Since I had some free time this evening, I decided to check out one of several articles I have bookmarked to read at leisure. One such article was "The 12 books of Christmas" by Sarah Crompton. This inspired me to create a list of 12 books I would like to receive for Christmas. Of course, I know I won't receive all 12. (LOL! Sure is a nice thought, though.) But I decided to go ahead and create the list, anyway. Besides, I had to wonder if there are 12 books I'd like to receive as gifts for Christmas, what would they be?
While creating this list, I decided to have a theme for it. I don't have a whole lot of Christmas-themed books on my mega wish list of books I'd love to own someday, but I DO have a lot of Bible and religious-themed books. So these are those kinds of books from my wish list. Since I am planning to really work at studying and reading through the Bible next year (one of my personal goals for the year), I have some books on my list that might compliment this. Also, I am writing a book about prayer, so I also look for those kinds of books, too. I don't have a Kindle or e-reader, so I had to limit the books on my wish list to books that are available in print.
1. A Bible
(Unfortunately, my KJV Bible is falling apart. I am sad about this because I have had it since 1985 and it was given to me by my dear aunt and uncle. So it's time to get a new one and the one I have will be a keepsake.)
2. Know God and Love Him by Joanne M Rypma
3. You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have by Jim Cymbala
4. The Peace God Promises by Ann Spangler
5. The 52 Greatest Stories of the Bible: A Devotional Study by John Alan Turner and Ken Boa
6. Bible: The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011 by Gordon Campbell
7. Through the Bible in One Year: A 52-Lesson Introduction to the 66 Books of the Bible by Alan B. Stringfellow
8. Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem by Brent Landau
9. The Authentic Letters of Paul by Arthur J. Dewey
10. Meetings with Mary: Visions of the Blessed Mother by Janice T. Connell
11. Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
12. How to Pray Without Talking to God: Moment by Moment, Choice by Choice by Linda Martella-Whitsett
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Bible study
While we were getting ready for church today, Jennifer complained about even going. She didn't want to go to church, she said. Because it's "boring." (And, yet, every time we get there, she's soooo excited to see all of her friends.) I really wanted to go because we haven't been there for a while on account of life being so chaotic and also, I wanted to see MY friends. I sure missed seeing them. I don't see all of them every time I go, but I'm bound to see one or two of them.
So we decided to go to church all the same. I convinced Jen she might have fun!
During the sermon, the pastor was talking about the story in the Bible about how Jesus says "man does not live by bread alone." From what they put up on the screen, I was able to tell that the pastor was explaining about how Jesus was referring to how we should not just rely on food for survival, but how the Word of God will give us the ultimate means of survival. Like we should also turn to our Bibles and to God for helping us to "survive," not just by relying on food to keep our physical body going.
I thought that was really an interesting interpretation. It put a whole new meaning on the story, and on the things talked about in the Bible. I have known for a long time that a lot of things in the Bible are symbolic and that there is heavy use of metaphors and allegories. But I mever realized some quotes have a deeper meaning to them.
And while on that subject, the pastor noted how the reference of "daily bread" refers to the Word of God. I remembered reading somewhere of how someone wrote out the meaning behind the Lord's Prayer, and how "daily bread" referred to something else. Not just bread! I always wondered about that and now I wanted to look into it some more. Hopefully, I can find on the Internet a copy of the annotated Lord's Prayer.
After church, we went to the mall. Jennifer needed a new Bible. BADLY. Her Bible is literally falling apart. It's very old. And, anyway, it's not a real "Bible" for children, but a book of stories from the Bible. It was time for her to have a REAL Bible!
So we bought her a Bible spefically for her age group. She was reading through it on the way home. Later, we sat together going through her papers from church and I noted how it said that if she read the Bible every day according to the verse suggestions on one paper, she would earn 8 dollars of "church cash" for each week. Every month, the kids in her church get to spend their church cash at the church store. She got all excited and started reading her Bible, dutifully recording what she read. I could only shake my head and roll my eyes over this. They are essentially PAYING kids to read their Bible! Good grief! It hadn't taken any persuasion or temptation of money to get her to read her Bible in the car. I started kicking myself for even pointing that out. Kids should read the Bible if they want to and WHERE they want to. Not so they can get paid for it. Sigh.
After that, I tried to explain to her information about her Bible. I explained that it's divided into two parts. The Old Testament is before Jesus and the New Testament is after Jesus. I said that it contained books for each part and that the books had "chapters" unlike she normally saw in her chapter books. The chapters can be on the same page. And each chapter contained verses. I showed her the verses and I explained that the verses help people to find certain parts of the Bible and parts of the chapters. I also said that when people cite a passage in the Bible, they mention the book it is in, the chapter number then the verse number. We looked up this week's Bible verse and I showed her how to find it.
But she didn't get ANY of that. I might as well have been talking to a wall. It just went right over her head! I tried to explain it 3 times but she just didn't understand it.
Well, at least she is happy with her new Bible. She read it a lot today and we even read one chapter of it together. I really like how it is kid-friendly and not as complicated as an adult Bible. I know I can't expect her to understand everything about a Bible on the first try and hopefully I will be able to get through to her on understanding how a Bible is put together and how she can use it. For now I'm just glad she's willing to read it and that we can spend time reading it together.
So we decided to go to church all the same. I convinced Jen she might have fun!
During the sermon, the pastor was talking about the story in the Bible about how Jesus says "man does not live by bread alone." From what they put up on the screen, I was able to tell that the pastor was explaining about how Jesus was referring to how we should not just rely on food for survival, but how the Word of God will give us the ultimate means of survival. Like we should also turn to our Bibles and to God for helping us to "survive," not just by relying on food to keep our physical body going.
I thought that was really an interesting interpretation. It put a whole new meaning on the story, and on the things talked about in the Bible. I have known for a long time that a lot of things in the Bible are symbolic and that there is heavy use of metaphors and allegories. But I mever realized some quotes have a deeper meaning to them.
And while on that subject, the pastor noted how the reference of "daily bread" refers to the Word of God. I remembered reading somewhere of how someone wrote out the meaning behind the Lord's Prayer, and how "daily bread" referred to something else. Not just bread! I always wondered about that and now I wanted to look into it some more. Hopefully, I can find on the Internet a copy of the annotated Lord's Prayer.
After church, we went to the mall. Jennifer needed a new Bible. BADLY. Her Bible is literally falling apart. It's very old. And, anyway, it's not a real "Bible" for children, but a book of stories from the Bible. It was time for her to have a REAL Bible!
So we bought her a Bible spefically for her age group. She was reading through it on the way home. Later, we sat together going through her papers from church and I noted how it said that if she read the Bible every day according to the verse suggestions on one paper, she would earn 8 dollars of "church cash" for each week. Every month, the kids in her church get to spend their church cash at the church store. She got all excited and started reading her Bible, dutifully recording what she read. I could only shake my head and roll my eyes over this. They are essentially PAYING kids to read their Bible! Good grief! It hadn't taken any persuasion or temptation of money to get her to read her Bible in the car. I started kicking myself for even pointing that out. Kids should read the Bible if they want to and WHERE they want to. Not so they can get paid for it. Sigh.
After that, I tried to explain to her information about her Bible. I explained that it's divided into two parts. The Old Testament is before Jesus and the New Testament is after Jesus. I said that it contained books for each part and that the books had "chapters" unlike she normally saw in her chapter books. The chapters can be on the same page. And each chapter contained verses. I showed her the verses and I explained that the verses help people to find certain parts of the Bible and parts of the chapters. I also said that when people cite a passage in the Bible, they mention the book it is in, the chapter number then the verse number. We looked up this week's Bible verse and I showed her how to find it.
But she didn't get ANY of that. I might as well have been talking to a wall. It just went right over her head! I tried to explain it 3 times but she just didn't understand it.
Well, at least she is happy with her new Bible. She read it a lot today and we even read one chapter of it together. I really like how it is kid-friendly and not as complicated as an adult Bible. I know I can't expect her to understand everything about a Bible on the first try and hopefully I will be able to get through to her on understanding how a Bible is put together and how she can use it. For now I'm just glad she's willing to read it and that we can spend time reading it together.
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