Joint Heirs Adult Bible Fellowship February 25, 2018 Will Duke, Guest Speaker HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE PART 3

Transcription

1 Review: Joint Heirs Adult Bible Fellowship February 25, 2018 Will Duke, Guest Speaker HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE PART 3 An excellent resource to prepare you for Bible study can be found on our Joint Heirs Website. Go to the Lessons page, and cursor down to Guest Speakers (these are arranged alphabetically by last name). Search down until you come to these two lessons that we did last October: How to Study the Bible-Part 1 How to Study the Bible-Part 2 These two sources will provide you with the background to make your actual Bible study effective and beneficial. In Lesson One, we learned that the Bible is a unique book. It is a whole library of books written by God with you in mind. 2 Ti. 3:16-17 says: 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God [a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In Lesson Two, we learned about resources we have to study the Bible. o I made some recommendations for Bible translations I recommend for your Bible study. I recommended The NIV for your basic study translation and added the ESV as a companion translation that was more literal. I also recommended the Expanded Bible for insight into shades of meaning of the original languages. Finally, I suggested The Voice as a paraphrase for new insight and devotional reading. o We emphasized the critical need for a good study Bible. The one I most highly recommended was the NIV Study Bible. o Finally, we urged you to use a variety of translations in parallel as you study so you can compare what different translators thought. I said the five I use most regularly in parallel are: NIV, ESV, CSB, EXB, and NET. o But this was only Part A. Today we are going to continue this with Part B on Internet Resources for Bible study. 1

2 Today s Lesson: B. Internet Resources: 1. Warning: the Internet is like the Wild West. You can find anything there, good and not so good; helpful or unhelpful; accurate or even misleading. Every possible perspective on the Bible, Christianity, and religion is available, so you have to be careful of your sources. Before you start to depend on what they say, check them out. Who sponsors them? Are they associated with a particular denomination or religious group? Are they politically aligned? Do they provide a statement of faith so you can tell what their commitments are and where they are coming from? Have you received any recommendation about them? Are they a reliable, trustworthy source that can help you understand the Bible better? 2. Search engines: Search engines do not answer your questions; they point you to sources which potentially can answer your questions. To properly use a search engine, this is the question you should have in your mind: Where can I find information on...? a. Google (Google.com) It is the single most used search engine in the world. Over 80% of all Internet searches worldwide are done on Google. (1) Google is where I start my Internet searches. Most everyone knows about and uses Google. In fact, to search on the Internet has become to be called to Google something. ( How to do Bible Study ) (2) Google provides not only information, but also images, videos, maps, and news. They constantly search the information on the entire Internet in response to anything you ask. Consequently, they present you with almost every possible response. Since Google finds thousands of responses to your question, they arrange the responses to make them more useful to you. The first listed responses are there because the sources have paid to have themselves put at the top of the list. Often the list begins with companies which have placed ads to be found. These are usually marked as ads. These are followed by Googles guess as to which you would be most interested in, based on their records of your previous searches. If you continue drilling down into the list, you will find almost anything anyone has said about what you are searching for. This is good if you are looking to see what everybody thinks about something. But you cannot depend on the information you receive as being true or accurate from a Christian point of view. They simply report what others have posted on the Internet. 2

3 (3) Also be aware, Google (as do most search engines) tracks what you search for and keeps records on it. This allows them to arrange the results they give you with the things they think you would be most interested in first and send you targeted ads. b. Other search engines include: Bing (Microsoft) the next biggest search engine after Google Yahoo Ask.com Wolframalpha Many others 3. Wikipedia. (en.wikipedia.org) a. How it works. The 6 th most visited site on the Internet (465 million unique visitors last April). Anybody can contribute, change, add to, or subtract from any article. All free, all done by volunteers. b. This cooperative effort results in usually factually accurate information about just about everything known to mankind, but most contributors are not believers and especially not conservative Christians. Helpful, but take what they say with a grain of salt. c. Use it like you would an encyclopedia. E.g., say I am studying Paul s missionary journeys in Acts, and I want to know who the Roman emperor was at the time. I would go Wikipedia for that fact. Or in our study of Ephesus, Wikipedia provided us with photos of the archaeological ruins of Ephesus. Or if I wanted information of the Dead Sea Scrolls. d. The more your subject matter concerns conservative Christian doctrine, the more suspect the Wikipedia information. At best, these articles will give you a liberal Christian perspective, but often they are even atheistic and anti- Christian in nature. This reflects the personal commitments and values of the editors who control what gets on and what does not. Often, they have carefully eliminated any conservative Christian view points. e. Can be very useful, especially for factual materials, but not reliable theologically. 4. Biblical sources. These are the primary on-line biblical sources available that I have found to be reliable and trustworthy and which I use on a daily basis: a. First of all, those tools which help you access the text of Scripture: This is where I spend most of my time and effort in Bible study. 3

4 (1) Biblegateway.com (There is also a mobile app available.) Great for quick access to the text of Scripture in many translations (57 English versions and more than 150 others). Works especially well to set up different versions in parallel: 5 (on computer) or up to 3 (on mobile device). Powerful search functions. Search by Scripture reference or keyword (like an automated concordance). o Search for biblical phrases and combinations of words in a specific translation. o Search in any version you wish. Because I grew up with the KJV, I often start with that version because that is the way I remember the verse. E.g., search for trust, then search for Trust in the Lord, o This is not a subject index. E.g. you can search for the word faith. It will give you every verse in the Bible in which the word faith appears alone or in combination, but it will not give you Pro. 3:5-6 because the word faith is not in the English versions of that passage. See a passage in various translations in parallel. E.g., Jn. 14:1-2. Audio Bibles to listen to Devotionals Bible reading plans The free version is supported by ads. You can upgrade: $3.00/mo; reduced ads and get free access to 40+ study and reference books and devotionals. (2) Blueletterbible.org (also has a mobile app) Search by Scripture reference (Eph. 2) or keyword (faith) Tools: o Interlinear gives access to the biblical languages, even if you do not know Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. o Bibles allows comparison of a given verse between translations 4

5 o Cross references: what does the Bible teach on this subject in other passages? o Commentaries o Dictionaries o Misc: maps, charts, graphics b. To ask questions about a biblical teaching or doctrine: (1) Gotquestions.org (a) Website says: "Got Questions Ministries seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence." GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, conservative, evangelical, fundamental, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions. (b) This is a good source to ask your questions. They provide reliable answers from a Protestant, conservative evangelical, nondenominational perspective. They hold to the full inerrancy of Scripture and all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, so you won t find them teaching heresy. (2) Bible.org E.g., search for Eternal Security Even if you don t have a specific question, it is interesting to see what questions other people are asking. E.g., Question of the Week: "How can I believe in the goodness of God when there is so much evil in the world?" (a) Conservative, evangelical Christian, believes in the inerrancy of Scripture (b) Publisher of the NET Bible. (c) Here you can study a biblical book, topic, author, or verse. 5

6 c. Backgrounds and overviews: (1) Study Bibles: book introductions (2) Thebibleproject.com: Uniquely helpful overviews to biblical books and doctrines; available for free on Youtube.com. E.g., Holiness d. Smart phone and tablet applications: most Bible translations and on-line study Bibles are available as mobile or tablet apps. e. Other study resources: (I don t use either of these, but I know lots of people who do and swear by them.) (1) Logos Expensive but comprehensive; everything you need to study the Bible; from several hundreds to thousands of dollars, but provides thousands of dollars of resources; probably the best Bible study set of tools available today. This is the primary tool seminary students use today. (2) e-sword (free) (also available as mobile app). 6