I've never directly read the bible. This shit is so confusing and intimidating - where do I start? I'm looking to read it because if its stories mainly, I'm not that interested in the religious aspect.
All I know is I should be reading the KJV.
I've never directly read the bible. This shit is so confusing and intimidating - where do I start...
Nathaniel Cox
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Luis Sullivan
don't
Thomas Hill
You don't have to read the bible. Just go to church and see what the pastor there was to say.
Justin Lee
Yeah, the definition of fun.
Nolan Jenkins
>reading KJV
Robert Davis
...genesis?
Austin Miller
Start from the beginning, but read the NIV, not the KJV. The KJV surrenders translation accuracy for the sake of making verses support certain ideas that are not necessarily rooted in the Bible. Every book has interesting stuff in it but if you're not reading it for theological purposes then the Old Testament certainly drags on. Don't skip any of the New Testament though. Also read the gospel of Judas even if its basically fanfiction.
William Johnson
It's not as bad as it looks user, basically you can break up the Old Testament and the New Testament into single books or blocks of books and read them for fun. Look up some of the ways that the Bible is typically divided and poke around for a while.
Try reading the Pentateuch, with some side commentary. Read a book at a time. Then read the History books another time, and yes you can skim over genealogies. You can read the Wisdom texts whenever and however you like - get a free Bible in your preferred translation and have fun poking around the Wisdom books, circling things you like, maybe even looking them up and seeing how they've been commented upon. Read Job alongside various commentaries on it.
Read the Prophets like another bout of History books, in any order you like, while looking up info about them on the side for fun. Try reading Daniel first, for fun.
The New Testament can be read whenever and however you like. Try reading the introduction to Ernst Renan's Life of Jesus for a brief and pithy critical introduction to New Testament historico-critical and philological studies of the various texts at work behind the composition of the synoptic gospels, then read the Gospels themselves as you like - they retread the same ground. Paul's letters are mostly fun if you are already tantalized by what a strange figure Paul is, and the mystery of his philosophical inspirations. For example what is agape? Did Paul intend for there to be a soul-spirit-body division, or are soul/spirit the same thing? What is the nature of Christ? What is the nature of the Holy Spirit? etc.
Revelations is just batshit.
The only real "blocks" in the Bible are the fun narrative ones: the Pentateuch and the History books. Everything else can be read at leisure, with ample side materials for fun context.
Also try googling "yale ocw new/old testament" for some free Yale University undergraduate courses on Biblical studies, one for the OT and one for the NT.
Remember to read whatever translations you find easiest. You don't have to read KJV. You will reread the Bible in your life. You don't need to torture yourself with The One Best Translation right off the bat.
Lincoln Jackson
ya but just the peter gabriel material
Jason Nelson
why don't you read an actual, sound, non feminized, up-to-date modern translation without an agenda? RSV (but not NRSV), ESV, Knox, Jerusalem Bible are all good translations.
Noah Thomas
I forgot to ad: when reading the Bible, suspend some judgment and disbelief because it will contradict itself constantly, and extracting the grand narrative or proper interpretation is impossible. Every book was written by different people at different times. Something I noticed rereading the Bible as an adult (as someone raised Christian) is that it's not clearly Christian. If you could make someone from an alternate universe where Christianity doesn't exist, they would probably have an entirely different summary and interpretation of it. That's why Gnostics existed, even something as basic as "Is God the Father the good guy or bad guy?" isn't quite clear.
Henry Ortiz
Most denominations of Christianity are strict about God having three forms (Father, Son, Holy Ghost), but the trinity is never referenced in the text and the Holy Ghost is only mentioned several times in wildly different contexts.
Ryan James
I remember one time in my Bible studies class at my private protestant middle school we were taught that Jesus (the Son) was -positively- present at the beginning of creation, but that's not something mentioned in Genesis or anywhere. It's just the logical conclusion of Trinity doctrine. Not that this is the wrong interpretation, it's just impossible to know if it's right. There probably is no right interpretation because it was written over the course of hundreds of years by people who never met.
Josiah Barnes
THE WICKED WORK OF MASSIVE DECHRISTIANIZATION HAS PROGRESSED SO FAR THAT NOW THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR TEENS OF AGE WHO HAVE NEVER READ «THE BIBLE» —THIS FACT STILL AMAZES ME.
Nicholas Gutierrez
You are a literal brainlet. The KJV is still one of the most accurate translations of the Bible out there, certainly the most accurate modern translation. We just don't notice anymore because the language is outdated to us.
For example it's s the only non-academic translation that retains the grammatical structure of the unique Greek use of the present past when it's used in the NT by rendering it in English present tense rather than past like shit-tier translations
Colton Brown
If you're interested in this you might be interested in:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Basically all these things came to a head in the mid-19th century as the historical criticism of religious texts (pioneered originally in the "hermeneutics" of the Reformation and Enlightenment eras by theists) started making people ask "So what the fuck IS there in the Bible that can't be refuted or reduced to a quaint cultural history of the Levant, more or less?"
The whole latter half of the 19th century is basically 19th century theologians and "historical religionists" melting down over what can be saved about Christianity, what we can even call properly "Christian," etc. It's hard to even make sense of some of the late "liberal theologians" like Ritschl and Harnack because of this -- they often seem to take no stance at all on whether Christ existed or whether/how we can know for certain that the Gospel was a revealed, divine advent. Karl Barth has a big book on this too.
Tyler Reed
If you want to be a hipster, try reading The Message version
Carter Campbell
Poor people never read much. People are now part of the under class and don't even realise it because they have food and phones and stuff.
Ayden Turner
start at the beginning. read OT in KJV, NT in a modern english version. forewarning, the moses books are a real fucking snooze but after that it's great
Kayden James
«THE BIBLE» HAS BEEN AN ACCESSIBLE BOOK TO PEOPLE OF ALL SOCIOECONOMIC STRATA SINCE THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY C E; SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS, AND FINANCIAL STATUS, ARE NOT FACTORS IN THE CURRENT NEGLECT OF «THE BIBLE», ESPECIALLY SINCE THIS BOOK HAS NEVER BEEN MORE ACCESSIBLE IN ALL OF ITS HISTORY AS IT IS NOW.
Nolan Young
First, and most important thing to keep in mind, is it is no where near as confusing or intimidating as you feel it is, and there is bound to be heap and heaps of secondary material you can refer to if you ever get confused by something. There are plenty of reading plans available for getting through the bible, but honestly just reading cover to cover is probably the easiest. I'd recommend getting a bible that has footnotes to make the more difficult parts easier to comprehend. Reading the KJV isn't necessary, especially not for your first time through, pretty much any translation that is generally highly regarded is fine too: NIV, (N)RSV, ESV, NAB, NASB, &c are reasonable choices. Honestly decent footnotes will likely make a bigger difference for your appreciation of the bible than which translation you read first.
Jonathan Bell
>NIV
Disgusting. It's the most bland translation, and in being so bland it obscures much of the emphasis of many verses.
For accurate, easy to read, and poetic translation look to the New Jerusalem Bible or Revised New Jerusalem Bible. It is faithful to the Greek and flows beautifully.
Xavier Ramirez
The Bible is a collection of many books written in different genres. Some of them are interesting, a lot are boring.
I suggest you read the most accessible books.
>Psalms
A collection of liturgical songs. These are attributed to David, though he likely never even existed. They capture a range of emotions and are powerful reading in the right context. The Grail Psalter and KJV are good for this.
>pentateuch
Genesis and Exodus. Everything else is repetitive garbage. Ignore the begats. I enjoy the Douay-Rheims translation for these OT texts.
>Gospels
Luke and John are the best. Luke wrote a sequel, Acts of the Apostles, but it's kinda dull.
>epistles
Just read the short ones, the universal epistles.
>Prophets
Ezekiel will do.
Christian Allen
The jew histories are the best part. Joshua thru kings. Chronicles is worthless. And Job and Ecclesiastes are great.
You may be right on your Gospels, but I love the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
Zachary Flores
You could listen to a recording of it or parts. There are recordings of multiple translations available. You could listen to the entirety of it if you want in multiple sessions.
No shame in doing this as I feel in the old days people might have read to each other or in groups before the advent of other modern distractions.
Ryan Sanchez
Heck Muslim countries have radio stations devoted to 24 hour sura recitations.
Isaac Murphy
This is good advice. If you go back far enough, our ancestors were illiterate and only priests could read the Bible. Or if you're of Puritan blood, your patriarch read it in the cabin on the Sabbath.
I listened to the KJV on youtube on my commute to work (1 hr each way). It probably is something around 80 hours total, and it lets you know which parts are worth re-reading and which parts are not really necessary.