BibleScribbler

Coffee, a Bible, and a Napkin to Scribble On

William Barclay on John 8 and Authority

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The second duty of authority is to seek to reclaim the wrongdoer. Any authority which is solely concerned with punishment is wrong; any authority which, in its exercise, drives a wrongdoer either to despair or to resentment is a failure. The function of authority is not to banish sinners from all decent society, still less to wipe them out; it is to make them into good citizens. Those who are set in authority must be like wise physicians; their one desire must be to heal.

William Barclay, commentary on John 8

 

Reading the Bible in a Year

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With the new year comes a new chance to get on a Bible reading plan. As a family and at the mission we are doing the Chronological reading plan according to the folks at ESVBible.org. If you have never read the Bible all of the way through, or if you’ve never had the adventure of reading it through in the order that it happened, I suggest you check this out.

ESV Chronological Reading plan at ESVBible.org

ESV Chronological Reading plan as a printable and checkoffable worksheet.

I want to plug reading the Bible at the website: If you buy an ESV study bible they give you a free unlock for all of the study Bible notes online. You can also use the notes section to write your own notes and then every few months dump them to Evernote for archiving. It’s really cool to be reading the Bible and come across a digital note you made 2 years ago (and not be distracted by 1,253 other people’s notes at the same time.)

The other thing is don’t let this reading plan be an opportunity for pride or shame. If you miss a day, press on, don’t give up. If you work 5 days ahead, shut up and praise the Lord. I’m currently in the 5th year of a “through the Bible” reading plan that was only supposed to take one year!

Nothing grows you spiritually like reading the Bible deeply and responding daily.

Bible Study Method

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I asked a mentor-friend of mine about learning to study the Bible better. Specifically my question was “What’s the big deal about learning Greek if you have a dozen different Bible translations at your fingertips?” He said that learning Greek was really good, but not everyone is wired for that. Here is what he said is good for just about everyone…

bible study method