How to read the bible: Introduction part 1

      One thing that many new Christians, even me, do wrong is that we think we can just pick up the bible and read it straight through with out any problems. This, which has been proven to many people and even to myself is wrong, wrong, WRONG!!! The bible is not and was not meant to be an easy read where you completely understand what is going on and why. This actually leads to some really wrong interpretations of the bible.
       
    I was one of those people that thought that the bible should be easy to read. But like many of those people, I read the first few chapters of Genesis, and when I stopped and read the lineage of all of the people starting with Abraham and Sarah, I got seriously confused. After doing a little bit more research and watching videos of some Christians who know and read the bible every day, it came to my attention that you really need to know more before just diving into the bible.

   So, I did more necessary research, and found all these different techniques and ways to read the bible and actually come to terms with understanding the bible too. I got some study books about the bible and I bought myself a study bible. The study bible is not the typical bible, it is a bible which provides critiques, comments, and background info of what was going on at that time.
     
    But before cracking open any books there is one thing you MUST remember, the bible must NOT be read literally. Keep in mind while you read your bible passages that these books were created long ago and targeted to a certain kind of people. This creates some obstructions for people as well, and prevents them from really diving into the word. I have heard some people say many times, "God says that figs are sinful so we can't have figs" and other things like that sort. You need to turn the word of the Lord around and fit the words into the current time frame. I am a part of the Dominican order in Catholicism, I believe heavily in the Dominican ways (holding a bible in one hand and the newspaper with the other). To understand what God wants us to know, act and pray for, we need to read the bible as if it was meant for us to read.

   As I read my bible (ESV Study Bible) I will post some things that I have learned along the way. So this post will be a series, although it may be a long series, maybe it will help some of you as you try to expand your spiritual growth.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you have a wonderful and absolutely fabulous day!