The specific action I took was reading the Bible as frequently as possible, first starting with the books of the Old Testament and moving on to the New Testament. I decided that a systematic approach to reading the Bible would be necessary to understand, first, its structure and the nature of its content. I made it a priority to regularly read the entire Bible without any exceptions, following the order of the books as it is in the Bible. My intention was to develop a much deeper understanding of the communication that God is trying to relay through reading the Bible.
The Bible
I read the Bible each day of the week, with a focus on reading the scriptures at night during the weekdays since I am busy over the day, spending a minimum of an hour in each session. On weekends, both Saturdays and Sundays, I dedicated significant amounts of time, both during the day and at night to continue reading the Bible. A significant portion of the Bible was read over the weekends, and I also went to church to deepen my experiences. Occasionally, if I could find time, I also did some reading during the weekdays when I could find some time in the afternoons.
I noticed that there seemed to be different interpretations of the understanding of the Bible after reading the scriptures and analyzing different responses. There are different types of Christian churches that all have a specific interpretation of the Bible. I thought this was confusing particularly because I felt that a different type of message was being communicated from the scriptures. I spent a significant amount of time understanding that the word of God can be interpreted by an intense analysis of the scriptures and accepting the word of God as it is written in the Bible.
Interpretation Of The Bible
The concerns that I have are centered on the conflict that the interpretation of the Bible as caused and the real meaning of life as written in the Bible. Interpreting the word of God has resulted in numerous conflicts over the centuries in an attempt to define the nature of God and His word. These conflicts are concerning because the real intentions of God can never be understood by societies openly opposing each other over something that they do not understand. Similarly, reading the Bible still does not give a clear impression of the real meaning of life, and this is a significant concern.
I celebrated the fact that I was able to complete reading all the books of the Bible and develop a coherence of the message that is being communicated. Completing the books of the Bible allowed me to make more informed decisions about the word of God and the importance of togetherness as Christians. I felt a closer understanding with the main message being communicated in the Bible by being patient with understanding the content of each of the books of the Bible.
I found a number of insights from the reading that did help me with my practice; first, the reading provides a guide for generally understanding the way to interpret the Bible. According to Mulholland (1984), ‘time must be given to silence the grasping, controlling, manipulating dynamics of our being. We must come to a point of inner release, a deep relinquishment of ourselves and our lives to God’ (Mulholland 29). This means that in order to understand the message being communicated by God in the Bible, it is important to open ourselves up through solitude and accept the message being communicated.
Works Cited
Mulholland, Robert M. Spiritual Reading of Scripture. Wearings 3, No. 6, N-D, 1988. Print
