The new year will be here soon! It’s not too late to start thinking about whether or not you would like to start a Bible reading plan in 2015. I enjoy plans. They help me to be more regular with my reading.
Not all reading plans are the same. Though many are geared towards reading through the whole Bible in a year, there are more options available. There are some that will extend the reading out for two or three years or shorten it considerably. I once went through the Bible in six months. To be honest, it wasn’t planned. I was pregnant and suffering with “morning” sickness so badly that all I could do was read! Some plans focus on just parts of the Bible like the gospels, the Old or New Testament, or bring you through the same books more than once. Plans can also go through the books in the order they appear in the Bible or go through the Bible in the order that things took place chronologically in history. I prefer the latter. [...]
Counterfeiting is alive and well in America and across the world. The International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), an organization dedicated to fighting counterfeiting and safeguarding intellectual property, reports that the Department of Homeland Security confiscated counterfeit goods worth more than $1.7 billion at our borders in Fiscal Year 2013. The coalition also reports that counterfeiting is a major problem worldwide.¹ When I think of counterfeiting, I immediately think of money; but all sorts of goods are also counterfeited including car parts, handbags, watches, and jewelry. I wonder if 3D printing technology will open up a whole new world for counterfeiters. If so, the government and the IACC are going to be quite busy.
Being aware that there are fakes out there can go a long way in protecting us from being taken. This is true not only for consumer products but also for matters of faith. We need to look out for counterfeit Christianity. [...]
With 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and 31,102 verses¹, the Bible is a considerable read. I have seen word counts of approximately 780,000.² War and Peace “only” has 561, 304 words!³ Have you read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy? Combined they are only 576,459 words.³ The Bible exceeds this by over 200,000 words! The Bible is a thick book, but it is wonderful. It contains words of eternal life and the greatest story ever told.
Since the Bible is so big, it is helpful to have resources that summarize things for us. [...]
God is beautiful. His beauty is discernible even though we cannot see him. Nothing compares to him nor is anyone like him. He is holy and good, not in the sense that we are – only to our flawed, finite, human limits – but intrinsically, infinitely, and perfectly. That alone is mind-boggling beauty, but there is more. There's always more when it comes to God. [...]
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV) These familiar words are comforting and give perspective to a lot of situations, many of which are listed in the verses that follow. For example, verse 7 mentions that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. How true is that? That wisdom can save us a lot of trouble. I have found that wisdom practically helpful in the work of apologetics. [...]
Can you imagine what it was like to be one of the authors of the books of the Bible, sitting there as an instrument of Almighty God, bringing his word to the world, writing about the power of God or about the promise of eternal life or the incarnation? Is it any wonder that they sometimes erupted in praise? As you read through the scriptures you will find verses that seem to be flow out of the author's saturation with the goodness and glory of God. They are known as doxologies. [...]
How important is it to you that your Bible is an accurate translation of the manuscript copies of the Old and New Testament texts? Very? Good. The collective books of the Bible, accurately translated from the manuscript copies of the original inspired texts, are a special revelation from God. In them we learn things we cannot learn from within ourselves or from nature. Though creation reveals aspects of God’s power and nature (Romans 1:20), it does not tell us that there is only one God and that he is triune. [...]
I’m a skeptic. Always have been. I’ve long had the habit of asking “Where did you hear that?” when someone shares “a fact” that seems suspect. My skepticism sometimes makes me wonder how I ever became a Christian. Well, I know the answer to that question actually. God did it. It wasn’t easy, at least from my perspective; but that’s a story for another time. Right now I’d like to share how my skepticism is valuable in my life as a Christian. [...]
There is an endless stream of voices in the world. For better or worse, our modern technology allows us to hear those voices like never before. It has given us access to countless people and opinions. Regardless of the topic, we can find experts or self-proclaimed experts who are more than happy to enlighten us. Question is – who do we listen to? [...]
Today I took down the “Coming Soon” sign on my English Bible Quest page. I’m excited that it is ready! Beginning in the fourth century and ending in modern times, the quest highlights some of the important people and events that played a part in the process of God’s word becoming available to English speaking people in their native language. [...]
I recently came across a very interesting website. I was doing some online reading and ended up on Openbible.info. This site has all sorts of Bible data presented in clever and colorful ways. The tagline for the site appears to be “Remix Bible data”. I think it is very appropriate. If you like data collections and creative charts you will like this site. Bible data and related subjects are the source for the output. [...]
The Christian wife’s biblical submission is a subject that I will be writing about on a regular basis. It is one of the main reasons why Chapter 3 Ministries exists. I have seen the blessing of living according to God’s will in marriage, and it is a delight for me to encourage other women to see it too. Though there are blessings, it does not mean that submission is easy. It can be quite difficult. In my writings I will address both the blessings and the challenges of and to submission. I do not believe that it does anyone any good to ignore or cover-up the challenges. [...]
The Bible. An amazing book with a fascinating history. Assembled from writings that span millennia, it surely deserves admiration from aficionados of literature. Christians, however, know that it is much more than an amazing book. It is a treasure. It is a treasure to us because we believe the Bible is God’s word. Rightly viewed, its value is beyond anything else on this earth. Many Christians have testified to this with their lives. We in the United States are incredibly blessed to live where we can easily have access to a Bible in our native language and that we can read it without fear of serious persecution, imprisonment, or death. [...]
