Last year I tried doing one of those “Bible in a Year” podcasts. And I didn’t make it super far. However! After reading the story of Abraham and Isaac, the priest talked about how Biblical scholars believe that Isaac was not a young child on the story. He was very likely at least in his mid-late teens, perhaps older. He was certainly old enough that he needed to consent to being sacrificed. He had a level of autonomy that I’d never considered before. That pretty dramatically changed my perception of the story. I feel as though every illustration I ever saw of that story showed Isaac to be under 10 or so. Or maybe I projected that when I learned it as a child, who knows!
That story used to be a real sore spot for me, and an almost throw-away line from a priest on a podcast completely changed my view on it. All that to say, I totally agree with you!
Kerri, yes! That is such an important thing to know about that story. Tim Mackie talking about that story has been super helpful for me as well. I personally haven't read the Bible in a year in a long, long time. I'm not sure it's the most helpful format for most of us.
I LOVE THIS. It has the makings of "Here, let me send you a PDF my friend Lisa created, I think it will really give some shape and support for your study/group/approach" (which is to say, keep writing and working this out! And if it happens to become a downloadable/shareable resource I will not be mad).
This is so refreshing to read! I really appreciate how you quote John Mark Comer’s words that even though reading the Bible is a *good* thing, it doesn’t guarantee that we’re secure in the faith. My husband and I have really enjoyed The Bible Recap with Tara Leigh Cobble and it’s helped us get into the word more. Excited to learn about even more resources to help with Bible reading!
I think we assume it's automatic as long as we are reading in any form! And there are so many good resources; the Bible Recap is definitely one of them!
“Let people ask weird questions and learn not to freak out.” I’d wear that on a t-shirt! We used to host a monthly dinner centered around one question: what does it mean to be made in the image of God? We invited purposefully diverse people and it was such good conversation, weird questions and all.
Thank you for writing and caring about these things. Advent is great, but I needed a fresh breath on reading my Bible ; )
Love this so much. Thank you!
You're welcome!
Last year I tried doing one of those “Bible in a Year” podcasts. And I didn’t make it super far. However! After reading the story of Abraham and Isaac, the priest talked about how Biblical scholars believe that Isaac was not a young child on the story. He was very likely at least in his mid-late teens, perhaps older. He was certainly old enough that he needed to consent to being sacrificed. He had a level of autonomy that I’d never considered before. That pretty dramatically changed my perception of the story. I feel as though every illustration I ever saw of that story showed Isaac to be under 10 or so. Or maybe I projected that when I learned it as a child, who knows!
That story used to be a real sore spot for me, and an almost throw-away line from a priest on a podcast completely changed my view on it. All that to say, I totally agree with you!
Kerri, yes! That is such an important thing to know about that story. Tim Mackie talking about that story has been super helpful for me as well. I personally haven't read the Bible in a year in a long, long time. I'm not sure it's the most helpful format for most of us.
I LOVE THIS. It has the makings of "Here, let me send you a PDF my friend Lisa created, I think it will really give some shape and support for your study/group/approach" (which is to say, keep writing and working this out! And if it happens to become a downloadable/shareable resource I will not be mad).
Sarah, I love this idea. Thank you. It's got wheels turning and if you have ideas for what you would want in a resource like that, please share!
This is so refreshing to read! I really appreciate how you quote John Mark Comer’s words that even though reading the Bible is a *good* thing, it doesn’t guarantee that we’re secure in the faith. My husband and I have really enjoyed The Bible Recap with Tara Leigh Cobble and it’s helped us get into the word more. Excited to learn about even more resources to help with Bible reading!
I think we assume it's automatic as long as we are reading in any form! And there are so many good resources; the Bible Recap is definitely one of them!
Yes, yes, yes to all of this.
Glad it resonated, Tabitha!
So much YES to this! Reading the Bible in community has been revelatory as an adult: my faith has grown so much because of it!
So glad, Sarah! I would love to hear more about what that's looked like for you.
“Let people ask weird questions and learn not to freak out.” I’d wear that on a t-shirt! We used to host a monthly dinner centered around one question: what does it mean to be made in the image of God? We invited purposefully diverse people and it was such good conversation, weird questions and all.
Thank you for writing and caring about these things. Advent is great, but I needed a fresh breath on reading my Bible ; )
"John Mark Comer recently said that “reading the Bible doesn’t automatically lead to maturity” and he’s right."
Um, feeling really caught up by the quote. Woah.