Theology - and Rocky Road Ice Cream

When you first read the Bible, just on the surface, you notice the stories and some history.

When you first bite into Rocky Road Ice cream,
you notice the creamy coldness of it.

Then upon a more careful reading, line by line, word by word, you might discover some subtle things you missed on first reading. Like, in Matthew's account of turning the other cheek, Christ said "on the right cheek."
Soon after you begin to savor the ice cream,
you notice the chocolaty goodness of it.

As you look at the context and historical background of the writings, the sinfulness of Corinth, or the vast grandeur of Herod's temple, you may find some nuggets of thought that contrast with what first appeared to be the flow of the surface text. You also can find "types" (we lay people call them prototypes) of Christ and The Church in the Old Testament.

Savoring the ice cream,
you then notice the crunchiness of the pecans.

As you begin to look at the scriptures, less as a series of stories, and more as a lens through which you can view history, and current events, you can see how God's Hand is always in control, always guiding events for our good and His Glory.

Then you notice the
sweetness of the marshmallows.

The fact that the ice cream is chocolate does not negate that it is creamy and cold. Nor does the crunchiness of the pecans. And the sweetness of the marshmallows does not conflict with or contradict the nuttiness of the pecans. They all work together to make up the whole.

The richness, the subtleties, the allegories, the types, the irony, and the sweetness of the Bible do not contradict each other. They all work together to make up the whole.

New start point - Bibles And Christians

This page will serve as a temporary index to the most important articles I have written on the subjects of Bible Study and Christian Living. It will be replaced sometime in the future by a more organized version.

I began this project because so many people are claiming to be a Christian, and yet they show no real knowledge of Christ or what the Bible says Jesus requires of a Christian, that I have written some short essays expressing my views of their lack of Biblical Knowledge.

Are You really a Christian?

And some longer ones. This one begins with a paragraph defining my view of the Gospel, a view I can defend each and every word of, from Scripture. Grace, The Law, and Works

Now, many will tell you that the first thing a new Christian should do after getting saved is to find a good Church. (I may agree or disagree with that statement, but that is for a later article) But what is a good Church? How is one to tell? Here I have written a short (about 3 pages) essay on what to look for.
Characteristics of a good Church

Now, on to the central theme: Bible Study

Why Study the Bible

Not everybody reading this will be on the same level of knowledge.
Different levels of knowledge in Bible Studies

Where to start reading and studying: I have always advocated starting with the Gospel According to Luke, when beginning to study the Bible. There are many reasons for this. It is easy to read and starts with the Christmas story.

But if you are going to study the Bible, you might want to know which translation to read. Well, one that you can understand is a good start. For more details

Translations of The Bible

And for studying the Bible, you also might want a Study Bible.

Now that we are clear on "which" Bible
to study, let's begin to really study.
After Luke: Beginning Study

And on the other hand, if you come here just totally
overwhelmed and struggling to understand any of this
- or -
What do you do if you are still struggling to understand
what you read in the Gospel according to Luke?
Ephesus Project: Cheats and helps
(I need to update that one)

In case you need more reason to study:
Crisis in the Church - Apostasy

Just a note here: Bank tellers are not given training on how to spot a counterfeit bill. The learn to spot the phonies as a side effect of handling the real thing day after day for months at a time.

And in case you have some doubts about the authenticity of the text we have in our hands today. You might want to know how we can know the Bible in our hands today is the same as what was written hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

After Much Thought - Levels

After giving it much thought, I have decided to loosely categorize Bible Study tools into four categories.

1. Complete Novice
If you don't know many Bible stories, don't know the books of the Bible, or the characters, and are frankly intimidated buy the sheer magnitude of the whole thing. This is you.

I discovered one person I gave a Haley's Handbook to was intimidated by the size of the handbook. True, it is thicker than the Bible itself, but that is mostly because the paper in the pages is thicker. And it has more pictures. But just the same, they were intimidated. Sign of a Complete Novice.

I didn't used to think there were many people in Church at this level. Now I know differently. After half a century of steadily deteriorating public school training, we now have a large portion of the US population functionally illiterate when it comes to real books. They can function on the job, read a magazine, or read some of the junk food fiction that passes for literature today, but they can't get through a serious non fiction book.

If you are at this point, you need tools for orientation.
Childrens Bible Stories
Picture Bibles
Elementary Handbooks


2. Elementary Learning Level
If you do know several of the stories of the Bible, but don't really know where to start learning more. Maybe you tried "getting into the Bible" one or more times, but crashed and burned. But you are willing to try again, and realize that if you can take it a bite at a time, you can do it, then this is you. At the Elementary Learning Level.

In the past, this is where I always used to start with people.
Mainly because I remained at this level for about 20 years.
If you are at this level, you need tools for understanding.
Dictionary and Cultural context tools.
Maps and History guides
Bible Handbooks
Catechism type Books (Books that ask a lot of questions for you to explore)
Thesaurus


3. Intermediate Leaning Level
This is really an extension of the Elementary Level. OK, so you know your way around the Bible stories and you have some knowledge of the times and places where the events of the Bible took place, and have some idea how to break down Bible passages to gain a deeper understanding of what is really written.

Now you need tools to help find answers to the more difficult questions, usually posed by nonbelievers, but also posed by some of the more Elementary believers, and by some heritics (although for vastly different reasons).

These are tools for historical context
ExtraBiblical Tools to support the Bible
Archeological and Apologetics tools.
Simple Doctrinal Tools

3a. Some other stuff that might be of interest at this level are things others have written about the Bible. Stuff that Christians may or may not agree with, as far as doctrine or interpretation. These can give you insight about the disputes that arise over interpretations, and insight as to just what non beleivers do not understand, since much of what you know about the Bible may seem easy and straightforwards to you as you progress through the intermediate level of understanding. These can prevent or remedy complacency in interpretation.

3b. This may also be a good point at which to begin learning about various other religions, Christian and pseudo christian religions, and some other religions around the world.


4. Higher Learning Levels
I can't say much about this level, as I have only begun to explore at this level.
Studies of Apologetics
Studies of Doctrine
Original Language Translations and Lexicons (Vines)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance


Ok, now that I have laid the ground work here, I will begin, in the future to lump study tools into one of the above categories. You can always use, though maybe with some difficulty, tools from a higher level. You can also use, though with diminished effectiveness, tools from a lower level. And, actually, you should be reviewing tools from the lower levels, for others who may be coming to you for guidance.

Time to read "Luke"

Or, time to read The Gospel According to Luke, again. The reason: A Charlie Brown Christmas Special is on TV this week. That's as good a reason as any.

If you're wondering what this is all about, Linus takes stage right in the middle of the show, and recites the second chapter of Luke, right from the King James translation of the Holy Bible.

Any Christian who has never studied the Bible, Luke is where I tell them to begin. Read it like a story, which it is. OK, you can skip the ancestry thing in chapter 4. That will be important later, but you can skip it for now. This is where the story of Christianity begins.

Why did they put the beginning of the story in the middle? Well, two reasons. First, the Bible is not the story of Christianity, it is the story of God. We come into play in the middle of the story. Second, the Bible is layed out by subject, and the four Gospels, found together at the beginning of the New Testament (the testament of Christ) is one of those subjects.

Why Luke? Two reasons: it is fairly simple to read (written as a story), and it starts out with a story most Christians know - Christmas.

Happy reading. More next week or so.

To find more of my writings on this subject, click on the label "Bible Student" on the right hand side of this blog.