After reading four introductions to the Psalms I think I’m ready to actually start reading them. I used the first volume of Goldingay’s Psalms commentary (given to me by a very generous pastor), the NLT Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible and The Essential Bible Companion to the Psalms. I’d like to read one Psalm a day and read the latter mentioned book along with it and the commentary for any questions I have for the first 49 psalms.

For some reason I’ve never been a big fan and I want to be. I seem to be a big fan of nearly everything else. I pray this time around I’ll get to like them better. I think it’s strange that I can’t get enough of Proverbs and I’ve never really been into most of the Psalms, which seems to be many people’s favorite. If anyone has been in my position and it changed, I’d like to read about it.

I may do a post every now and then. I have one coming up on David’s possible authorship of many of the Psalms “of David”.

I’m in the middle of If God Is Good right now, which is very comprehensive, and then plan on reading a commentary on Genesis. Then I have some other ‘regular’ books on OT topics which I look forward to.

You know how a lot of men are? Needing to check stuff off the list? Maybe not enjoying the ride?

You know how when they’re on vacation they like to have an agenda and get everything done and seen in record time?

I seem to be the same way with books. I keep talking about how I’m going to write a post on spending less time on the internet (and I will). Part of the reason is so I can read more. Which really is a good thing. But I have these plans and goals and things like surgery and bouts of certain kinds of stuff keep coming up and messin’ with my plans. Then I want to get back at it and read as much as I can.

I need to learn to relax and just let things happen. I’m not too over the edge. I know I have the rest of my life, however long that is. But I still get a little anxious (like wanting to get things done fast) about checking things off the list.

Right now I’m reading If God Is Good. And it’s really Good. It’s a quote machine. I need to take my time, take notes, highlight, let things sink in.

You know what I’m saying? Are you women like this?

(This was my fastest post ever. I’m not even going to edit it. Need to get back to reading and checking things off the list.)

Why do Christians tend to be enamored by very popular but very vacuous books? We have centuries of great teachers, preachers, scholars, and theologians that people don’t take advantage of. (The latter of which we all are. It’s just a matter of how well we know God.) There are thousands of great books out there. With an electronic eReader you could even get so many good ones for free.

But many of the sheeple just notice what’s popular and read them on occasion. Books on prophecy and the economy have gotten popular, or maybe I’m just noticing it. I didn’t realize that prophecy can predict things like what’s going to happen to the economy. (I’m not referring to my FB friend Kathy on this.) I’m leaving names out on the negative side but I think many reading this know who and what I’m talking about. I’m not going to give him any more publicity. I suppose one of the reasons could be this:

2 Timothy 4:3 NLT
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.

Now there’s some prophecy. I think that “itching ears” can also be gossip-like and/or people addicted to drama.

How can we encourage others to read books with sound doctrine? Many just get a 45 minute sermon–that they’re too tired at that point in time to listen to anyway–and that’s all the teaching they get. Or maybe reading a one page devotional each day in addition to praying, which is much better than nothing even if it’s a snail’s pace. This is pretty much what I did for many years in addition to reviewing memorized Scripture. So I can’t leave myself out of this.

I’m so thankful  for these authors and the desire to read them, along with more of the Bible, when because of other chronic difficulties, I’ve lost interest for many things in my  life.

Maybe I should write a post on how to recognize and find good books.

This is a more personal type post that I’m uncomfortable with because I don’t presume that a lot of people should care about these things. But I like to read updates of what’s going on in my blogging friends’ lives and people have asked me to keep them updated on the things mentioned here.

Mental health stuff has been very difficult but steady, other than the ups and mainly downs that Bipolar depression (more of a description than an official diagnosis) presents. Sometimes pretty bad, but that’s part of the program.

I had my second back surgery over six months ago and the recovery isn’t going well. There is no improvement in pain. An extra MRI was negative and I’ll be having an extra CT scan.

I had a difficult time spiritually after surgery and my faith was really tested for the first time in a long time. God has pretty much brought me through that but I still need to learn to “suffer better” and be more prepared for things like the nightmarish hospital stay where they made a lot of mistakes. Progress on worrying less has been slow but positive. It’s a rough road though. I’m accumulating even more good books on suffering to read between other things.

I read through Proverbs several times and read it once in The Message, since it’s supposed to be decent with poetry. It was very good, although I often looked verses up in ‘regular’ translations to see what it ‘really says’. Not much to say about that. I’m still studying Proverbs in our small group Bible study and reading through Waltke’s two volume commentary which has been great. Proverbs is such an important book and now I can’t get enough of it. It helps us to learn how to learn and understand.

I’m still working on Greek. I was supposed to be done with Black’s beginning book in 2010 but I didn’t know I’d be having surgery, which really set me back. I had to go back and reread the whole book and I’m almost back to where I was.

Same thing goes for 2010 being ‘the year of the Old Testament’ for me. In addition to getting slowed down, I’ve acquired more books about the OT that I want to read, so that may take another year.

Along with that, my ‘three year plan’ will stretch out to over four years. I carefully read each book of the New Testament and also a healthy commentary for each, which I love doing, and need to go back and read a couple of whoppers on Luke and Acts. Then I’ll be done with that. Obviously no real exegesis (in-depth study) on my part but just to get any gross misinterpretations out of the way and becoming more familiar with the NT which is part of my three year plan. I intend to study Colossians as in-depth as I can at some point. I’m contemplating on whether I should take the time to read a big commentary on Genesis. There don’t seem to be as many gross misinterpretations to sift through but it’s so foundational for creation, original sin, covenants, God’s sovereignty etc.

I plan on reading most of the OT again this year (all of it last year) and try reading a book of the Bible 20x. I’ve already read Proverbs 6-7 times so I may keep going with that and a short book of the NT. Next year or before I want to start a custom plan that I’m making or one of the other plans. I don’t feel a need to do one of these plans every year. But I now make sure I read the Bible everyday.

I’ve now decided to switch my main translation from the HCSB (I call it the NIV, tailored to me) to the REB. It’s just too good, and it’s not the same old. Secondary, which is a dynamic equivalent or what used to be called thought for thought is the NLT but I’m toying with God’s Word (for the Nations). The NLT will always be special, especially the Mosaic edition.

I’m so thankful for all of my blogging friends. If I didn’t have any, this wouldn’t be worth it.

I better stop there.

I’m not familiar with this system. I’m passing along the links to the explanation of the system and a two part interview with a couple of guys named Tom and Rick who are friends of a guy named Brett. Even if you aren’t serious about using the plan, the posts are very interesting.

• Professor Horner’s Bible Reading Plan
• Professor Horner’s Bible Reading System: Interview with Tom Shelton and Rick Doctor, pt. 1
• Professor Horner’s Bible Reading System: Interview with Tom Shelton and Rick Doctor, pt. 2

HT: Cal.vini.st

He is on Facebook and I found this link to a PDF file which you can download that has all the information on the reading plan.

Tim Challies wrote an encouraging post titled Ten Chapters Per Day if you’re interested in reading more about it.

Also read:
Professor Horner’s Bible Reading Plan by Pastor Brett

I hate to even mention it because fasting should be done in secret. But I’d like some feedback from people so I hope I don’t get struck by lightning or anything.

I will have a day by myself in September and would like to fast for a day. However, the main thing I will be fasting from, if that’s the right way to put it, is electronics.

A food fast could have consequences for days afterwords for me for various health reasons. Also, I’m not that into food. Eating is more of a chore for me. I’d be happy just eating one or two meals a day. I eat six small ones partly for health reasons. So lack of food isn’t that big of a deal but I’m considering a food fast of some sort.

Lack of internet, computer, TV however is a different story. So I would like to do without these things for a day. Yikes.

I basically want a day concentrating on God by various obvious means. I’m not looking for direction, a revelation from God, an experience etc. I want to let God enjoy having someone pay more attention to Him for a day and enjoy me enjoying Him.

Since I’m not experienced with fasting I’m asking for any suggestions you have. Are there certain portions of the Bible that you benefit from when fasting? Anything you do to take a break from the concentrated reading and praying? Or anything else.

I like to read commentaries all the way through. There I said it.

After reading a lot about Jesus (The Historical Jesus? Christology? I’m still confused on the terms.) and the Gospels, I started reading regular commentaries with Romans and went all the way through Revelation. A review on Keener’s great Revelation commentary is forthcoming.

Now I want to go back to the Gospels and read commentaries on those and Acts. I just got done finishing a read-through of Mark. I was mesmerized. Wow. I don’t know how to describe it. Mainly, the Holy Spirit illumined things that I hadn’t noticed before, as happens to all of us.

I was going to try to read as much as I could at once to get a good overview but needed to slow down to savor it. Just the first two chapters are so rich.

I also think that reading commentaries has helped me learn how to better read the Bible in some respects. To me it’s like reading the Bible in slow motion with a learned scholar leading me through how to look at the details, read things in context, think about what the author meant to say to his original audience etc. (And education of these things is sorely lacking in the church.) I can’t say how much this has helped. And I haven’t even gotten into hermeneutics proper yet.

Now I will be starting with a commentary on it by Alan Cole.

Tony Byrne of Theological Meditations lets us know that Dr. Curt Daniel’s doctoral dissertation, Hyper-Calvinism and John Gill, is now scanned and available for free download at EthOS (Electronic Thesis Online Service) and that there will soon be more to come.

EthOS is something Nick Norelli mentioned not too long ago.

If you haven’t registered, you will need to do so. Then after you’re logged in, search for the paper you’re interested in. Then you can proceed with the shopping cart and download.

Books:

• Dave Black’s Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek and Book Review: Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek at συνεσταύρωμαι: living the crucified life
• Book Review: Learn To Read New Testament Greek, 3rd. ed. and Workbook at New Leaven
• Just Do Something! at Challies
• Forthcoming Titles From Baker Academic at New Testament Perspectives
• Godology: Because Knowing God Changes Everything at Kingdom People
  • Interview with the author
• The Bookends of the Christian Life at Irish Calvinist
• Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries at Between Two Worlds
• The Reformed Reader and Baker Book House are good blogs if you’re not familiar with them.

Bibles:

• A new NLT Reference Bible? at He Is Sufficient (he’s blogging again!)
• NLT Pitt Minion coming this summer at just after sunrise
• Bible Fail at This Lamp (he’s blogging again!)

Sorry if I left anybody out.

There are so many web sites devoted to tips for almost anything you can think of–tips for using computers, getting stains out etc. Here is a blog post with tips for spending time with God. I know that sounds trite but I believe this is a very important message for the majority of of the people in the Church.

“I was basically getting spiritual crumbs from books, podcasts and my pastor. I was living vicariously through others’ relationships with God… While it’s good to learn from others, Jesus calls us to follow Him (not follow others who are following Him).”

Use S.O.A.P. – Simple tips for spending time with God.

Reasons to Get Reading, Reloaded

This is a great list and I have experienced nearly every one of them.

This goes along with:
Reading Better with Richard Baxter

(I’m having computer problems and am doing some short posts.)

If you wish to derive profit [from the Scriptures], read with humility, candor, and faith, and never seek to have a scholar’s reputation. Inquire willingly, and listen to the words of the saints; let not the parables of the ancients be displeasing to you, for they were not uttered without good reason.

Thomas à Kempis, De imitatione Christi, I. V. 2

Found at:
http://voxstefani.blogspot.com/2007/08/on-reading-holy-scripture.html

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Another introductory entry. I hope to start posting on what I’ve been learning within a few days.

http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/a-few-days-ago-i.php