Good day wonderful Biblical truth searchers! Congratulations on wanting to learn more about the Bible and most importantly how to read the Bible. There are many different ways that you can start reading but there is one that is way more effective than the common way of reading. I offer you a strategy that increases your overall understanding, interpretation and ability to teach others the Biblical truths. This way of reading is straightforward and leaves no room for popular theoretical thought. We will discuss necessary tools, old English terms, reading schedules, where to start reading the bible, and more.
Tools
First, when embarking on the lifelong task of reading the Bible know that you will need a King James 1611 Version Bible. No other Bible is more accurate in the English language than the KJV 1611 Bible. The newer prints and translations of the Bible are overly watered down versions of the text which will cause a highly inaccurate understanding of scripture. After getting a KJV Bible, you need a Strong’s Concordance. This book is a type of dictionary that has every word of the KJV Bible in it and defined in the Greek and Hebrew languages.
This offers the reader the original meanings behind modern English biblical words. Now that you have your KJV 1611 Bible and the Strong’s Concordance you should have on hand a notebook. A pencil and a notebook will come in handy when certain topics, words, and historical evidence are seen while you are reading. You will want to be able to write down these details to keep up with your understanding and new discoveries of the Bible.
Old English
Brush up on recognizing and understanding old English words which is what the Bible is written in.
Thou art = You are
Thy = your
Thee = You
Hearken = Listen
Forth = Forward, onward
Hath = Have
Verbs that end with the “eth” mean third person present voice. ( Moveth-moved or moves, knoweth-known or knows, floweth-flows or flowed, keepeth-kept or keeps, etc)
That should give you a decent head start. Sometimes when we read long passages that use these old English words a lot, we may get confused. Practicing these words will help us read the text faster with better understanding. Although the newer Bible has this automatically corrected, they also correct other important words that shouldn’t have been further translated.
Reading Schedule
Set up a simple and effective reading schedule that fits your day. Reading two -four chapters a week is perfect to get engaged in the Biblical text and take the time to properly interpret and digest what you’ve read. I like to read two chapters on Monday and two chapters on Thursday. On Saturday I like to have a Bible word study to increase my Biblical vocabulary. Reading times can take anywhere between 15 minutes to two hours depending on how in depth you go into scripture..
Avoid reading one random verse a day. This act of reading causes a silly belief that the Bible is some kind of enlightenment guru, which it is not. Not to mention that 90% of biblical verses are collective, meaning that their meaning is represented by the situation that the entire narrative emphasizes. And lastly the Biblical text can seem more like philosophy and can be confused with Indian religions which it is not.
Where To Start Reading The Bible
Always start reading the bible from Genesis, the first book. As simple as that seems it is popular to read the bible from the New Testament (Matthew – Revelation). The reason for why we should read the Bible from the beginning, is to fully understand the journey, the evolution, the historical roots, cultural significance and the battles of the righteous. If we start reading from Matthew we miss all the important events that had to occur in order for the New Testament to exist in the first place. Throughout the New testament there are references to the Old Testament by Christ and the disciples. Everything that they taught was coming directly from the Old Testament. That being said We should read the Old Testament to fully understand without doubt what Christ was trying to say and implement. (Hebrews 10:7 KJV)
Importance Of The Old Testament.
Most Christians don’t like reading the Old Testament because it is very brutally unforgiving. It reveals the darkness and evil of pagan nations. It reveals the true character, operations and strict love of The Heavenly Father. This is intimidating to most people reading the Old Testament through. I assure you that it is not that bad. The Most High God is strict even in the New Testament, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3: 5 KjV). That is a strict statement and a downright conditional love. Nowadays Christians have people thinking that anyone can go to heaven without doing anything and just believing, LIE!
That being said, READ THE OLD TESTAMENT! If we only read the New Testament, vain beliefs like “scripture is up for interpretation” comes into play meaning that scripture could mean anything, everything and even nothing at all. This is dangerous because Christ spoke of one doctrine, not many and if we ignore the old testament we will end up with vain philosophy, theology and multiple non biblical doctrines being perpetuated as “Christian” yet they are not. (Colossians 2:8 KJV )
Guard Your Heart and Open Your Mind.
All this talk about reading the Old Testament brings me back to how it all started for me. I read Matthew and didn’t understand the significance of the characters. Then I read Genesis and made my first big Biblical history breakthrough. It was gut wrenching and emotionally painful. I discovered that the dinosaurs died in a flood, not an asteroid. My teachers lied to me and didn’t care. I found out about the Book of Enoch in the year 2011. I’m sure right now you think that I am lying but I am not. Eventually I’ll write about the world wide geological evidence of the Biblical flood testimony. However, this was all written of, in the first 10 chapters of Genesis.
Therefore when you read the Biblical text from the beginning, open your mind to the possibilities. Be willing to evolve your understanding of the world and the Biblical text, because there are thousands of lies accepted and believed to be true which are not. Keep your pencil and paper close and ask questions about every verse you read; what is this, why, when, where, how and who? Hint: everyone loves a lie but the truth is hard to admit and talk about. Look for books on the truth that are hidden, they are not well known or promoted but hidden.
Mental Thought Vs. Emotional Thought.
The facts agree with logic but not with emotion. There is a battle within us between our minds and our hearts. Notably, when we know that we are doing something wrong, we do the wrong thing anyway because it feels good. Most people choose to follow their heart and ignore their mind. We cannot approach the Bible with a heart felt nature, we have to be logically or mentally driven. If we “feel” too much of the Biblical text we will lose the concept, demonize it or ignore it. But if we use our mental capacity to search, retrieve and understand the text, we will find and accept the most complex Biblical truths.
For instance most Christian women who read the old testament law believe that God hates women. They were thinking with their hearts when forming this conclusion. If we read closely, thinking with our mind, God hates whores, not righteous women but wicked men hate all women. Likewise men reading the Biblical text thinking with their hearts will believe that women deserve harsh treatment. In reality their prayers will be hindered especially if he treats a righteous woman harshly (1 Peter 3:7 KJV).
This is a deep topic that I will expand on as well but for now know that men and women are separate but the same. Separate roles and strengths but the same destiny. We are the same being in separate bodies. Except that man is the original model and woman is the mirror image of that original model. Therefore we need to accept our weaknesses and our strengths and work together to reach the same goal. Weird but true.
Leave Modern Culture Behind.
The culture of the Biblical text is completely opposite of our modern accepted culture. Therefore there are customs kept in the Bible that may disagree with the customs we grew up with. This happens naturally when one travels to different places in the world. It’s called culture shock. We are not entitled to deem another culture wrong and then change it. We have only two choices after understanding the new culture. First we can agree with it and base our life on it going forward; or we can disagree completely and move on with the life we love instead. Same situation with the Biblical culture. We need to read to understand it not change it or deem it wicked. After we learn the whole truth of that culture, then we can make a conscious decision on whether or not we would like to live our lives based on that culture.
Many modern Christians don’t actually like or live by the Biblical culture. They disagree with it entirely and then they live their lives based on other cultures while still calling themselves followers of Christ. Followers of Christ will also accept his culture as their own. This is part of what he meant by keeping the traditions of men instead of Gods traditions (Mark 7: 8-9 KJV). Leaving the world is not only about being morally sound but also culturally separate from the worldly culture. In simpler terms become biblical or pagan, nothing in between.
Conclusion
You will find that the Biblical text is largely ignored if you use these tips above. I applaud you on your journey and I hope that you make it to the end of the book. Be patient, be understanding and open minded. I have to admit that it is a long read from the beginning to the end but trust me it is well worth it! Keep going, I have faith in you!