


| Questions provide a good introduction, here are a few to get things going. Do you think people consider the Bible as a writing by several people over a long period of time which ended over 1900 years ago? Since this is an English website presenting the English Bible, do you think you understand your own language well enough to comprehend the biblical writings? Can you define the meaning of the words/phrases: writing, author, literary context, subject context, main subject point, secondary subject point, illustration, application? Have you learned middle eastern culture, customs, and religions, or even started to become familiar with them? Do you think God used people where He found them, and therefore, guided them to write according to their own knowledge of language, history, customs, and culture? Do you believe you need to know the biblical writers personal information in order to understand what they wrote? Do you believe the current order of the biblical books is ordered by God, and therefore an inspired order? Did you know before 1000 A.D. there were no chapters nor verses in the biblical books, instead a rare occasional paragraph or separation space? Did you know that the current Bible book order was the work of Rome around the time of 400 a.d. and not the order used by the believers who were, in fact, totally separated from roman rule, government, and religion? What type of New Testament book arrangement did the believers of Jesus use? Did the New Testament writers refer to the development of the N.T. in their writings? Which Old Testament did the common believer and non-believer use during the time of the development of the New Testament, Greek, Hebrew, or was it Aramaic? These Questions Present An Essential Introductory Reading Thought Process |
| A person reads the Bible today existing in a culture and language which the writers of the Bible did not have in existence when they wrote. Everything we have today which forms our conscientious minds, would be totally alien to the biblical writers. Our feelings and how they are created in us, is as different as understanding someone who lived 50 years ago on the opposite side of the globe. If you chose to read an Australian writer's autobiography, who wrote 50 years ago, right away you would have to rely on the author's info on the book cover jacket. Hopefully there is an introduction providing some information about the writer and his writing, and most of the time this information is provided enabling future readers the ability to comprehend; even readers many years later, from other countries and cultures. So the reader's own life would NOT enter into the meaning of the writer's work. In fact the reader's life must be totally removed in order to comprehend the writing. The reader is left to rely totally on the writer's methods of producing a piece of literature. If there is anything in the writing which the reader doesn't understand, the reader begins to miss out and NOT understand a percentage of the writing. The reader must be honest with themselves, and admit when they don't understand sections in the writing. |
