Tool for digging deeper into the Bible

There are a number of tools to read the Bible deeper people learn in seminary of which sometimes clergy forget to share with congregation members.  You may very well know this little "tip" in reading the Bible and if so, you are way ahead of the game.  If you have not encountered this "tip", I hope this is helpful.

Take a section of the Bible, let us take the story in Matthew 15:21-28.  

Step one - look to see if this story is somewhere else in the Bible (this story can be found in Mark 7:25-30)

Step two - look for differences, especially any differences that seems small.  (In our case, one of the changes you may notice is the shift of the woman being a Greek-Syrophoenician-woman to a being Cannaite woman.)  

Step three - discover where in the Bible we find references to the changes (Cannite's are referenced a number of times in the OT, for instance in Deuteronomy 7:1-6 in which the Cannaite's are one of seven tribes that Israel is "commanded" to conquer with the sword and spear.)  

Step four - now you have a point in which to meditate, pray and read and discover a new meaning.  

For instance, in this example above you will find that the first encounter the Jewish people had with the Cannaite's made them an enemy to be conquered.  When Jesus comes he seeks to reconcile with these people whom have been deemed enemies for generations.  Jesus's first encounter with these people, Jesus heals them, feeds them and serves them.  Jesus is one who initiates a reconciliation with not only his own people, but also with the long standing enemies of Israel.

So take a look at the Bible and see if these steps are helpful to find new meanings and direction, and see where it takes you.

Another greatness to the Kindle

If you are not rockin a Kindle yet, then I would invite you to consider this thought.

If you are the type of person who reads and highlights things or takes notes in the margins then you forget what was highlighted or where you wrote that margin note then the Kindle has a gift for you.

All your margin notes and highlights are recorded, organized, and saved in the cloud for later access and manipulation.

If you have an amazon account then go to https://kindle.amazon.com/your_highlights and log in.  There you will see your notes/highlights and be overjoyed.

In addition, you will be able to see what looks to be highlights from others whom you have shared the book with right there in your notes.  So you can see what your friends are thinking about when they read the book with you!


Oh, and if you want to share your notes with the public you can do that or make them private.  Here are my notes and highlights for the book Almost Christian by Kenda Creasy Dean.

This just saved me ton of time typing in my notes and highlights or manually transferring my notes/highlights to documents saved on my computer (which I have saved over 30 books worth of notes and highlights on my computer which I can now delete!).

Kinda awesome.

Posters churches ought to be making

This was found by my Senior minister and forwarded to me.  I cannot take credit for finding or making it. Although I wish I were creative enough to do so.