Talking about the Bible

[SarahUmbreon]

Basically, I’m talking about these two things:

-“Have you read the entire bible?”

-“What type of bible do you like reading? I’m talking if it’s NIV, ESV, King James, etc.”

So to answer my questions, yes I still need to read the whole bible, I tried when I first saw how important God is when I was in college, but got distracted easily cause I knew God, but I feel with this pandemic it has given me the time to really think, and I decided that I wish to fully follow God, even if people get mad at me for being Christian, I will stand my ground. Yes sometimes being criticized still hurts, but God said following wasn’t going to be easy.

Anyway, I was using one of those “Read the Bible in 365 days” and my mom mentioned how I should try to read the Bible cause I showed interest in the scripture (I was telling her about how the “Horror lovers” thread, the main person who made it, is going to try to do a deep dive and find verses of horror themes in the Bible. I just found it interesting someone could see that in the Bible, my mom definitely agrees because a lot of scary and intense stuff does happen in the Bible), but I realized I just need to read the whole bible regardless, I can’t remember scripture well, this reading the whole bible might help, lol.

For the types of Bibles I read, they are NIV and sometimes ESV, cause our church uses ESV. From my understanding, it doesn’t matter which bible type you use to read, cause they all contain the same message, just worded differently in each one. Please don’t get mad, I know some stuff, but I haven’t thought to do a “deep google research” on this subject.

But I wanna hear what y’all have to say, share opinions ^_^

 

[SarahUmbreon]

I forgot to add, but if anyone has tips to keep reading the Bible and not getting distracted, for everyone on here that it would be their first time trying read the whole bible, that would be much appreciated and helpful ^_^

 

[Runningman]

Basically, I’m talking about these two things:

-“Have you read the entire bible?”

-“What type of bible do you like reading? I’m talking if it’s NIV, ESV, King James, etc.”

So to answer my questions, yes I still need to read the whole bible, I tried when I first saw how important God is when I was in college, but got distracted easily cause I knew God, but I feel with this pandemic it has given me the time to really think, and I decided that I wish to fully follow God, even if people get mad at me for being Christian, I will stand my ground. Yes sometimes being criticized still hurts, but God said following wasn’t going to be easy.

Anyway, I was using one of those “Read the Bible in 365 days” and my mom mentioned how I should try to read the Bible cause I showed interest in the scripture (I was telling her about how the “Horror lovers” thread, the main person who made it, is going to try to do a deep dive and find verses of horror themes in the Bible. I just found it interesting someone could see that in the Bible, my mom definitely agrees because a lot of scary and intense stuff does happen in the Bible), but I realized I just need to read the whole bible regardless, I can’t remember scripture well, this reading the whole bible might help, lol.

For the types of Bibles I read, they are NIV and sometimes ESV, cause our church uses ESV. From my understanding, it doesn’t matter which bible type you use to read, cause they all contain the same message, just worded differently in each one. Please don’t get mad, I know some stuff, but I haven’t thought to do a “deep google research” on this subject.

But I wanna hear what y’all have to say, share opinions ^_^

My first thought is that reading the whole Bible is a good goal, but you don't have to have the achievement of having read the whole Bible, word for word, letter for letter, from front to back, to claim having learned a lot of valuable information.

I read the Bible for the sake of spiritual growth so i tend to meander through the Bible as the Spirit leads. Other times I just follow random daily devotions.

I have seen some Bible apps have whole Bible reading plans which divide the Bible up in 365 days.

You could try setting a goal of getting the whole Bible read in a year, prioritizing spiritual growth.

 

[BlueTheComposer]

I have read the whole bible several times (not count the apocrypha). I used to always have a desire to read through all of it but would always get busy or couldn't stay consistent in my reading. Sometimes I'd get discouraged because I've always been a very slow reader and constantly have to re-read paragraphs or whole pages because I'd space out and not know what I was reading. And the discouragement came upon realizing how incredibly long it'd take for me to finish. Finally I found when looking for a good bible app the Bible Gateway app which includes several different through-the-bible-in-a-year plans and after a rough start finally got consistent in my reading and have read through the bible each year.

My personal favorite translation is the NIV, although I know several people don't like it I can't figure out why. The translation feels more concise to me and less confusing/subject to interpretation. Sometimes I'll compare with the NKJV or NASB, and sometimes just for fun the KJV to see what the olde english version sounded like, lol. I would say though to never read The Message version, or if you do, it's to understand why you shouldn't read it, lol. It really takes away and puts so much words in the bible that aren't even there or shouldn't be there.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

My first thought is that reading the whole Bible is a good goal, but you don't have to have the achievement of having read the whole Bible, word for word, letter for letter, from front to back, to claim having learned a lot of valuable information.

I read the Bible for the sake of spiritual growth so i tens to meander through the Bible as the Spirit leads. Other times I just follow random daily devotions.

I have seen some Bible apps have whole Bible reading plans which divide the Bible up in 365 days.

You could try setting a goal of getting the whole Bible read in a year, prioritizing spiritual growth.

Yeah I understand, hmm I do have the Bible app so that might work better than a physical book, cause the phone will go off when you need to read, lol.

Most of my reading is from bible studies, church lessons...and when I do remember getting around to my Bible app plans, I have like 4 I need to be doing, just doing them bit by bit, but I really should turn the notifications on for them. Cause after I read even one day, it helps to read God’s word and remember how great he truly is ^_^

 

[Subhumanoidal]

I never read the whole thing.

As far as which to read, anything that is a "paraphrase" is bad. The Message, New Living Bible (NLB) etc...
I'm not one to debate and seek out problems with actual Translations, but from what I've read the NIV does seem to have some issues that make it not ideal.
When I read I preferred the NLT, New Living Translation. It is in modern English, like the NIV. When it was released it was backed by some reputable pastors.

If the KJV Only-ists see this thread it will be ruined. So be prepared.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

I never read the whole thing.

As far as which to read, anything that is a "paraphrase" is bad. The Message, New Living Bible (NLB) etc...
I'm not one to debate and seek out problems with actual Translations, but from what I've read the NIV does seem to have some issues that make it not ideal.
When I read I preferred the NLT, New Living Translation. It is in modern English, like the NIV. When it was released it was backed by some reputable pastors.

If the KJV Only-ists see this thread it will be ruined. So be prepared.

Yeah I am worried about that, but it is what it is, I'm just a ordinary christian trying to have some fun, cause I thought it would be interesting to hear opinions. Cause CC is the only place I'm able to ask these questions, cause the only other people I can ask these questions are my parents...I don't have many real-life friends ;-;...I do have some friends that are christian, but I dunno if they would be interested in this stuff, I definitely know one of them wouldn't have much to say, I don't mean that as mean, but being realistic cause he isn't high functioning like me, another reason why I'm grateful to the lord for the way he made me, cause apparently it's not common for people with disabilities to be high functioning, especially girls on the autism spectrum, but that's what my mom told me, lol.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

I have read the whole bible several times (not count the apocrypha). I used to always have a desire to read through all of it but would always get busy or couldn't stay consistent in my reading. Sometimes I'd get discouraged because I've always been a very slow reader and constantly have to re-read paragraphs or whole pages because I'd space out and not know what I was reading. And the discouragement came upon realizing how incredibly long it'd take for me to finish. Finally I found when looking for a good bible app the Bible Gateway app which includes several different through-the-bible-in-a-year plans and after a rough start finally got consistent in my reading and have read through the bible each year.

My personal favorite translation is the NIV, although I know several people don't like it I can't figure out why. The translation feels more concise to me and less confusing/subject to interpretation. Sometimes I'll compare with the NKJV or NASB, and sometimes just for fun the KJV to see what the olde english version sounded like, lol. I would say though to never read The Message version, or if you do, it's to understand why you shouldn't read it, lol. It really takes away and puts so much words in the bible that aren't even there or shouldn't be there.

Yeah me too, it was like I would be reading for the first few days I got started, but then I would fall like a month behind on accident cause I tend to get distracted with life...and being a nerd if I have to be honest, which I should be, lol. That's cool, right now I just have Bible app (By Youversion) and I've enjoyed using the app, plus the search feature helps when I want to find scripture on a specific subject.

Yeah I mainly use NIV, cause I just like it overall. ESV isn't bad and can be good for a "more simpler version" (It is English Standard Version, meant to be easily understood, I think) from my experience of comparing the NIV to the ESV while in church, cause I like hearing what it is in NIV. One bible study we did actually made us use NLT, and it was interesting, it seemed more "deeper" for a lack of better terms, like what also gives this impression for me is how the speaker sounds for NIV vs NLT, yes my app has it to where if it can, you can have a audio recording read the passage. For NIV, it sounds like a stoic guy, but for NLT, it sounds like the reader is really into what he is reading and is very passionate in his reading. So I find that cool too that the reader in each audio recording is different. Never heard of The Message version, but from what you describe I should avoid it at all costs, lol. Looking at my app, it apparently supports 61 different English versions of the bible.

 

[Subhumanoidal]

Yeah I am worried about that, but it is what it is, I'm just a ordinary christian trying to have some fun, cause I thought it would be interesting to hear opinions. Cause CC is the only place I'm able to ask these questions, cause the only other people I can ask these questions are my parents...I don't have many real-life friends ;-;...I do have some friends that are christian, but I dunno if they would be interested in this stuff, I definitely know one of them wouldn't have much to say, I don't mean that as mean, but being realistic cause he isn't high functioning like me, another reason why I'm grateful to the lord for the way he made me, cause apparently it's not common for people with disabilities to be high functioning, especially girls on the autism spectrum, but that's what my mom told me, lol.

You Can learn on this site, it just requires picking through the garbage to find what's worth learning. And there's a lot of garbage. And figuring out who's worth listening to.

Eh, I haven't had friends near me in 10 years. I know a few people online, but we rarely talk, other than my gf, where we, of course, talk daily. But I find it makes life more simple.

 

[SarahUmbreon]

You Can learn on this site, it just requires picking through the garbage to find what's worth learning. And there's a lot of garbage. And figuring out who's worth listening to.

Eh, I haven't had friends near me in 10 years. I know a few people online, but we rarely talk, other than my gf, where we, of course, talk daily. But I find it makes life more simple.

That's cool, thanks for letting me know.

Yeah, makes me feel better that people get used to not having friends nearby, I just basically talk to the same friend every once in awhile, but since he doesn't remember stuff all that well due to his disability, so we just only talk about nerd stuff and sometimes we talk about the same stuff again sometimes. There are other two people I still keep in contact with, but it's just texting whenever something Pokemon related happens, I dunno I guess I just felt like I needed to expand who I'm talking to, maybe one of my friendships with a man could go further, but all of those dating websites didn't turn out like I thought it would, so I'm just trying to enjoy the life I have now, for the lord has blessed me with a wonderful life, I struggle and it gets lonely, but that's what prayer and reaching out to hang with my parents is for ^_^

 

[Subhumanoidal]

That's cool, thanks for letting me know.

Yeah, makes me feel better that people get used to not having friends nearby, I just basically talk to the same friend every once in awhile, but since he doesn't remember stuff all that well due to his disability, so we just only talk about nerd stuff and sometimes we talk about the same stuff again sometimes. There are other two people I still keep in contact with, but it's just texting whenever something Pokemon related happens, I dunno I guess I just felt like I needed to expand who I'm talking to, maybe one of my friendships with a man could go further, but all of those dating websites didn't turn out like I thought it would, so I'm just trying to enjoy the life I have now, for the lord has blessed me with a wonderful life, I struggle and it gets lonely, but that's what prayer and reaching out to hang with my parents is for ^_^

I get that. There are times I wish I had nearby friends. But often times glad I don't haha. I'm an introvert.

I forget a lot too, but perhaps not as bad as your friend.

But it can be good to branch out, especially if you feel that need. It's easy for me to not talk to people. There's been times where I've gone days and the only socialization I had was posting on CC. Didn't even see or talk to those I live with.
But I've also gone months without talking to anyone other than those I live with, and that gets rough.

I've never been a fan of the traditional dating version. I simply make friends. Sometimes those turn into relationships. No awkward dates. No figuring out how to get noticed. No trying to present the best version of yourself, or having it done to you. No pressure. No rush.
It's also easier not having this pressure on you to constantly be on the prowl or figuring out how to meet people. If you meet someone, great. If not, oh well, just keep going.

 

[Going_Nowhere]

Basically, I’m talking about these two things:

-“Have you read the entire bible?”

-“What type of bible do you like reading? I’m talking if it’s NIV, ESV, King James, etc.”

No, I haven't read the whole Bible. I would like to at some point though. I've read some of it, but there's definitely a lot that I haven't read.


I like the King James Version. It's the one I always turn to by default.


Hope that answers your questions.