Bible reading in 2013

philologos

Considering we've just passed into a New Year, I thought it'd be a useful thread to talk about Bible reading in 2013 and making quiet times to pray.

I'm considering using this reading plan I saw on The Gospel Coalition website through this year. More conventional Bible reading plans have lead me to lose track or sporadically move to doing things my own way, but I want to get through the whole Bible again this year.

I'm trying to prioritise prayer time also, because I'm very poor at this. Making prayer a big priority in 2013 is key for me as well. What I'm trying to do in this respect is to use a journal for what to pray for and stick to it and to look back and to see what God has done over this year as a whole. To be praying along with God's will in 2013 will have some spectacular results.

Hopefully I won't be disappointed on January 1st 2014 to see that I haven't kept to this

What plans do the fine regulars of the Christianity forum have?

Benny_Cake

If anyone got an Android phone or tablet for Christmas, there is a very good Bible app available for free on the Play market. It's very user-friendly and features a number of translations, along with a big choice of daily reading plans, it will even pop up with a message on your home screen if you've forgotten. I think it's also available on iPhone / iPad.

I'm hoping to make use some of those plans to read more of the Bible in the coming year, it's never been so accessible really.

totus tuus

I have a bible app by EWTN, It's free but I bought the addon audio, so that the Bible will read to me!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ewtn.truthandlife

I also have the daily Mass and Sunday Missals.

Manach

I've got an Android compatible device this Christmas, but have decided to try and brush up on the Latin as well as the Theology by getting the Vulgate version, free + ads or 99c otherwise, from the app store .

JimiTime

Benny_Cake wrote: »

If anyone got an Android phone or tablet for Christmas, there is a very good Bible app available for free on the Play market. It's very user-friendly and features a number of translations, along with a big choice of daily reading plans, it will even pop up with a message on your home screen if you've forgotten. I think it's also available on iPhone / iPad.

I'm hoping to make use some of those plans to read more of the Bible in the coming year, it's never been so accessible really.

Just curious, but do you believe the bible should be revised in a modern context, or do you think its authoritive? And have you read it already?

Benny_Cake

JimiTime wrote: »

Just curious, but do you believe the bible should be revised in a modern context, or do you think its authoritive? And have you read it already?

I've read all of the New Testament, and some, but not all of the Old. I haven't given it the study it deserves though and that's something I'd like to work on.

I may have some views that are decidedly liberal, but that doesn't mean that I think the text of the Bible should be revised (since I take it that's why you asked me). That authority isn't given to us and one of the great things about the Bible is that it has been read, prayed on, and struggled with for centuries. I've never come across anyone who has argued for it to be revised, not counting those "Queen James" hucksters.

SebBerkovich

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I've read all of the New Testament, and some, but not all of the Old. I haven't given it the study it deserves though and that's something I'd like to work on.

I may have some views that are decidedly liberal, but that doesn't mean that I think the text of the Bible should be revised (since I take it that's why you asked me). That authority isn't given to us and one of the great things about the Bible is that it has been read, prayed on, and struggled with for centuries. I've never come across anyone who has argued for it to be revised, not counting those "Queen James" hucksters.

Didn't Thomas Jefferson make a go of modernizing the bible?

To my knowledge he more or less just edited it down to read as moral guide but haven't read it myself.

philologos

SebBerkovich wrote: »

Didn't Thomas Jefferson make a go of modernizing the bible?

To my knowledge he more or less just edited it down to read as moral guide but haven't read it myself.

Thomas Jefferson changed the Bible for his own deistic purposes. That's not what this thread was intended to be about.

JimiTime

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I've read all of the New Testament, and some, but not all of the Old. I haven't given it the study it deserves though and that's something I'd like to work on.

I may have some views that are decidedly liberal, but that doesn't mean that I think the text of the Bible should be revised (since I take it that's why you asked me). That authority isn't given to us and one of the great things about the Bible is that it has been read, prayed on, and struggled with for centuries. I've never come across anyone who has argued for it to be revised, not counting those "Queen James" hucksters.

Yeah, I was just curious, is it just that you think it contains mistakes or somesuch? What is the bible to you basically?

Benny_Cake

JimiTime wrote: »

Yeah, I was just curious, is it just that you think it contains mistakes or somesuch? What is the bible to you basically?

I think that the Bible is God's inspired word in human terms, by authors who were divinely inspired without being mere secretaries. I do think that historical-critical analysis helps to understand what exactly the Bible level has to say - we also need to understand the world that the Bible was written in. Most of the criticism that the Bible comes in for doesn't take that into account at all.

I think the reason you're asking me specifically may relate to something that came up on other thread(s) so I think it's best to leave it there rather than drag Phil's thread off-topic.

JimiTime

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I think that the Bible is God's inspired word in human terms, by authors who were divinely inspired without being mere secretaries. I do think that historical-critical analysis helps to understand what exactly the Bible level has to say - we also need to understand the world that the Bible was written in. Most of the criticism that the Bible comes in for doesn't take that into account at all.

I think the reason you're asking me specifically may relate to something that came up on other thread(s) so I think it's best to leave it there rather than drag Phil's thread off-topic.

No bother, Can you do your mod jiggery pokery and move the relevant posts to a new thread?

philologos

JimiTime wrote: »

No bother, Can you do your mod jiggery pokery and move the relevant posts to a new thread?

I don't think these posts are off topic. I don't think putting the text of the Bible onto an Android device, an iPad, or anything else is modernising the text. It's simply putting the translations of the Bible that we already have into digital form.

Putting the Bible into the hands of many using Android, iPad, Windows Phone and so on is not modernising or altering the Bible. Rather it is a means of putting the Bible into the hands of many. When this is entirely free, and entirely open source, I'm 100% behind it.

As someone who is interested in programming / software development I think it is a fascinating area as to how we can using code make the Bible more accessible to many. I think it's great that we live in an age where the Bible is far more available than it has ever been before.

JimiTime

philologos wrote: »

I don't think these posts are off topic. I don't think putting the text of the Bible onto an Android device, an iPad, or anything else is modernising the text. It's simply putting the translations of the Bible that we already have into digital form.

Putting the Bible into the hands of many using Android, iPad, Windows Phone and so on is not modernising or altering the Bible. Rather it is a means of putting the Bible into the hands of many. When this is entirely free, and entirely open source, I'm 100% behind it.

As someone who is interested in programming / software development I think it is a fascinating area as to how we can using code make the Bible more accessible to many. I think it's great that we live in an age where the Bible is far more available than it has ever been before.

Ha ha Thats not what I alluded to. I've no issue with using modern tech. Use it myself:) In fact, I think it would be quite bizarre to have such an objection.
Benny was right, my question was off topic. He has some, as he put it, 'liberal' views, and I had assumed he was someone who just saw the bible as something he could pick and choose from as he saw fit (I know a few, so its not something I haven't seen before). The fact that he seemed to give it some reverence in his opening post here, I was just curious as to what the bible was to him, and how he squares it with these 'liberal' views. He's right, it is off topic, I just had to ask

philologos

JimiTime wrote: »

Ha ha Thats not what I alluded to. I've no issue with using modern tech. Use it myself:) In fact, I think it would be quite bizarre to have such an objection.
Benny was right, my question was off topic. He has some, as he put it, 'liberal' views, and I had assumed he was someone who just saw the bible as something he could pick and choose from as he saw fit (I know a few, so its not something I haven't seen before). The fact that he seemed to give it some reverence in his opening post here, I was just curious as to what the bible was to him, and how he squares it with these 'liberal' views. He's right, it is off topic, I just had to ask

I don't mind high level discussion on this. How we regard the Bible will affect how we read it. For example if someone doesn't regard the Bible as the inspired word of God, I would understand why they wouldn't be as keen to read it as someone who believes that it is.

Benny_Cake

JimiTime wrote: »

Ha ha Thats not what I alluded to. I've no issue with using modern tech. Use it myself:) In fact, I think it would be quite bizarre to have such an objection.
Benny was right, my question was off topic. He has some, as he put it, 'liberal' views, and I had assumed he was someone who just saw the bible as something he could pick and choose from as he saw fit (I know a few, so its not something I haven't seen before). The fact that he seemed to give it some reverence in his opening post here, I was just curious as to what the bible was to him, and how he squares it with these 'liberal' views. He's right, it is off topic, I just had to ask

philologos wrote: »

I don't mind high level discussion on this. How we regard the Bible will affect how we read it. For example if someone doesn't regard the Bible as the inspired word of God, I would understand why they wouldn't be as keen to read it as someone who believes that it is.

Jimi, no worries at all. If I gave the impression that I place no importance in the Bible by something I posted in another thread, then it wasn't my intention. Sometimes I can be a bit contrary - I suspect it may have been on the megathread that dare not speak it's name Actually, very few of the moral precepts in the Bible cause me any difficulty (in theory, in practise it's quite a different story but that's as a result of my weaknesses and failings, no one elses). In case there is any doubt, I do view the Bible as the inspired word of God. I just didn't want to see your thread hijacked Phil, especially since it's such a positive one and just what this forum needs, in my view. Perhaps this thread can be used for discussion as we read the Bible over the course of the year?

philologos

Benny_Cake wrote: »

Jimi, no worries at all. If I gave the impression that I place no importance in the Bible by something I posted in another thread, then it wasn't my intention. Sometimes I can be a bit contrary - I suspect it may have been on the megathread that dare not speak it's name Actually, very few of the moral precepts in the Bible cause me any difficulty (in theory, in practise it's quite a different story but that's as a result of my weaknesses and failings, no one elses). In case there is any doubt, I do view the Bible as the inspired word of God. I just didn't want to see your thread hijacked Phil, especially since it's such a positive one and just what this forum needs, in my view. Perhaps this thread can be used for discussion as we read the Bible over the course of the year?

Oh, I never said you didn't. I'm saying hypothetically if one doesn't.

And yes, I'd encourage this thread to be used for that purpose this year. If anything it'll remind me where I'm falling short in terms of my Bible reading.

JimiTime

OK, I've set up a new thread in relation to my off topic question to Benny.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82536318#post82536318