An idea? Anyone up for this?

path_of_one

path_of_one

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OK, so what I see lately are lots of debates about general topics and non-Biblical works. I don't think that is necessarily problematic, but obviously it is causing conflict and, no offense, I think degenerating into a non-productive and sometimes not-so-nice discussion.

Here's my idea... if enough people are interested we could start it up!

How about an online Bible study? Picking a gospel, letter, or whatever and going through it bit by bit- a section per week or half-week or whatever- and each of us can write in our interpretations, how it impacts our lives, our sources of study, etc.? Take the focus off secondary sources (at least in one thread), and ground it in the Bible? Perhaps this would also give our liberal members a chance to discuss their beliefs in reference to the scriptures, making it easier in some way for our more conservative/fundamentalist members?

Just my idea. I'm currently missing my in-person Bible study due to a conflict with my teaching schedule. :( So I'd love the interaction as well.

Perhaps we could start with a Gospel, since these set up the foundation of who Jesus is and His teachings? :D

Any ideas, opinions, thoughts on if you'd all want to do this, and what book to pick are welcome!
 
Yay- hopefully many more will want to join in as well.

I will add a ground rule, if the mods allow, and that is that the Bible you are using needs to be a standard translation accepted by Biblical scholars. I don't mean just KJV, and I don't want to get into a big debate about the best translation, but what I mean is that there are various translations that are accepted in the field of religious study (for example, KJV, NKJV, NASV, NIV, Amplified, etc.) and there are translations that are designed to incorporate other religions (I have a few that compare the Tao Te Ching or Buddha's teachings to the Bible, and they have some interesting but creative translations of the Bible). Same goes for the translations that try to use more inclusive language and such.

I think those more creative, non-standard translations are interesting, but I'd rather have all of us on the same basic page with a standard, widely accepted translation so we can discuss our interpretations of the same text. Of course, as in all the Bible studies I've been to, it can be very enlightening to bring up slight differences in text between the KJV, NASV, etc. and sometimes helps interpretation.

Any thoughts on this?
 
Sounds like a good idea Path. I would like to get the JW perspective if possible as that would make an interesting comparison. I have a searchable KJV program that I use for c&p, but my study Bible is NIV. I like the language of the KJV, but I think that other translations are more accurate and readable. I wish I could find a searchable version of the NIV on software, but I haven't been able to locate such. There are resources online, but I have dial-up and often prefer to compose on my word processor program and then c&p to the board so I don't tie up the phone line.

I'll leave it to you where you would like to start. Just as a suggestion, though, we could do the gospels in chronological order beginning with Mark.

Chris
 
path_of_one said:
OK, so what I see lately are lots of debates about general topics and non-Biblical works. I don't think that is necessarily problematic, but obviously it is causing conflict and, no offense, I think degenerating into a non-productive and sometimes not-so-nice discussion.

Here's my idea... if enough people are interested we could start it up!

How about an online Bible study? Picking a gospel, letter, or whatever and going through it bit by bit- a section per week or half-week or whatever- and each of us can write in our interpretations, how it impacts our lives, our sources of study, etc.? Take the focus off secondary sources (at least in one thread), and ground it in the Bible? Perhaps this would also give our liberal members a chance to discuss their beliefs in reference to the scriptures, making it easier in some way for our more conservative/fundamentalist members?

Just my idea. I'm currently missing my in-person Bible study due to a conflict with my teaching schedule. :( So I'd love the interaction as well.

Perhaps we could start with a Gospel, since these set up the foundation of who Jesus is and His teachings? :D

Any ideas, opinions, thoughts on if you'd all want to do this, and what book to pick are welcome!
Click to expand...

This could work very well. I believe Dauer has broken ground in the Comparative Studies thread with his subtopic being the Parsha Project.

We would have to create a subtopic as well, dedicated strickly to studying the Bible. Some one would have to manage it, and that might be tricky, unless a mod wishes to do so, or work with a member closely to do so.

But let us see if it is a feasable idea of interest to the group here. I would recommend taking a look at the Parsha project, before continuing...;)

v/r

Q
 
China Cat Sunflower said:
Sounds like a good idea Path. I would like to get the JW perspective if possible as that would make an interesting comparison.

Chris
Click to expand...

I'm in.

I am in a unique perspective to give an ex-JW perspective (as compared to my current perspective). And Mee, I'm not disfellowshipped nor dissassociated if that eases your conscience at all. ;)

Oh and Crosswalk has over a dozen different bible translations available (free) online.
 
I would love to do this. I lot more that what we have been doing lately.

A good thing some people might want to check out is a program called e sword it lets you download versions of the bible and notes etc. Currently I open mine and can check up to 4 of the 20 bibles I currently have on there at a time.
 
Q, would it have to be a sticky, or sub-topic, or could it be done in a simpler manner?

I'm thinking of a collectors' forum I belong to that has monthly picture parades. The designated person, after knowing the outline for the year, just posts the topic on the designated day and then it just runs its course until no one posts anymore or the next one comes out.

So, I was thinking we'd all pick a book- there's been one suggestion to start with Mark- any thoughts on this everyone? And then I'd just go with the sections that the NIV divides it into, posting one a week or something. (Or we could try a chapter a week, but some chapters incorporate quite a few differening sections- thoughts anyone?) So a thread would come up like: Mark 1:1-8. And we'd start discussing until we had nothing left to say.

I'm proposing a Bible study in the Christian forum, if that makes sense. Not the comparative forum. That could be interesting, and I'd probably participate if it was over there, but my idea is more for us Christians of our many denominations and paths to discuss and fellowship. My fear is that to put it outside the Christian forum would result in a defensive discussion about the Bible rather than a discussion of what passages mean to us and how they have impacted our lives.

My idea is that all people who study the Bible and consider themselves followers of Christ would be welcome to participate, but this would not be a debate about the validity or importance of the Bible, but rather our personal interpretations, studies, insights, etc. on the actual text. Pretty much a traditional, open-ended Bible study and fellowship.
 
path_of_one said:
Q, would it have to be a sticky, or sub-topic, or could it be done in a simpler manner?

I'm thinking of a collectors' forum I belong to that has monthly picture parades. The designated person, after knowing the outline for the year, just posts the topic on the designated day and then it just runs its course until no one posts anymore or the next one comes out.

So, I was thinking we'd all pick a book- there's been one suggestion to start with Mark- any thoughts on this everyone? And then I'd just go with the sections that the NIV divides it into, posting one a week or something. (Or we could try a chapter a week, but some chapters incorporate quite a few differening sections- thoughts anyone?) So a thread would come up like: Mark 1:1-8. And we'd start discussing until we had nothing left to say.

I'm proposing a Bible study in the Christian forum, if that makes sense. Not the comparative forum. That could be interesting, and I'd probably participate if it was over there, but my idea is more for us Christians of our many denominations and paths to discuss and fellowship. My fear is that to put it outside the Christian forum would result in a defensive discussion about the Bible rather than a discussion of what passages mean to us and how they have impacted our lives.

My idea is that all people who study the Bible and consider themselves followers of Christ would be welcome to participate, but this would not be a debate about the validity or importance of the Bible, but rather our personal interpretations, studies, insights, etc. on the actual text. Pretty much a traditional, open-ended Bible study and fellowship.
Click to expand...

I agree that the study should be in the Christianity Forum. I don't think a "sticky" is appropriate. And since it would be dedicated to Bible Study, it would have to have it's own subtopic (very important). But we have to check with Brian as well...

v/r

Q
 
I think it's a good idea, too - possibly a different thread for each study passage, to keep discussions focused on it. If done on a regular basis, we could keep the most recent thread stickied, ie, weekly study thread on a particular passage, etc.

And if you use the KJV, it's already posted online at CR if that's of any help:
http://www.comparative-religion.com/christianity/bible-king-james-version/
:)
 
I said:
I think it's a good idea, too - possibly a different thread for each study passage, to keep discussions focused on it. If done on a regular basis, we could keep the most recent thread stickied, ie, weekly study thread on a particular passage, etc.

And if you use the KJV, it's already posted online at CR if that's of any help:
http://www.comparative-religion.com/christianity/bible-king-james-version/
:)
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian!

Well, y'all heard it from the horse's mouth...Let's figure it out into a viable action...

v/r

Q
 
Count me in also. Where and when do we start?

Are we going to make this a subforum in the Christianity section like the Interfaith Parsha Project?
 
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