On Reading Larger Portions of the Bible
“On the one hand, reading large portions of Scripture seems quite logical. On the other, you will find a large number of Christians who have never done it. Why is there a gap here? The question has a complex answer, but I think one reason concerns Bible typography.” - DBTS Blog
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I do have passages memorized, but I never set out to do it. I didn’t come to faith until I was 18, so I missed out on many opportunities to memorize Scripture when I was younger.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Tyler, you are an unusual person to be able to memorize Scripture without trying!
G. N. Barkman
I’m probably giving myself too much credit. Much of what I have is a rather free paraphrase, coupled with a chapter (not a verse). Sometimes, I know the verse. This is more general familiarity than memorization.
To the point of the article, I read the Bible in large chunks.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
I used to memorize lots of Scripture. I’m so glad I did! I’m glad I was encouraged to do so during my youth, and in many cases, required to do so, as I attended Christian schools.
Two changes have curtailed my former patterns. First, all my memorization was from the KJV. With the advent of modern versions, memorization became more difficult. Not impossible, but harder, especially since I have a memory bank of literally hundreds of verses from the KJV. Its harder to memorize when you are both un-memorizing, and re-memorizing. Second, I’m a lot older. I don’t memorize as easily as I used to. That’s why I’m so thankful for the hundreds of individual verses and passages memorized in my youth.
G. N. Barkman
[G. N. Barkman]Two changes have curtailed my former patterns. First, all my memorization was from the KJV. With the advent of modern versions, memorization became more difficult. Not impossible, but harder, especially since I have a memory bank of literally hundreds of verses from the KJV. Its harder to memorize when you are both un-memorizing, and re-memorizing.
I feel your pain. All my memorization was in the KJV as well. Now I find it hard to read aloud in a newer version passages that I memorized in the KJV. Our church responsive readings are in the ESV, and I often find them difficult if the passage is familiar. I still use the KJV in the pew even though the pulpit version is ESV, and if I were to do any more memorizing, I would still do it in the KJV just for ease and consistency.
Dave Barnhart
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