/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10630681]

How does one read the Bible?
Where do I begin?
I have the ESV.

[Anonymous No.10630708]

Begin with genesis

[Anonymous No.10630799]

>>10630708
But that seems a little ourdated?

[Anonymous No.10630804]

>>10630681
>when the psalms are sung just right

[Anonymous No.10630807]

>>10630799
THERE IS REALLY NO REASON FOR THAT GODDAMN QUESTION MARK

[Anonymous No.10630826]

I did a presentation on that guy's quinque viae today. Afterwards, someone congratulated me on my ability to dodge the professor's questions.

I was embarrassed as fuck. I didn't think I was doing it that transparently.

[Anonymous No.10630896]

>>10630826
Who's lives is it about

[Anonymous No.10630934]

>>10630681
Umm, why did you say ESV? You could’ve just said Skyrim you know...also I don’t know how that’s gonna help you read the Bible.

[Anonymous No.10630946]

>>10630934
Kek

[Anonymous No.10630955]

Didn't read the op but there isn't a cliff thread; look I found cliff's evil twin.

[Anonymous No.10631228]

Ecclesiastes is the best book

[Anonymous No.10631444]

>>10630681
I read the NT and OT simultaneously.
Start with the gospels, work your way to the epistles and acts.
For the OT start with Genesis, make sure to read Job, Isaiah, Ecclesiastes, Psalms/Proverbs.
Then fill in the historical blanks as you go.

[Anonymous No.10631791]

>>10631444
Trips of truth. Read the NT and OT simultaneously.

Something that may be helpful is to understand the structure of the Bible. Both the Old Testament and New Testament are essentially split up into 4 sections:
>Foundations/Covenant
>Historical
>Wisdom/Poetic/Principles
>Prophecy (Major & Minor Prophets)

This is the most helpful in the Old Testament because - as a whole - it's not in chronological order, but the books within each section are in chronological order:
>Foundations/Covenant
Genesis - Deuteronomy. Creation, the Flood, God's covenant with Abraham, God's covenant with Jacob (renamed Israel), the 12 sons (tribes of Israel), the Israelites' exodus out of Egypt, revelation of the Law through Moses, and various Israelite shenanigans up until the death of Moses.
>Historical
Joshua - Esther. Continues chronologically after the events in the previous section. 1 & 2 Chronicles and 1 & 2 Kings occur roughly simultaneously.
>Wisdom/Poetic/Principles
Job - Ecclesiastes. Break in continuity. Job was probably written between the events of Genesis and Exodus and is the oldest book in the Bible.
>Major Prophets
Isaiah - Daniel. Break in continuity. Isaiah was written well before Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah & Lamentations right before it, Ezekiel during it, and Daniel at the end and leading out of captivity. Daniel is closely related to Revelation.
>Minor Prophets
Hosea - Malachi. Break in continuity. There is a roughly 200 year gap between Malachi and Matthew where there were no more prophets.

The New Testament is different in that section occurs chronologically after the section before it, but the books within each section occur in no particular order:
>Foundations/Covenant
Matthew - Mark. This section is referred to as the Gospel and is fundamentally the most important section in the Bible. If the Bible is a narrative, then this is the climax. Each book is about Jesus, written from the point of view of one of his disciples. If nothing else, these 4 books should be read.
>Historical
Acts. This book details the actions of the disciples and the formation of the Church after Christ's resurrection and ascension to Heaven, and the actions of the Apostle Paul.
>Wisdom/Poetic/Principles
Romans - Jude. Also known as the Epistles. These are a collection of letters written by the disciples to the various churches that were founded. The majority of them were written by Paul.
>Prophecy
Revelation. This was written by John, and it details prophetic visions given to John. Possibly the most difficult book to interpret and one of the most interesting due to the heavy use of symbolism and its detailing of future events. Keys to decoding portions of it are contained throughout the rest of the Bible, especially in Daniel.

[Anonymous No.10631794]

>>10630681
>ESV
Kys

[Anonymous No.10631846]

>>10630681
Consider picking up a copy of the Amplified Bible. It will help you to understand more of what was communicated in the original language each book was written in. Some concepts don't translate directly to English without expounding upon them, and there are instances where multiple words with different meanings in the original language only directly translate to one word in English (e.g. agape, phileo, storge, eros = "love"), so this necessarily breaks some of the "poetic flow" that is (mostly) retained in KJV (which sacrificed clarity in some points in favor of "poetic flow" or direct translation). The Amplified Bible adds clarifying statements [in brackets] and contains a multitude of footnotes that will assist you in studying the Bible.
Personally, I like to read AMP and KJV, and I would like to get a copy of the Greek Interlinear Bible and other versions that preserve the original writings. If anybody has suggestions related to this, I'd love to hear!

[Anonymous No.10631868]

>>10631791
Correction:
The Old Testament's Wisdom/Poetic/Principles section spans from Job to Song of Solomon. I always forget about that one. Guess I got hung up on how much I love Ecclesiastes.
>Side note: Ecclesiastes is the best book in the Old Testament and is one of the best philosophical works in terms of its substance/length ratio. Lays the foundations for a Christian take on Stoicism. It brought me back to my faith after a long period of nihilistic agnosticism.

[Anonymous No.10631889]

>>10631791
>>10631868
The Gospel spans from Matthew to John... phoneposting is a sin, I'm sorry anons.

[Anonymous No.10632097]

>ESV
lol. Read the KJV.

[Anonymous No.10632111]

In Western books you read left to right, unlike manga

[Anonymous No.10632658]

>>10630681
Start with the first seven books (Genesis to Judges) so you have a sense of just how retarded and savage the religion is at its core. The Gospels can make Christianity look very attractive if you don't keep in mind that they're ultimately based on this pagan-tier scary man in the sky religion.