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how to teach about god…….
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I am wondering how to teach my children about the life of christ and about the bible. My children go to church on Wednesdays and have been for years now. I my self do not attend church, I used to until the preacher left and a new one came in that my children and I found absolutly dreadful to listen to- he talks all monitone with NO voice flucuations, plus there used to be people my age there but no longer.
I was not raised in a biblical way nor was I ever taught about Christ or the bible. I want my children and myself to know him and his life like ya’ll do.
I personally rely on faith to get me through life. Some how I just know it will all turn out right, so I believe in him and have faith in him even though I do not know him like ya’ll do. I want to though.
I cannot understand the bible and ALL the meanings that each verse has. I remember I would listen to our preacher and he would read a verse and then tell a meaning that made sense but I had no clue how he came to that meaning of the verse. I would of read the verse and not have seen that meaning.
I really feel lost when I read the bible.
I would really appreciate your help!
I am really looking forward to hearing the answers to this as I am in pretty much the same situation as you. Lately I have been having very strong feelings of wanting and needing to have God a bigger part of my life, but it’s hard to know where to start.
I am so excited for you both! Discovering the riches of biblical wisdom is a true treasure trove for you and your families! A great book for kids is “What the Bible is all about for Young Explorers” by Frances Blankenbaker and Henrietta C. Mears. The best books I can recommend for adults to get started are “How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth” and “How to Read the Bible Book by Book”, both are co-authored by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. They are available through Amazon.com and Christian Book Distributors and aren’t very expensive at all (especially if you can get them used). These were foundational books at the bible college my husband and I attended and our copies are thoroughly dog-eared now. Amazon.com has previews of these books using their “See Inside” feature. Here is the table of contents from the first book, just to give you an idea of what it covers:
1. Introduction: The Need to Interpret
2. The Basic Tool: A Good Translation
3. The Epistles: Learning to Think Contextually
4. The Epistles: The Hermeneutical Questions
5. The Old Testament Narratives: Their Proper Use
6. Acts: The Problem of Historical Precedent
7. The Gospels: One Story, Many Dimensions
8. The Parables: Do You Get the Point?
9. The Law(s): Covenant Stipulations for Israel
10. The Prophets: Enforcing the Covenant in Israel
11. The Psalms: Israel’s Prayers and Ours
12. Wisdom: Then and Now
13 The Revelation: Images of Judgment and Hope
You might need to have a dictionary on hand if you are unfamiliar with terms like “hermeneutics” and “exegesis” (just academic terms for different tasks of interpretation). Don’t let those terms make you nervous, though, they are simply tools that are useful for understanding the bible.
Most of all, ask God to give you wisdom and clarity when you read His word, that His Spirit will guide you and open your eyes to the richness of His Story. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask. My husband is an amazing bible scholar (though you would never know it, he’s a soldier in the US army right now), and it is our desire that the things we learned in bible college should be made available to every believer. We’ve even prayed about beginning an online bible college for free so that everyone can learn these things, not just folks who are “going into the ministry”. After all, we are all ministers and God’s Word is for all of us, not an elite group. This is really a passion of ours so please feel free to ask loads of questions! You can private message me if you want to. We certainly don’t know everything (who does?) but we have had the opportunity to receive excellent biblical training and are glad to pass along the blessing!
Rachel 😀
By the way, here is a link to a short excerpt of Gordon Fee talking about the study of his first book “How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth” text to link
It’s from a YWAM course back in the 80’s, so please look past his appearance 🙂
I hope you enjoy it!
Rachel
Praise God for drawing you to Him through His son Jesus Christ. The way is Christ. What I mean is – it does not matter if you go to church, or even read a Bible, A Christian is a Born again believer. The Bible is not good literture, it is a living inspired word of God. It will be of nothing to you if you just read it, you must seek God’s will. It takes the Holy Spirit to interpret the Word, not our “own” understanding. It is a life and RELATIONSHIP with the Savior that is Christianity. I encourage you to pray and seek God about being born again.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
Kriti
How wonderful that you ladies long for a closer walk with Christ. That is truly the best goal of all!
Romans 10:9 says that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that God raised Christ from the dead, then we are saved.
This means that it is not enough to believe that Christ is God, but we need to claim that for ourselves. He is MY God and King and He is alive.
Romans 10:11 says that whoever believes in Christ will not be ashamed.
It is a decision that will not always be easy, but we will not want to abandon either.
Romans 10:13 says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The beautiful thing is that once we are saved, God’s Holy Spirit dwells within us and transforms our hearts into what God wants us to be. There are many verses in the Bible that talk about how the Spirit teaches us and helps us to remember God’s Word (John 14:26 is just one).
God also promises that when we ask for His wisdom, He gives it to us. I know that reading the Bible can seem overwhelming at first, but God wants us to understand it.
Maybe start by reading the gospel of John. Pray before you read that God would show Himself to you. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand everything. We are all children in God’s school! We all have a lot of learning and growing to do! But we have a patient and loving teacher in Him. Lean on His understanding and not your own.
God bless you both.
-Tanya
Oh guys, God has blessed you by bringing you to this point in your life. The Lord is working in your life…the fact that you are searching and asking proves that the LORD is drawing you to HIM. What a marvelous place to be!!
I encourage you to read your Bible everyday. Even if you aren’t understanding all of it. Before you read ask the Lord to open your eyes, heart, and mind to understand what He has to teach you. There are many times that I am reading and God points out something for me to learn that might not be the actual “main point” of the passage but it is still something that He is wanting me to see.
Just read to know God. Understanding of all His truths will come over time. JUST FALL IN LOVE with the SAVIOR. Read with the intent to grow in love and knowledge of Him.
I do encourage you to pray for a church family. A group of God-honoring, Bible preaching believers that can come along side you and help to sharpen your study in the word.
As for teaching your children. There is another post that I just read and the suggestions on there were excellent suggestions..books that I love to read to my children. I think the post was directed to preschoolers but my older children love them too.
I will be praying for the LORD to reveal himself even more to you as you seek him. What a great adventure you are starting. God is good and he is faithful.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.
Blessings,
Shelly ** OH and Rachel..those books sound great I am going to get them for myself!!
I just thought of one more thing on this subject. If you look through either of the books by Fee and Stuart and they still just look too “heady” then another great book is “Understanding Scripture: How to Read and Study the Bible” by A. Berkeley and Alvera M. Mickelsen (husband and wife team 🙂 ). It is very, very basic and soooo incredibly helpful! My husband reminded me that it is a much better starting point and all these books should be available at local libraries (Fee’s usually are at least).
Here is an excerpt from the introduction (to give you the flavor):
“This book has one purpose – to help the reader learn how to discover what the Bible means. Why do we need a book to tell us that? Why not just read the Bible and see for ourselves what it says and means? We can and should do that. But because of some special reasons, we may need some help… In studying the Bible, we are always confronted with these questions: What did this mean to the original readers? What does it mean for us today? In answering these questions, we are in the process of interpreting the Bible… All Christians are constantly faced with the need to properly interpret the Bible. This book will not give anyone a 1-2-3 formula guaranteed to bring “instant understanding” to difficult passages, but it will give some basic principles to guide our thinking and help us weigh the interpretations we hear and read.”
I hope these suggestions are helpful as you walk close with Jesus!
Rachel
Even though I’m not the OP I would like to thank all of you for such helpful responses! You are all so inspiring. I can hear your Love for God so plain and clear – it almost moves me to tears! I guess because I want that kind of love to fill me up as well.
A couple of you have mentioned to just read the Bible every day – which is fine with me. I have already started. But is there a certain order to read it in? Should I just start from the beginning and go from there? Or should I switch back and forth between the OT and the NT like CM recommends for the children’s bible study?
And thank you Rachel for the book suggestions!
I just started the GREATEST resource for really learning the Bible it’s called Balancing the Sword and it is an amazing book that you use as you read the Bible. You read a chapter out of the Bible and then you answer the questions in balancing the sword – all of the questions are objective so they have just ONE answer and the answers are in the back of the book – people from any denomination can use it because it doesn’t get into interpreting any scripture. I’ve started using it with my five and three year old little girls and while they aren’t answering all the questions right, it makes it fun for them because they know that it’s a little more than just reading out of the Bible – it’s like a mystery where they have to find the answer and it’s super helpful for me in gleaning even more from God’s word.
I think as far as where to start – most suggest the book of John for beginners – as the most important thing for you to understand is Christ. Once you’ve grasped that Jesus is God yet came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross a sinner’s death AND rose again and that’s ALL you need to believe and accept to have eternal life (Romans 10:9) then you can move on to Old Testament or more New Testament.
May I also suggest that you find a really amazing church that teaches in an expository style (that’s where they read a chapter/section out of the Bible each week and then explain it and how it applies to you life). If you can hook up with a local homeschool group I’m sure you’ll find lots of suggestions for churches – that’ll probably help you weed out the best ones faster than going through the phone book. In lieu of that Calvary Chapel generally uses this style of preaching.
Truly it is always a beautiful thing to long for something more in life…and in your case, you are longing for the very best…God and His son Jesus! I am a member of the Roman Catholic church and if I may, I invite you to learn more about us! No pressure at all, just an invitation. There are so many stereotypes about the Roman Catholic Church…go to the source if the Holy Spirit leads you there.
I wish you all the best on this journey. If you feel so moved, contact a priest at a local Catholic church. I know he would love to talk to you.
I’d love to suggest a translation of the bible for y’all here too, if I may be so bold. It is called “The Books of the Bible” and it comes in the TNIV (Today’s New International Version) translation. I wish this had been around years ago, it would have helped me so much! The major difference in this version is that the chapter and verse divisions (the numbers) have been removed. Although they are helpful reference points in many respects, they can also be a hindrance and sometimes quite misplaced (after all, the numbers aren’t inspired!). Another major difference is that the chronology of Paul’s letters have been restored, rather than just going from longest to shortest. I love the free-flow of passages in this version (especially the letters, which were never meant to have numbered divisions, have you ever read a personal letter like that?)! Anyway, for anyone who is interested in reading the bible without the numbers here is the link where you can take a look: text to link
Rachel
Balancing the Sword is a wonderful resource. You do not have to rely on anything but the Bible for your answers. The book holds no denominational lines and includes beautiful pictures and quotes throughout the book. HIGHLY recommend it even for beginners.
As for where to start. Many recommend John as a great place to start. But, start where the Lord leads and ask questions as you go along.
I will be praying for you both.
I would suggest that you start by reading the New Testament book of John. This book is great for really seeing Jesus for who He is and what He did while he was on this earth. There is a great simple book called 30 Days to Understanding the Bible. My husband and I have used this with several men and women we have discipled. It is a very basic introduction to the Scriptures. There is also a GREAT book titled The God you Can Know by Dan Dehaan. These are all things for you to start with. For a child, I think that learning the children’s catechism. Great Commission Publications prints a book titled First Catechism – teaching children bible truths. These are simple questions and answers about our Christian faith that form a foundation of understanding about God, man, sin, and all the basics. We memorize these questions along with verses in the bible. These are some ideas to get started but above anything else read the Bible. It is the only thing that is living and active and ask God to help you understand. Be encouraged that as you find yourself longing to know God more – He will show Himself to you. He will not leave you hanging.
I will agree with all the other ladies that it is a wonderful thing that the Lord is working in your hearts. And now you are getting flooded with a lot of great suggestions. I agree wholeheartedly to pour yourself into studying God’s word, both the Old and New Testaments and realize that the Bible is ONE book and that the OT and NT do not contradict nor are separate from each other but are all teaching the same gospel. One resource that would be great for you and your children is Catherine Vos’ Child’s Story Bible. Sonya actually mentions this in her Laying Down the Rails dvd. It is a very accurate account of the “story” of the bible. We have read through it with our children and it has really helped us and them learn the overall continuity of the history in the bible. It is easy to understand and isn’t a watered down kiddie bible at all. I have found for myself when I read the actual Bible some things have been more easily understood after reading Catherine Vos. Another similar one to that is Come Ye Children by Gertrude Hoeksema. As far as adult studying of what Scripture means, G.I. Williamson has written study guides for the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Catechisms. Those documents have stood strong for hundreds of years and were written by hundreds of men who met, debated, and studied for years to write a clear document of what the teachings of the Bible are – Williamson does a good job of helping to explain them – you could spend the rest of your life gleaning wisdom from those documents alone. As far as the children’s catechism, we have also done that with our son and it has much wisdom and teaching in it as well – it is an introduction to the Shorter Catechism (which originally was written for Children – it tells the basic doctrines of faith in Christ, the Larger Catechism goes into the doctrines of the church). Susan Hunt has a book called Big Truths for Little Kids that goes along with the children’s catechism and has story examples to go along with the questions. She also has My ABC bible verses, Discovering Jesus in Genesis, and Discovering Jesus in Exodus. Pray for the Lord to give you wisdom and strength to pursue him more. As you look for a church, remember to focus on what is fundamental which is the teaching of God’s word – make sure you choose a good church because your family will reflect the teaching you are under. It is easy to get caught up in the peripheral things of church (e.g. music, programs, etc.) but the most important thing for you and your family is the preaching and teaching of the Word. Another place to start that CM mentions (to bring it all back to CM) is to establish the habit of keeping the Sabbath. There are many blessings to keeping the Lord’s Day. I wish you the best in your endeavor to learn more about Christ.
Lesley
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