Monday, January 26, 2009

Chronological Bible

It seems fitting for this to be the first review on my new site.

I was blessed to win a giveaway by Melinda at Traveling the Road Home. The part I looked most forward to is the One Year Chronological Bible. It takes the entire Bible, puts the passages in the order the events are most likely to have actually occured and then breaks them down into 15-minute daily readings.

So far, I'm loving it. It's nice to make a 15-minute committment to read each day and to know just exactly how much that is. And it's a refreshing change to have things mixed-up a bit, yet somehow make even more sense than reading straight through the Bible I've known since I was young.

You know something is different by January 5th. The first four days of the year take you through the familiar accounts of creation, the Fall, and the Flood, and then Job shows up. Estimates are that Job was enduring his trials and tribulations at about the same time Abram was learning to obey God's voice (the accounts of Abram/Abraham follow Job). At the end of September when you hit New Testament passages, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John work together to give a new twist to the accounts of the life of Christ.

It's possible that this particular Bible resonates with me because I'm a chronological remember-er myself (give me a small clue of a restaurant receipt or one sentence in my day planner and I can give you an account of many of the details before and after that particular event or moment). I'd recommend this Bible, however, to anyone looking to see "the old, old story" in a fresh, new way.

Have you read the Bible chronologically before? What did you think of it? What has been the most effective method for you to read the Bible through in a year?

3 comments:

  1. Hi Mary,

    Thanks for your comment today and for your prayers for my family. I'm so encouraged by so many who have taken the time to let me know they are praying.

    As I believe you already know, I'm reading through the chronological Bible this year and posting daily, sharing what God is speaking to my heart. This is the first time I've used a chronological Bible and I'm really enjoying it. I think the most effective method to stay at anything for a year (or longer) is to have some form of accountability. In the past I have had an "accountability partner" who would check up on me. In this season, I'm using my blog as my accoutability. Posting daily keeps me on top of reading and sharing what God is doing in my life.

    Thanks again for your prayers.
    Blessings,
    Joy

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  2. Very interesting. I read the One year Bible (NIV), the chronological sounds fascinating, I might have to indulge and pick up yet another Bible.

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  3. I have not read one myself though I was recently given an older version chronological Bible that I use for referencing.

    The LORD has always taught me to read an entire book at a time. In 2006 I read the entire Old Testiment - in God's order - which was all over the place. But He led me to the books that were cohesive with my life at the time. I believe that we were meant to read His Word - one book at a time.

    I'm sure that I will read a chronological Bible at some point - but I always want to read the Word with insight and response to it -never to just read it to gain head knowledge.

    Thanks for your encouragement to read this orderly book. I'm like you - give me one clue and I can tell you the events of an entire day - what date it was - what time it happened!
    Sometimes I think that is a curse rather than a blessing!! LOL!

    Looking UPward and Choosing JOY,
    Stephanie
    [In Flight]

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