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...