The%20Bible

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The Bible

• the most widely-owned book that no one reads.

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Top 3 clues you need to read the Bible more

• When you open your Bible, your allergies explode
  because of all the dust
• You think the minor prophets were a rock group
  from the 1960s
• Your favorite Bible verse is, Jesus went about
  doing good and casting out deacons.

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What is the Bible?

• The Scriptures constitute a coherent whole. They
  are at once divinely inspired and humanly
  expressed. They bear authoritative witness to
  God's revelation of Himself in creation, in the
  Incarnation of the Word, and in the whole history
  of salvation, and as such express the word of God
  in human language. We know, receive, and
  interpret Scripture through the Church and in the
  Church.

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Why read it?

• The Bible is not primarily read in order to
  appropriate theological or doctrinal convictions
  or to set moral, social or ethical norms rather
  it is read in order to experience the life of
  communion that exists in God.

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Why read it?

• In the Bible one finds the self revelation of
  God and can come to a true and genuine knowledge
  of Him and His will and purpose for man and the
  world. In and through the Bible, human persons
  can enter into communion with God. - Fr.
  Thomas Hopko

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Inspired Word of God

• 2 Timothy 316All Scripture is given by
  inspiration of God, and is profitable for
  doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
  instruction in righteousness,
• Given by inspiration Theopneustos meaning
  God-breathed

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Inspired Word of God

• 1 Thessalonians 213For this reason we also
  thank God without ceasing, because when you
  received the word of God which you heard from us,
  you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it
  is in truth, the word of God, which also
  effectively works in you who believe.

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Teaches Doctrine

• Orthodox doctrine is rooted in the Bible
• What more shall I teach you than what we read in
  the Apostle? For Holy Scripture fixes the rule
  for our doctrine, lest we dare to be wiser than
  we ought. - St. Augustine

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Teaches Doctrine

• Everything in the Church must be biblical for
  the Church, in order to be the Church, must be
  wholly expressive of the Bible or more
  accurately, it must be wholly faithful to and
  expressive of that reality to which the Bible is
  itself the scriptural witness. - Fr. Thomas
  Hopko

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Corrects Us

• 2 Timothy 42Preach the word! Be ready in season
  and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with
  all longsuffering and teaching.

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Instructs Us in Righteousness

• For just as the tree planted by the channels of
  waters, so also the soul watered by the divine
  Scripture is enriched and gives fruit in its
  seasonand is adorned with evergreen leafage, I
  mean, actions pleasing to God. For through the
  Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that is
  pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation.
  For in these we find both exhortation to every
  virtue and dissuasion from every vice. If,
  therefore, we are lovers of learning, we shall
  also be learned in many things. For by care and
  toil and the grace of God the Giver, all things
  are accomplished - Fr. John of Damascus

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How to read it?

• Devotional reading
• Topical Study
• Book Study

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Devotional Study

• Prayerful mediation on a passage
• Read the Holy Gospel, be penetrated by its
  spirit, make it the rule of your life, your
  handbook in every action and question of life
  act according to the study of the Gospel.

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Devotional Study

• Consider what essential truth God is
  communicating in the passage
• What do these passages tell you about Christ?
• How are they reflected in the theology of the
  Church?
• In the hymns sung in the Liturgy?

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Devotional Study

• These are not just distant places, events in the
  remote past. They belong to my own encounter with
  the Lord.
• Put yourself in the place of those of whom you
  are reading.
• Favor the words of the Bible over that of society
• Should read and seek to practice what you learn
  every day

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Topical Study

• Examine what the Bible says about a particular
  subject.
• Create list of words related to the topic
• Use online search to find all mention of the topic

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Book/Passage Study

• Discover the central themes of a biblical book
• Allows you to examine in detail the ways in which
  God dealt with His people in a specific
  historical context and how it applies to us today

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Book/Passage Study

• Background
• Who is the author?
• Under what circumstances religious, political,
  and cultural was the book written?
• Audience?
• Start broad and then study details

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Book/Passage Study

• Identify main themes
• Study cross-references
• Attend Bible Studies
• Orthodox Commentaries

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Communion with God

• Bible is Lifes Guidebook
• Knowledge Faith Struggle ? Virtue
• By reading it, meditating on it, and practicing
  we can achieve communion with God and lead a life
  of virtue