Review: Taking the Guesswork out of applying the Bible
I believe that most of Christians have the deep desire both to understand the Bible and apply it in their daily lives. However, when we talk about Bible, we have many things to ask. Questions like how to understand the Bible and how to apply the Bible are among of those questions.
Certain passages in the Bible can be understood easily for many of us. Thus, it's not so difficult to take specifics actions to apply them in our daily lives. For example, a direct and clear order on The Ten Commandments: You shall not murder. This order is clear enough to be followed. I doubt if anyone has confusion to follow this order.
But, many passages give us some trouble. Not only do we have difficulty in understanding the meaning of the passages, but also when we understand them we don't really know what we should do.
I bought this book: Taking the Guesswork out of applying the Bible by Jack Kuhatschek years ago. And just re-read it this week. If you read the writing on the back cover, the promotion says that there are many books write about how to study the Bible. But, it's only few that discuss how to apply the Bible. And the writer gave us practical yet effective methods to apply the Bible.
Well, I believe it's an honest promotion. Jack gave us three simple steps to understand the Bible. There is one golden rule if we want to apply the Bible. We need the right method to interpret the Bible in order to take right applications. You interpret it wrong, your applications will be wrong as well. That's why the three steps will lead you to understand the Bible and then, to apply it. On the first chapter, this book explains the three steps to apply the Bible:
There are practical steps mentioned in the book to get the sense of the real situation where the writers lived and wrote the Holy Bible.
Apparently, different forms of Bible writing require different approach. On the second chapter, Jack explained how to apply different forms of Bible writing style. How to take application for God's promises, God's orders or examples (story about characters in the Bible). Unfortunately, there is no explanation about how to interpret and apply parables in the Bible. Maybe it is because it will take more explanation.
In this review, I only explain the steps in general. But, you can go deeper by reading the book. There are many examples to apply the steps. I think this book succeed in lead us going through each step by giving many examples.
One important thing that it discusses is how to handle the Old Testament. I believe Old Testament brings many problems for us whether we are new or long-term Christians. I recommend this book especially to new Christians or Christians who just about to start to learn the Bible.
If you are a Bible study club leader or follow any Bible study program, this book will be a perfect gift for your group. We will have abundance lives where we apply Bible in our daily lives. And this book is a good start to learn about it.
Certain passages in the Bible can be understood easily for many of us. Thus, it's not so difficult to take specifics actions to apply them in our daily lives. For example, a direct and clear order on The Ten Commandments: You shall not murder. This order is clear enough to be followed. I doubt if anyone has confusion to follow this order.
But, many passages give us some trouble. Not only do we have difficulty in understanding the meaning of the passages, but also when we understand them we don't really know what we should do.
I bought this book: Taking the Guesswork out of applying the Bible by Jack Kuhatschek years ago. And just re-read it this week. If you read the writing on the back cover, the promotion says that there are many books write about how to study the Bible. But, it's only few that discuss how to apply the Bible. And the writer gave us practical yet effective methods to apply the Bible.
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Three easy steps to apply Word of God:
1. Understand the real situation/ the background
In this step, Jack reminded us that Bible has huge historical and cultural gaps with our lives now. We need to take our 'time machine' to go back to the time where the writers lived. We need to understand several factors that will help us understand a passage better. We can do this by using Bible dictionary, Bible commentary, Bible map and other tools.There are practical steps mentioned in the book to get the sense of the real situation where the writers lived and wrote the Holy Bible.
2. Find the general principles
It's something easy for us to take some applications when we have the situation or problems like the passage that we read in the Bible. But, what if the passage tells something strange or something that is completely different with our world, culture and living time? This step explains how we can extract general principles from various types of writing styles in the Bible.3. Apply them to our today world
When we are able to take general principles from a passage. We will be able to take specific principles and then, take necessary steps to apply it in our daily lives.Apparently, different forms of Bible writing require different approach. On the second chapter, Jack explained how to apply different forms of Bible writing style. How to take application for God's promises, God's orders or examples (story about characters in the Bible). Unfortunately, there is no explanation about how to interpret and apply parables in the Bible. Maybe it is because it will take more explanation.
In this review, I only explain the steps in general. But, you can go deeper by reading the book. There are many examples to apply the steps. I think this book succeed in lead us going through each step by giving many examples.
One important thing that it discusses is how to handle the Old Testament. I believe Old Testament brings many problems for us whether we are new or long-term Christians. I recommend this book especially to new Christians or Christians who just about to start to learn the Bible.
If you are a Bible study club leader or follow any Bible study program, this book will be a perfect gift for your group. We will have abundance lives where we apply Bible in our daily lives. And this book is a good start to learn about it.
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