BIBLE ROADMAPS (archived)

  What exactly is involved when it comes to studying the Bible? Isn't reading it just enough? Studying the bible can look slightly different for each person, but it all comes down to expanding your understanding of biblical themes, language, and concepts through research and consumption of theological texts (by "text" I'm referring to all forms of content from written, audio, and video). This takes intentional, and allocated time and focus. And you may not be able to do it regularly or as much as you'd like. This post outlines a lot of what I think is involved in studying the Bible. Its all a part of expanding your Bible roadmap and how well you know the layout of it all. I'm planning on expanding on this all as well, so it definitely isn't a complete picture of what is it takes to study the Bible. I call this my "Sweet Bible Study Venn Diagram I Made to Look Real Smart": Let me break down each of these areas. 1. Author Someone wrote each b...

The phrase "Christians are biblically illiterate!" gets thrown around a lot. It implies that many Christians only understand the Bible at a surface level and listen to sermons designed to be broken in to 15 second Instastory snapshots. My frustration with this status is that it suggests that biblical illiteracy is a disability Christians have to live with. But what if biblical illiteracy isn't a condition you have to accept, but a skill that you can develop and grow? If that is the case, then how much should you be reading and studying the Bible? And what is the difference between bible journalling and bible studying? As a teenager in youth group I was told that I should be journalling the Bible every day with the SOAP technique and hearing the voice of God speaking to me. But as I matured in my Christianity I would hit roadblocks in my journalling and fall out of a routine when reading the bible. This was often a result of being distracted by other things and not un...

I've become a big fan of the unconventional bible reading plans. They make me focus a lot more on areas that I'd previously become familiar with. "Reading Genesis 50 Times" is almost the opposite to the 30 Day Bible Shred . If the Shred is a sprint to review the whole tree of the bible, this is a slow stroll inspecting the roots of the tree. To understand why someone would want to read Genesis 50 times, it's worth finding out the background of this concept. On 2nd July 2018 the BibleProject hosts Tim Mackie and Jon Collins released the 22nd episode of their "How to Read the Bible" series with a biblical poetry question and response session. One of the questions came from Jackson asking if there were any resources that summarised the metaphors, patterns and repetition found in the Psalms (at the 21:55 point): "I wonder if you guys could provide maybe a short list of other commonly used metaphor schemes throughout the scriptures? You know, sort o...

January 2021 was the 4th year I've completed the 30 Day Bible Shred. As always, it was a challenge that required sacrificing some usual things and discipline to finish off on time, but highly beneficial to my own personal bible study. 2020 was incredibly significant for me as I was put in a place where I was able to reinvigorate a passion for studying the bible. I was introduced to all sorts of themes and theologians that shifted how I read the bible. As a result, doing the 30 day bible shred was very different as I was now traversing the bible down different roads - highways that I never knew existed! There were two sources that taught me the most in 2020 that created new routes for my bible roadmap. Firstly was the BibleProject Podcast series. Like many people, I've watched a lot of their videos and listened to some of their content. But I committed to listening to every podcast from when they first started. One thing that I never really grasped from their videos was the c...

So you've cut the cord from Netflix to try and spend more time learning about the bible. What do you watch now? For many people, a formal education to study the bible and understand Christian doctrine isn't an option. Here is a list of some of my favourite online theology content that can be a great alternative to formal studies. This isn't a definitive list of Christian content, but theological podcasts, Youtube channels, and online schools that I personally really enjoy and get a lot out of.  Podcasts Podcasts are easily the primary way I get through a lot of theological content. Often I'll listen to something while driving or doing something else, and if an episode is really interesting I'll listen to it again and take further notes. These podcasts are all available on top podcasting platforms. BibleProject https://bibleproject.com/podcasts/the-bible-project-podcast/ The team at the BibleProject do an amazing job at creative videos and resources to help in y...

 

 

  The 30 Day Bible Shred The 30 Day Bible Shred is one of my favourite bible reading plans. It's an absolute sprint through the bible, rather than a meandering year long reading plan that most people give up on when they get to Leviticus (speaking from experience). But why would you even want to attempt this somewhat intense and crazy experience? I first encountered the Bible Shred in 2017 by an Instagram post from Nathan Finochio . The idea is simple - read the whole Bible in 30 days starting on 1st January. Entire books of the Bible are grouped together into large chunks to get you through it all. For example day 1 of reading includes Genesis chapters 1-42, Day 2 of reading includes Genesis chapter 43 to Exodus chapter 29. The point isn't to take your time and meditate on the word, but to "see the shape of the “tree” as opposed to studying “leaves.”". It is an uncomfortable exercise, but one that has some huge benefits every year I do it. What could you get out ...