting time reviewing words that you know well.

The kicker for me, though, was the mobile app.  If you have an Android smartphone and have been frustrated by little square boxes for many accented Greek or pointed Hebrew characters, Mnemosyne has you covered.  Through a plug-in called Gogorender (I didn't make up the names), the program turns the card text from your computer into images that your phone can render.  It is a brilliant little solution.  You can load several days worth of cards onto your phone (7 is suggested), and in just a few minutes each day, you can get back all of the Greek and Hebrew vocab you have forgotten since your exegesis class.

This is a great little program, and the website for the program has a ton of great information.  As an added bonus, the app developer is outstanding.  I had a few glitches getting things running on my phone, and he responded to questions through the Google Play (what's with these names?) within a day.  I highly recommend this program.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere." 

The Intention of Jesus

This is a paper that I submitted for my Gospels class at Covenant Seminary.  It was one of the most helpful papers that has been assigned to me in my first two years of seminary.  The assignment was straight forward: 2 pages, 10 point font, 1.5 line spacing: "What did Jesus intend to accomplish in his first-century earthly ministry?":

When Christ came to earth in the first century He intended to inaugurate the eschatological kingdom of God in his life, death, and resurrection.  His goal was to further God’s mission of reversing the effects of the fall and restoring creation.  He accomplished this in a variety of ways.  He sought to fulfill the will of the Father.  He revealed God’s kingdom in his ministry.  He created disciples to carry on His mission after His ascension into heaven.  Ultimately, He fulfilled his intentions by accomplishing the salvation of His people.

            Jesus’ earthly mission was the mission of His Father.  He came to earth to fulfill the plan of redemption and restoration first hinted at in Genesis 3:15.  That Jesus came to earth to do the Father’s will is undeniable in the pages of John’s Gospel (cf. e.g. 7.17; 8.16; 8.29; 9.4; 14.10, etc.).  This is not evident in John’s Gospel alone.  Indeed, the boy Jesus says as much in Luke 2.49.  As God revealed Himself and His mission to His people in the Old Testament, so Jesus did in His day.  Repeatedly in the Pentateuch we read “the Lord said to Moses” (Exodus 7.1; Numbers 1:1, etc.).  In the Gospels, this declaration is replaced by Jesus authoritative declaration “I say to you” (Matthew 5.26, Mark 8.12, etc.).  Jesus takes up the mission of God in the very language that He uses.  Jesus’ will mirrors the will of the Father for they are one God united in purpose: to bring redemption via the kingdom of God.

            This unity of purpose is seen in how Jesus understood His ministry.  Jesus sought not only to fulfill the will of the Father and accomplish God’s mission on earth, He was Himself the revelation of this mission (see e.g John 1.1-18).  Indeed, he announces His ministry in Mark 1.15 by saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Similarly in Matthew, as Jesus begins His ministry, Matthew 4.17 tells us that “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”   He announces that in Him a new epoch has arrived and that it requires a response.  He further understands His ministry as the fulfillment of the Scriptures of the Old Testament.  Most famously, in Matthew 5.17 he declares “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  In Luke 24.26-27 He shows that His teaching, including His teaching about His death and subsequent resurrection, are proclaimed in the pages of the Old Testament (see also John 18.9, 32; 19.24, 28). 

            The inauguration of the kingdom marks the primary aspect of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels.  It was His intention to establish this Kingdom in the first century, and Jesus powerfully demonstrates that the kingdom of God has truly come.  This can be seen clearly in His miracles.  In Matthew 12.28, when he casts out a demon, he says “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”  In Luke 7, when John the Baptist sends messengers to see if Jesus is “the one who is to come” (v.19), Jesus tells them “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (v. 22-23).   Here he quotes Isaiah 29 and 35 to show that He is indeed the one for whom John prepared the way.  The miracles he performs show that the kingdom has come in His person.

            Just like His miracles, Jesus’ teaching underscores the present nature of the Kingdom.  Earlier, in Luke 4, Jesus declares that the Jubilee year of Isaiah 61 has come in His person (v.21).    He explains what this means for His followers in His teaching of the “kingdom ethic” in the Sermon on the Mount/Plain.  It is a kingdom that displays the goodness, graciousness, love, kindness, holiness, and righteousness that God intended His creation to have.  Jesus could teach about this kingdom as “one who had authority” (Mark 1.22) for it is His kingdom.

            This manifestation of the kingdom of God in His person led Jesus to make disciples.  In His great teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew He highlights the need for disciples in 5.13-16.  He makes disciples to preserve the earth and show forth the goodness of God’s Kingdom.  At the end of Matthew’s Gospel he commands the apostles to “make disciples” (Matthew 28.19).  Yet, His intention was not just to commission messengers to send into the world, but to sustain them as well.  Much of His prayer in John 17 is focused on these ends (see especially vv. 9-24).  He promises His disciples that he will give them another “Helper” in John 14:16, and he makes good on that promise in John 20.22 (cf. Acts 2.2-4).  From the fearful (Mark 16.8) to the doubting (John 20.24-25), Jesus makes disciples who will carry on His message of the kingdom.

Jesus further inaugurated this Kingdom by ushering in the New Covenant.  In Matthew 10.1 Jesus calls twelve disciples to usher in this New Covenant, just as the twelve sons of Jacob were preeminent in the Old Covenant.  He thus constitutes a New Israel (cf. John 15.1-17).  This is made explicit in the words of institution in the Last Supper.  As Jesus takes the cup he says in Luke 22.20 “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

            This act of inaugurating God’s Kingdom in His blood leads to the culmination of His first century ministry:  His death and resurrection.  As Matthew highlighted the beginning phase of Jesus ministry (“Jesus began to preach…”), so he highlights the end in Matthew 16.21 “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  Indeed, each Gospel climaxes in the events of His passion and resurrection.  In Mark, after Peter’s confession (8.30), Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer…and be killed, and after three days rise again” (8.31).  Mark records two more passion predictions in the coming chapters (9.30-32; 10.32-34).  At the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly says that his hour has not come (2.4; 7.30; 8.20), but later, in 12.23-26 he says that his hour has come, and that His death will result in “the Son of Man being glorified” (cf. John 13.1; 17.1).  In Luke, Jesus foretells his death in Luke 9.21-22, 43-45.   The destination of the cross is highlighted by Luke beginning the journey narrative in Luke 9.51 by saying, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  His intention was to go to the cross and drink the cup of divine judgment (Mark 10.38), and to overcome that death in his resurrection.

            All of this results in the salvation of God’s people.  Jesus’ intention to inaugurate the kingdom of God by fulfilling the Father’s will, His teaching, forming disciples, and through his death and resurrection was to provide salvation to a fallen world in need of a Savior.  The Gospels each build to a climax in which Jesus atones for sin in his death and is vindicated as the righteous One of God in His resurrection.  Jesus came to provide salvation, and thus our response to His work, what we believe about His intentions, determines our destiny.  As is made clear in John’s Gospel, “the Son of Man [must] be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (3.15b-16).  What was the intention of Jesus?  Luke boils it down concisely, “to seek and to save the lost” (19.10).  

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey by Craig Blomberg

This is a useful resource for the pastor or lay reader.  While expansive in its breadth, it is suggestive in its depth.  Blomberg does not (or better, could not have in a single volume) delve deeply into any of the topics covered in "Jesus and the Gospels", but his bibliographies at the end of each chapter and the excellent footnotes give the curious reader a very firm direction to head in for further study.

The book is divided into five parts.  The first two are largely historical in nature covering the world of the first century (political, social, and religious climate), and the historical/critical approach to the Gospels themselves.  Part three is an overview of each of the Gospels highlighting their themes and structure.  Part four reads like a cross between the notes one would find in a study Bible and popular level commentary, but arranged more or less chronologically across all the Gospels (almost like a commentary on the Diatessaron?).  This is an excellent section, to be sure, and he well highlights (or reminds the reader) of the distinct approach of each Gospel writer.  The book concludes with two shorter chapters addressing the historical reliability of the Gospels and the Theology of Jesus.

This is really an excellent book, and I'm sure I will be pulling it off of my shelf as a reference tool.  Perhaps only the serious student or most voracious of lay leaders will plow through it cover to cover, but it is a great starting place for almost any topic related to the Gospels.  Again, the bibliography and foot notes give solid direction for further study from a wide range of scholars in the field.  All of the information in the book can be found in other places, but Blomberg has done anyone interested in Jesus, Christian or not, a great service by pulling it all together into a coherent, (relatively) concise (it is a 500 page book), readable volume.  For anyone interested in the study of Jesus, I say "tolle lege."

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

"Woman" in Luke 13.12 and God's Long Nose

This morning as I was eating breakfast, I read an article about the use of "woman" in Luke 13:12: "When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your disability.'" The article was written in response to a blog post by Bill Mounce (author of Basics of Biblical Greek) who claimed that "woman" was essentially untranslatable into English in this case.  The response claimed that it should just be translated "literally" and the reader should be left to her own means (study Bibles, commentaries, sermons, etc.) to determine the meaning of γύναι (gunai) in its original context.  While "woman" as a vocative in English seems, at best, an unkind form of address today, is it so far culturally removed that translating it as such does more harm than good?


This discussion, I'm sure, may make some nervous.  If it says "woman" why not translate it "woman?"  To do otherwise would seem to conceal what the Bible actually says.  But that is not how translation works.  Take, for example, Exodus 34:6.  Here are a few translations:


NIV: And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness


ESV: The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,


NASB: Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;


KJV: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,


NET: The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,


I doubt that anyone would claim that these translations are being unfaithful by translating the highlighted phrase as "slow to anger" or "longsuffering," but that is not what the Hebrew says.  In Hebrew we learn that God has a long nose.  Translated in a woodenly literal fashion, these versions would say that God is "long of nose."  In Hebrew, one is angry when they are "red of face," so if one has a long nose it takes a long time for that redness to travel to ones face.  Thus, it is used to indicate that one is patient. 

I don't think that we have been done a disservice when the translators have taken this Hebrew idiom and translated it in a way that we can easily understand on a surface reading.  Of course, it could be left as is and we could see the footnotes, study Bibles, commentaries or so forth, but the above translations are actually more faithful as they translate the meaning, not the words, of this phrase.  To do otherwise would make this famous and important passage unintelligible for the English reader.


There are many similar examples.  One of my personal favorites is the storm in the book of Jonah which was "walking and storming" (Jon 1.11, 13- most translations render it as "growing worse" or other similar phrases).  The question that Mounce asks, then, is not a worrisome or strange question.  He simply asks if translating  γύναι (gunai) as "woman" places unnecessary barriers to understanding in our culture.  If translators are not asking these questions, it would be cause for concern.


I'm not convinced that Mounce is correct, and I'm not sure leaving it untranslated or translating it as "friend" is helpful (Mounce says as much himself).  Nor is this passage and the possible misunderstanding as critical as that in Exodus 34.6.  What it does show, though, is that pastors and vocational students of the Bible should be making an effort to study and use the original languages.  If we don't change the way we render "woman" our pastors must be able to answer the questions that arise from it's use.  Secondly, it should also give us some appreciation for the difficult task of translating.  We must appreciate that it is neither straightforward nor easy.  It's not an exact science in which each word has a precise corollary in the target language.  Our translators are not just translating from one language to another, but from one culture to another as well.  This takes outstanding sensitivity, care, and erudition.  Praise God for the many faithful students of His Word who have the skill and ability to make the Bible accessible in many different languages.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

Reading the Old Testament: Method In Biblical Study by John Barton

This book is a useful and beneficial read, but for a relatively specialized audience. I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not have a solid background in hermeneutics. I certainly would not recommend it for a lay reader. It will make little sense without some background in Biblical interpretation. Taken straight and without a context, it will prove ponderous at best, and damaging to one's faith at worst. Without a background in some of the issues and history, it can feel as if reading the Bible to gain any insight is a hopeless pursuit.

I would definitely recommend it for the seminary student who is looking for a solid introduction to the various methods of Biblical, and specifically, Old Testament, criticism. The book is, to be generous, uninterested in what we might call a conservative hermeneutic. While Barton does not land on a specific method and seeks to demonstrate the options, a conservative view of, say, Mosaic authorship is, for Barton, not possible. Where Barton is helpful is in taking us through the development of various methods of reading the Bible. For each, he suggests some background reading on the subject. After a discussion of each method, he applies these methods to a specific text (Ecclesiastes) to show how each works in practice. The methods he works with include Form, Redaction, Canonical, Structuralists, "New," and Reader Response Criticism.

What, you may ask, is the benefit for the conservative pastor or seminary student to be gained from reading a book that is somewhat antagonistic to the way we read the Scriptures while being agnostic on the rest? First, it helps one to see how the various methods of reading the Scripture developed. Secondly, it helps prevent a straw-man view of the various approaches. Given the presuppositions and what each movement is reacting against, one can see why and how they developed. Third, it makes one think about how the various methods can be appropriated in positive ways while rejecting the negative outcomes. This, of course, will take some serious engagement and thought, but if conservative Christians are to have a voice in the Scholarly world of Biblical Studies (which, I submit, we must), it is incumbent on us to understand the discussion and the methods applied to the Bible. This is hard work, and there will be much temptation to compromise, but we must be involved in these discussions, even if our voice largely falls on deaf ears. Fourth, it helps in engaging commentaries from a wide variety of perspectives. One could, of course, only read conservative commentaries, but there are excellent exegetes and linguists outside of Evangelical realm. This book gives one categories with which to engage such works and better helps the Evangelical pastor or student sift through the chaff to find the wheat. Finally, knowing the ways of reading the Bible that are current in scholarship will help us to engage those in our congregations who come from outside of Evangelicalism, and our children who engage these issues in university settings.

For some, Barton's book will be frustrating, but if the purpose of the book is kept in mind, I think it will prove beneficial. This is not meant to propose a method of biblical study, but to provide a survey of current opinion. For the student or pastor familiar with the issues and who would like to get a feel for the development, method, and application of the various approaches, Barton's book will prove beneficial and helpful.

Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere.

Tolle Lege

At the outset I want to be quite clear.  This blog post is not intended to be normative.  This is not a prescription  nor is it some sort of magical key to one's devotional life.  My intention is to relate my own experience in the hopes that those who have personality similar to mine might benefit.

 There are many excellent Bible reading plans available to the Christian.  If one were to read 3 chapters of the Bible each day, and 5 on Sundays, one could read through the entire Bible in a year.  Most Bible reading plans are meant to accomplish this goal.  Many are designed to allow the reader to read through the Psalms, Proverbs, and Gospel's twice, and the rest of the Scriptures once.  One of the better plans is the reading plan by Robert Murray McCheyne which has you read through various types and genres of Scripture simultaneously.

These sorts of reading plans work for many people, and many people derive great benefit from them.  I, however, am not one of them.  For me, these plans make the goal of reading through the Bible more important than reading the Bible.  When I follow one of these plans, I tend to read to finish the section, rather than for understanding.  I recognize that the problem is not with the plans themselves, but with me.  However, I also think that the way I read does not lend itself well to using these methods.  Put simply, it is too fast for me to dig into the text, and too slow for me to synthesize my reading.  Recently, I've found a method that works much better for me, and which has made Bible reading a joy.

Get the Big Picture:
I stumbled across this quite by accident.  For class here at Covenant Seminary (which has a fancy new website) we are required to read the Bible (a more obvious sentence may never have been written!).  Due to the pace of the schedule, this often requires reading large sections of the Bible in one sitting.  Recently, I read Genesis over the course of two days, and Matthew's Gospel in one.  Last semester, I read the majority of Paul's letters in a few days.  I learned two things from this:

1.  "Books" in the Bible are much shorter than we think them to be.  When I opened Genesis in the past I would see the "book" as containing 50 "chapters."  Just the terminology that we use caused me to think of Bible reading as a daunting task.  The 66 books of the Bible are described with terminology similar to a novel.  It gives the perception that they are longer than they really are.  Likewise, "chapter" sounds similar to what you would find inside of a book that you would pick up at Barnes and Noble (...or download on your eReader).   I recognize that this sounds obvious, but reading a "book" or three "chapters" sounds like a difficult task.  In reality, though, reading a whole book of the Bible is not unlike reading a chapter in a "normal" book.  Matthew was, I think, about 35 pages.  Not insurmountable in a single sitting by any means, and it is a fairly "long" book, especially by New Testament standards.

2.  When reading a whole book of the Bible in one or two sittings, you see things that you would have otherwise missed.  At the end of Matthew, the authority and magnificence of Christ are poignant having read the Gospel from start to finish.  One finishes the book and cannot help but to worship, such is the rhetorical force of the book read cover to cover.  This is something that I did not "get" when reading a few chapters a day.

I should mention that I do not read a book of the Bible every day or even every week.  I might do something like this every other week or so.  In the intervening time I think about the book that I read, and reflect on the major themes that it put forth.

Dig Deep:
This likely looks quite different for me than it might for other people.  This daily aspect of my devotional reading was also discovered by accident.  After I finished Greek in exegesis last year, I purchased a Reader's Bible and decided to try to read from it everyday.  Recently, having just finished Hebrew II, I read a Hebrew's reader Bible as well.  Basically, I choose a book (John in the NT and passages from Numbers in the OT), and I read anywhere from a few verses to paragraph (depending on how complicated the section or vocabulary is).  While my "big picture  reading helps me grasp the flow and argument of the book, this allows me to dig deeply into the text and notice minutia that I too easily skip when reading more quickly in English.

As an example, the other night I was reading in Numbers.  I was reading about Caleb encouraging Israel to enter the land despite the presence of mighty people occupying the land because God had promised it to them. The very next verse says that the Israelites picked up stones to stone him. Surely I read that wrong, I thought. But no, that's what it said. When I read that passage in English I read so quickly that I blow right by the enormity of the situation. "Yeah I know," I think, "they don't go into the land." But slowing down and reading the Hebrew, it struck me in a new way. The slavery, the plagues, the Red Sea, the promise to Abraham... The goal is right there, and when Caleb says as much, they pick up stones to stone him.  Wow.

Now, many of you who read this might not be able to read the original languages, but that does not mean you can't intentionally slow down and focus on a few verses.  A good book or two on hermeneutics (how to read) might not be a bad investment of your time.  Learning to read the Bible well is not a skill that we are born with, it is something that we learn.

As I said at the outset, there is no "right" way to read the Bible, but we must read it.  We must be a people of the Book who hear the voice of God and allow it shape, change, and mold us.  I have found a method which allows my Bible reading to be refreshing and exciting, but it might not work for you.  That is okay, but you must, as was famously said to Augustine, "Take up an read." Tolle lege.

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."