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What would you consider the "essential" Old Testament stories that everybody, regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof, should read?
Personally, I was Catholic through the end of college and am fairly agnostic now. Catholics in general don't learn the Bible as well as Protestants, as it's usually a couple readings every week that are pretty easy to ignore, plus weekly CCD*. However, I'd be a fool to deny that parts of the Bible, most obviously Genesis and the Gospels, are referenced so much in every part of our culture that everyone should be aware of them. (My girlfriend, for one, knows very little of the Bible indeed.)
I know the New Testament fairly well, but I'm sure many of the most colorful stories come in the Old Testament. However, I know that some of it is just describing how they built the temples, which I'm sure is not essential! So what would you consider the most essential OT stories?
* My friend Adam always said no matter what question they ask you in CCD, you can answer it with either "pray," "go to church," or "be nice."
What would you consider the "essential" Old Testament stories that everybody, regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof, should read?
Personally, I was Catholic through the end of college and am fairly agnostic now. Catholics in general don't learn the Bible as well as Protestants, as it's usually a couple readings every week that are pretty easy to ignore, plus weekly CCD*. However, I'd be a fool to deny that parts of the Bible, most obviously Genesis and the Gospels, are referenced so much in every part of our culture that everyone should be aware of them. (My girlfriend, for one, knows very little of the Bible indeed.)
I know the New Testament fairly well, but I'm sure many of the most colorful stories come in the Old Testament. However, I know that some of it is just describing how they built the temples, which I'm sure is not essential! So what would you consider the most essential OT stories?
* My friend Adam always said no matter what question they ask you in CCD, you can answer it with either "pray," "go to church," or "be nice."
I started with Genesis...then Exodus, Levitucus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. After that, the New Testament means a lot more.
Since Jesus emphasized the good news of God's kingdom at Matthew 24 v 14, then the book of Daniel would be timely especially because Daniel chapter 2 deals with why God's kingdom is good news for us at verse 44.
While it's true that the "Law of Moses" as it is referred to does not apply to us today. It is important to learn about it and how Jesus fulfilled it. As for the rest of the OT, it is useful to learn how God has delt with people. We can also gain insight into how God does things.
The most important thing is that you have a right relationship with God so that you have the Holy Spirit within you to open your understanding of God's word. While God has given us teachers for this age, we are too also study to show ourselves approved as well.
Genesis through at least Joshua so the New Testament makes sense. Judges-2 Kings will still keep your attention until you get to the chronicles....atleast for me as all the different names started to lose my attention span.
Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi are good books to read as well.
Christ is represented in each book in this manner (thanks to Aaron Jeoffrey)
Quote:
In Genesis, He's the breath of life
[In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice
In Joshua, He is salvation's choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom's cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream
In Isaiah, He's Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He's the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He's the Spirit's power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He's the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
But even deeper, there's some meaty revelations of Christ in Genesis seen between the names "LORD" and "Lord God", the Hebrew letter for grace seen in Abraham's and Sarah's names (differing from Abram and Sarai) which is also found in Christ's name; the ark of the covenant was constructed of acacia wood (representing Christ's manhood) and overlaid with gold (representing His God nature) and much, much more.
Read it all! Without the Old Testament, the New Testament ... even the coming of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins that we might have Salvation and eternal life, has no frame-of-reference. The OT also gives us a long view of man's 'lack of success' in trying to 'be good,' find God and live righteously by faith ... via rule/law-keeping.
Many seem to lose sight of the fact that the God of the NT is also the God of the OT ... 'the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.' God has not grown more 'sin tolerant' or 'loving' in NT times. Instead, He used man's OT history to lead us to Jesus Christ. Likewise, there are many in OT times who were declared righteous before God ... because of their faith and trust in God. Christ has come, and trust and faith in God are still the vehicle of faith and righteousness.
I am not Agnostic , as I have a daily witness of the presence of the Lord through My Life which is Not a proud thing , but honorable......... The Ideas of the Old Testament, is that this part of the beginning of the Lord and His interaction with man , which God character can be somewhat defined , and of course Jesus bring clarity into the character of the Lord and His plan ......... See if you could read good then read the whole bible and pray for clarity as You study it .......... But if you cannot read very good then You should consider getting a copy of recordings of people reading the Bible for you , as there are many copies in Christian books stores or there are free copying on line if you search , or there are some which people can buy on line , of the whole bible , even in different languages free............ I prefer not to pick and chose which books are good to read , as they are all interesting to people who have passions for the things and Words of God ........... In Luke 11: 31 Jesus said about the Word of God .....``The queen of the south [Sheba] Will rise up in the judgment with the men in this generation , and condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and look, a greater than Solomon is here [Jesus]````.....
Right jghorton - the entire first covenant was (and still is) a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Law still has a purpose according to Paul, for it still applies to the ungodly (the lost). So let them hang the 10 commandments everywhere but not in church for the believer!
The law is justification by works of course, and that will wear you down until you cry out for the Blood to your justification. It's our righteousness - not our sin - that's a filthy rag. Only He can be the righteousness the Father wants.
If we look at the Ark of the Covenant, we can see the Cherubim - they are the eyes of judgment; but God placed the Mercy Seat between them, so that judgment would have to look at the blood of the sacrifice.
Beautiful illustration of what was to come...
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