A Non-Intimidating Way to Learn How To Read The Bible + Actually Enjoy It! | Special Episode

If you’ve ever felt intimidated, burdened, frustrated or just straight up avoided reading the bible because it was boring or felt like a chore...you are not alone. I have felt all of those things for a long time in life before I found something that made it all click for me, and then made me EXCITED to read the Bible!

The problem is, learning how to read the bible isn't something I've observed many churches talking about. So, I'm here to share everything from my own journey and experience, to give you as many hyper practical steps and tips that I can so that you can take your understanding of the bible to the next level!

We cover a lot of ground in this 25 minute episode, so buckle up, and let's go!

3:23 - What's the point of reading the Bible?
7:14 - Why should I trust the Bible?
8:30 - First step to take when preparing to read the Bible?
11:35 - Where should I start reading if the Bible is new to me?
12:53 - Why should I read the Old Testament at all?
13:51 - Is the Bible still relevant today? Or just a history book?
14:02 - What Biblical rules am I still supposed to obey today?
16:53 - When did Zoe start reading the Bible?
20:49 - When should I use a Bible commentary?
22:10 - Which translation of the Bible should I read?

~Links to all biblical resources mentioned in this episode BELOW~
Chronological Bible
BibleProject App and Videos
Public Reading of Scripture App
SheReadsTruth CSB Bible
HeReadsTruth CSB Bible
ESV Study Bible
The Bible App

For the video version of this episode, head to the Accidentally Intentional YouTube channel!

Join the conversation and follow along on Instagram! I respond to DM's! Let's converse! Say hi, or share your biggest takeaways! I'm all ears! @accidentallyintentional or @zoeasher

Transcript

Unknown: 0:06

This is the accidentally intentional podcast. I'm your host, Joe, I hate small talk, and I'm ready to have meaningful conversations that build us. Let's go. I am so excited for this episode, because honestly, this has been on my heart for about nine months to do longer than I've even been podcasting. Because I know that this is a topic that rarely gets talked about. And it's something that I personally struggled with four years. And I found a way that works for me. And so today, I want to unpack a podcast episode about how to not just understand but actually enjoy reading the Bible. If you see me glancing down to the left corner of the screen, if you're watching on YouTube, it's because I have my notes here. Because I've spent hours preparing for this to make sure that it is something that brings a lot of value to you guys, this podcast episode is for anyone who's relatively new to the faith, or maybe has had faith for a long time, but truly has the desire now to read Scripture and not feel like a chore. Can we be honest, it felt like that for me for a long time. So if you've ever felt intimidated, burdened, frustrated, or just straight up, avoided reading the Bible before, because it you felt like it was boring. You're not alone at all, I have felt all of those things. And I can honestly say that I didn't start reading the Bible till I was 19 years old, even though I was raised in a Christian home, and went to church all of my life, which now that was 10 years ago, it was really difficult and overwhelming at first until I found a way that ended up working for me. Now there's a ton of different ways in which people read the Bible. But I feel like this topic is rarely discussed. And so I'm going to share this insight with you from my own experience, and also share some hyper practical steps and tips you can take as you begin to read the Bible so that it doesn't have to be intimidating for you anymore, but actually enjoyable. A couple years ago, when I had led a small group, I had actually challenged my group to start reading the Bible after we addressed everything I'm going to talk about today. And a week later, I got feedback from a lot of the group that was something to the tone of, oh my gosh, I had no idea that reading the Bible was so awesome, and exciting. So don't worry, we can do this. And I want to do what I can to help you get there too. And before we go any further, if you already are listening to this, and you feel like you're less of a person or a Christian, because you're like, oh, I don't read the Bible every day. Let's, let's stop right here, pause and just say that, Hey, it's okay. There's a learning curve, right? And there's also grace for that. Do I read the Bible every day? No. Do I want to get better at it every day? Absolutely. Yes, I definitely want to get more consistent at it. And so I just want to come from that lens right now and say that we're all in equal standing here. So we can exhale, and begin. And so to begin, I actually want to address some important questions that have been asked, going into this episode, and some objections that people may have before even reading the Bible. So let's go through them. Question number one, what is actually the point of reading the Bible? Honestly, this is a really fair question. And so to answer it, I'm actually going to use a verse in Scripture, which is John one, one, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This right here is saying something very important. And I want to zero in on the last part of the verse that says the Word was God. If the Word is God, then that quite literally means when you read the Bible, you are able to see and hear what God has to say to you and for your life. Now, that's pretty awesome. There are times in my life where I will be praying about something and feel like I'm not getting any answer whatsoever. But I'm actually not reading the Bible to find those answers. Because the Bible is where most of the answers live. This is the authoritative resource for our faith. So getting in the word enables you to learn from God directly and hear what he has to say to you. You may have heard this phrase before that the Bible is the only book that as you read it, it reads you meaning it can serve as a guide map for your life, in the craziest things can start to stand out to you, when you're reading the Bible. We can get into that later. But that's a really fun part about it, because you and I could read the exact same verses in scripture. And God could be putting different parts of the scripture on each of our hearts for very different reasons. And it at the same time speaks exactly to the situations that we're in. And furthermore, it helps you understand God's heart when it comes down to it. The Bible is written for human flourishing Let me say that again, the Bible is written for human flourishing, not human depravity, and ripping all the fun out of our life. You want proof? Okay, let's go to John 1010, where Jesus says, I came that they may have a life and have life abundantly. God isn't just about us having a life, He wants us to have an abundant life, in and through him. Now, that being said, when you're reading the Bible, it's important to say right here, that you may feel offended at times and convicted in others. And that's okay. In fact, that's a good thing, because the Bible is extremely countercultural. So that means it will rarely coincide with culture. Oh, and in case you haven't heard the word convicted before, in this term, it simply means something like, Oh, dang, yeah, that's, for me. Example, you read Galatians, 522. And 23, which talks about the fruits of the Spirit and says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, and think, oh, shoot, I definitely didn't exude patience or gentleness today in that conversation. That's conviction. It's helpful because it shows you potential blind spots in your life that can be areas of improvement between you and God. And it can be God, enabling you to understand where you want to work on something and ask for God's help. Or he could be showing you an issue that's currently dampening your relationship with him. And when you make reading the Bible and normal rhythm in your life, you will undoubtedly watch your heart start to change and shift because you start to become more like Christ as you are getting closer to him in the process. And you could also have verses randomly pop into your mind during a relevant conversation one day, is what some like to call writing scripture on your heart. In fact, any verse I quote, throughout this entire episode is this exact thing happening where scripture will come to mind. And I don't even necessarily know the reference, but I know it's in Scripture, then I'll end up googling what the scripture is to find the verse and then attach it there and just be like, oh, man, yeah, that's God told me to say this, and boom, bam, boom, I don't know what I say, boom, bam, boom, all the time. I'm sorry about that. Okay, so that answers the first question. Question number two, or objection could be, why should I actually trust it? Why should I trust the Bible and what it has to say, for my life? Also a great question. And some of the pushback from this question stems from the common response of, oh, well, it's written by men. So can we really trust it? Which begs another question, if that is the argument someone is trying to make here? What makes you trust any other nonfiction books you read? And sidenote, if you're wanting to learn more about a lot of questions people have about the faith and conversations you can have around them. check out episode seven of this podcast in which I have a conversation with my brother on how to have conversations about your faith with people that disagree to also address the Why should I trust it question, there is a verse in Scripture that directly answers this as well. Second, Timothy 316, starts by saying All scripture is God breathed, meaning that God chose a multitude of men to write the Bible, but everything in it was written with an intentional decision by God to have each of those men right. And as a result, the Bible stands outside of time, for all time. And if you believe in God, then that also assumes that you believe that He created you and also created this book for you because he desperately wants a relationship with you. Okay, so I hope that intro part was helpful. And now I want to talk about how to approach the Bible, right? Like we're, we have it right in front of us. And we're like, okay, ready to begin? No, I want to first talk about this word called prolegomena. Now, obviously, it is a Greek word. As you can tell, we don't use it in normal language. But we do use the word prologue, which this is derived from prolegomena. Referring to the Bible means that your experiences in life can shape how you interpret or see scripture, that means we all are coming in with a bias. So how can we remove this bias so that we're simply letting only God speak to us and not our emotions? Well, praying is a great way that I've found. So here are two simple prayers that you can use as you're about to start and begin to read the Bible. And I wrote these prayers down, so I'm just going to read them. One, Lord, show me what you have for me in here. In your word today, I give you permission to search me, convict me, and even change my mind. Now, that's a powerful prayer because of course, God doesn't need our permission. He is God after all. But this prayer is us reminding ourselves to release control and let God speak to us using his word or another version of the prayer could go something like this Lord opened my eyes to what I'm reading, and opened my heart to what you may have, or what you may be trying to say to me through it. Come, Holy Spirit, illuminate my heart, through the reading of your word. So anything like that, it's basically putting like, here, God, here's my pride. Here's my bias. Take it away. I just want to hear from you. You and you alone. And that will set your heart in the correct posture as we prepare to have a conversation with God. And also, it's probably important to mention here that whenever you begin to read the Bible, we need to know that the Bible is inerrant, meaning the Bible is without error. God cannot and will not contradict himself ever, because the Bible is God breathed, In God inspired. So it's all coming from God's mind, in God's heart for us. And at the end of the day, reading the Bible is not necessarily as much about us, as it is about God and wanting to know about God and wanting to learn and be nearer to him in the process. So sometimes it may feel a little bit boring. And that's okay, because we're still taking the time to have that relationship and have that conversation with God by reading scripture. Now, at this part, I can start getting into some ideas on where to actually start reading when it comes to the Bible. But I feel like there is someone out there saying, okay, cool, and all but I mean, the Bible is boring. After all, isn't it just a bunch of laws? Does the Bible have laws in it? Yes. Is it just a bunch of laws? Absolutely not. I actually think the Bible is the most encouraging book on the planet, because everything in it points to grace and redemption. But yes, it has some quote unquote, laws that are supposed to act as a GPS or guide map for human flourishing. And what I'm about to share is something I actually have never heard taught on before. So I hope you find it as beneficial as it was for me when I learned it. So that leads us into question three, which is where should I start reading in the Bible, the Bible is broken up into two sections, the Old Testament, which is 39 books, and the New Testament, which is 27 books. So to give you an idea of what this looks like, this is the Old Testament in the Bible. And this is the New Testament. So you can see the difference in size. The Old Testament is everything that happened before Jesus, and the New Testament is everything that happened once Jesus arrived on the scene and beyond. If you read the Bible from front to back, kind of confusing, but the majority of the Bible is not written in chronological order. Now, if that's something that you're like, Okay, well, that's confusing, and I'm out, don't worry, they actually have chronological Bibles that you can purchase. And I will link below any reference I make to any Bible, certain studies, certain tools in the description of this episode. But yeah, chronicle chronological Bibles are basically rearranged in what scholars have deduced to be in order of time, I will openly say right here, that as you're starting to read the Bible, most people prefer to read the New Testament first before they actually read the Old Testament. And that's because the New Testament is more relevant to us today. It's overall more fast paced, and includes the words Jesus actually said, and hey, you don't need to be ashamed of starting there. If you do want to dip into the New Testament first, why should I read the Old Testament then at all? Okay, great question. The Old Testament shows the extremes of what Jesus actually did, and what we don't have to live through anymore. It's a wow moment for the depth of how deep His love is for us. Because you see, God's relationship with mankind didn't just start 2000 years ago, when Jesus entered the scene, it starts at the beginning of time. So it lets us into the bigger story. And the history of covenants is also important. And the Old Testament helps us understand the New Testament better, and vice versa. They're mutually beneficial. And the New Testament always repeats this phrase, new Israel throughout it, and Israel for us as believers is our heritage back from the Old Testament. So it really shows the brokenness in the state of depravity, and also absolutely sets the stage for the need for Jesus, and how he is a better sacrifice that can take away our sins. So does the Bible still actually apply to us today? Or is it just a history book? Right? This is a question that a lot of people have. And that's okay, too. Here's where this gets interesting. There are three types of laws that are outlined in the Bible, ceremonial, civil, and moral laws. Hang with me, I'm going to break this down. And this is going to make a lot of sense to you. I promise. ceremonial laws are only in the Old Testament, they had to do with the tabernacle and sacrifices that people made like lambs, and the laws could be what now we see as crazy things such as not eating shrimp, like that was an actual law back in the Old Testament. Now, civil laws were considered the functioning laws for the community of Israel. Back in the old testament. An example of this verse that people often use has to do with tattoos. The verse in Old Testament says something about like, do not defile the temple with tattoos or something like that. That was a civil law. If we wanted to use a civil law and what that would look like in our context today, say you live in Pennsylvania. There is a law that you cannot tint your windows above a certain percentage in Pennsylvania. So that would be what is considered a civil law for us today. A but these are civil laws back in the Old Testament for Israel, most civil and ceremonial laws from the Old Testament became obsolete once Jesus died, because his sacrifice was permanent reciprocation for our sin. Now, the third one is called moral laws, and even saying a moral law sounds a little bit scary. So I like to call them commands or guide rails. And these are what we, as believers pay closest attention to, because all moral laws still apply today, anything where a heart involved, I meant to say where heart is involved, it's all about heart posture here with these is considered to be a moral law. And they're all mentioned in the New Testament. If it started in the Old Testament, and is again repeated in the New Testament, then it still applies. So even the 10 commandments, because they were mentioned again, in the New Testament, are considered moral laws. My biggest tint here is if it is mentioned in the New Testament, then it means it still applies to how we should live today. Okay, so great, we've landed the plane on that, but where to start, that's the easiest for newbies, the New Testament we had discussed. And the New Testament starts with Matthew, right here. first four books of the New Testament are considered the Gospels, meaning good news. Now, it's four of Jesus's disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that all wrote their own separate accounts of their experience as disciples of Jesus. But here's the crazy thing, they all wrote them at different times in their life, which is mind bending, because all four accounts align with one another. Though it may seem repetitive at times, because all four books share similarities throughout in the stories that they take, although they're all different takes of it. That fact alone is something that is often used by scholars and theologians as historical evidence to prove Jesus existence. Now, I will be honest with you, when I started reading the Bible at 19, I started in the book of James, because that name has a lot of meaning in my life. And if you listen to the summer story with XO, where I talk about one of the most impactful people in my life, you will understand. And so when I started reading, I would make an effort to read three chapters a day, and I would make it a habit to at least star, one of the verses in those three chapters that really spoke to me as I was reading it, it would hit me and then I would actually take it one step further and go into Google Doc and type out that verse, like the whole verse and reference. And I ended up memorizing verses pretty quickly as a result of that, because it was like, Wow, this verses for me, and I would just keep rereading those verses that were hitting me day after day. And now that's what I have done. And if you like that method, you take it as well. Now, when we speak about verses in the Bible, context is key, reading whole chapters, and not just verses is important. Now, let me be clear, books of the Bible is different than chapters. So the book of Matthew, for instance, has 28 chapters within it. But they're much shorter than chapters in books we read today. So here's why reading whole chapters and not just verses is important. Let me give you an example. Philippians 413, you may have heard it before. It's a very popular verse. It says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But Paul is not actually talking about winning a basketball game here. But how would we know if we're just reading that verse? A rule of thumb I like to adhere to is always read the verse above in the verse below that verse reference, though, ideally, reading the whole paragraph, or chapter itself is going to give you the best context. So I just go to Philippians 413. But let's read Philippians 412, which says, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty, and hunger, abundance, and need. Okay, now that gives more context as to what Paul's talking about when he's saying you can do all things through Christ, Paul wrote this letter in jail. So this is now an insanely powerful statement, because he's saying, I can do all things through Christ, while in prison, whether it's surviving, whether it is sharing the gospel with others, that's what he's referring to. And now that gives us a different lens to see things through. I love reading the chapters surrounding verses that impact me because it really brings it to life. And I also love stories, which the Bible is absolutely filled with. And I'm going to drop the names of two awesome apps that really help people understand the Bible better and make it a more immersive experience. The first one is the Bible project app. And they make unbelievable entertaining animated videos to share more about the stories in what you're reading in the Bible so that you can understand it better. The second one is an app called the public reading of Scripture, which is actually really interesting, because it gives different voices to make it feel like you're actually there. And it's an audio format, but you can also read the Bible alongside it. Here's another thing I want to address right. God is not afraid of your questions. God actually enjoys your questions. So asking questions when you're reading scripture is awesome. Even if it's just in your head, we're like, Huh, that's weird. Why is that happening? That's a great question. This is what makes reading the Bible fun, in my opinion, because you're fully immersing yourself in the story. So like David and Goliath, wait, what must what must have been like staring at a literal 10 foot tall person and see in your hand that you have one stone? And just going for it? Like, how do you even aim a sling shot? Clearly, I have a lot of questions about this. How nervous is he? How short is he? These are important things to ask. But see, it's things like that, that make the story come alive. And this is why reading the Bible slow is also very important because it's like active listening. Reading the Bible is a way of being able to have a conversation with God. So think of it like this. It's as if you're sitting down together, and he's sharing something with you. And when you're asking questions, you're being an active listener. Now, this is where I normally would get asked questions such as, What about commentaries? Let me explain what commentaries are first, if any of you don't know, commentaries are written systematic series of explanations and interpretations of Scripture, written by theologians and scholars throughout history. They have devoted their lives to studying the scriptures and further explain what is going on. Now, I didn't start using a commentary until a couple years into reading the Bible. So don't feel pressure, though, I will say now, I absolutely love reading commentaries alongside scripture, because it gives so much more depth, It honestly feels like I'm on a Bible treasure hunt, sometimes using them. And also footnotes, which are references to other scriptures at the bottom of the page that makes it make more sense. For instance, there was a lot of prophecy in the Old Testament of Jesus coming to earth, though they're talking about it before he actually came to Earth, which made it prophecy. And so in the New Testament, there are a lot of footnotes that refer back to the Old Testament Scriptures that show where and how each prophecy was fulfilled. study Bibles often have footnotes, which are the commentary, which many find super helpful. And I'm going to put all these links below again, but an example of this is the she reads truth. And he reads truth Bible and also the ESV Study Bible. There's a ton of different translations of the Bible, which can be confusing, and I don't want to go down that rabbit hole here. But I personally recommend either the ESV or NIV translations for those that want to go deeper. Hey, if you would consider yourself brand new to the faith or brand new to reading the Bible, the message translation is a great starter, if you actually download the Bible app on your phone, it has any of the translation options available. So before I had a commentary, if I was reading something in the ESV, or NIV version, I was like, hmm, I'm not sure I fully understand that, I would then switch it to the Message translation, which made it more palatable and understandable. So that helped me make more sense of it. And I really just want to say this again, God loves your questions. He wants that relationship with you. And reading the Bible, coupled with prayer and talking to him directly about what is on your heart, is how we have direct access to him, the creator of the universe. So I hope you guys found this helpful. I'm not done yet. Because I think that after you read the Bible, it's important to say another prayer at that point that prayer is, God, how can I live this out in my own life? How can I take what I just read, and apply it today? And I love this verse so much. I think it's absolutely beautiful. It's x 413. And I want to read it to you. It says, When they saw the courage of Peter and John, who were two of Jesus's disciples, and they realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men. They were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. And that is really the goal of Scripture is that after we're done reading, it's clear to us in our hearts, and it's clear to others around us, man, they've been with Jesus. They've spent that time with God. And so I know I shared a lot in here today. And I hope this is just the beginning of a conversation we get to have. And I want to say right now, if you enjoyed this, please let me know. Please let me know what topics you would like me to talk about down the road and other bonus episodes, because I want to make sure that I'm able to help us all have meaningful conversations that help us grow together and grow closer to God. And so maybe after you've listened to this episode, it's time to implement something new. Maybe that something new is setting a goal of reading the Bible for 15 minutes, just two times a week. I don't know what it is for you. But I do know that God wants to talk to you and also hear from you as well. As I said before, I hope you guys love this episode. I hope it was so helpful to you and please seriously don't hesitate to reach out to me with any questions that you have. I want to help in any way that I can with your own faith journey and helping you understand the Bible and love reading the Bible. So please don't hesitate to reach out to me at XO Asher on Instagram or at accidentally intentional or or if you don't have Instagram through email, accidentally intentional podcast@gmail.com I'm here for you. And I want to help as many of you as I can. I love you guys, but he loves you way more. And I just want to ask one final thing. If you could just please share this episode with anyone that you think would benefit from it. I want this to get into the ears of the right people who have been looking for an answer that this hopefully provides. So we will talk in the next two weeks, I will see you then. We drop a new episode every other Thursday, so be sure to subscribe to get the latest conversations. Oh, and one more thing. If you enjoy this episode and this podcast, I would be so honored. If you would leave a review. It helps us to better connect with the intended audience of this podcast by doing so. And I truly am so grateful for any amount of time that you choose to spend with me. Because trust me, I know how many options are out there and I do not take it for granted seriously, I just really appreciate you and hey, I may not know your name yet, but let's change that connect with me on Instagram at XO Asher, or on Twitter at combos was low. But hey, even if I don't know your name yet, what I do know for certain is that you're amazing. I love you. You have something that the world needs and you are always more than enough. So hey, we'll see you next time on The accidentally intentional podcast.