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My cousin and I occasionally swap books and she recently gave me a copy of a Macarthur bible commentary (Daniel). I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but there were some parts that I thought were just... well... weird. I would like to read a similar series but maybe without some of the political, apocalyptic stuff? Any suggestions? TIA!
It's been said that the Bible often sheds great light on the commentaries.
Commentaries (Macarthur and hundreds of others) are written by Bible scholars/groups to provide insights into the Bible. Many Study Bibles (NIV, Life Application, other) do likewise. It's important to remember that the Bible, not commentaries, is inspired. However, while there is some variation between commentaries, most are surprisingly similar.
With regard to apocalyptic 'stuff,' much of Daniel, Revelation and other books focus on the End Times. Thus, commentaries on those books/sections also deal with 'apocalyptic stuff'. If this is your first exposure to commentaries, I would suggest that you start with the book of John and use the Bible, rather than the commentary, as your primary source of information.
It's been said that the Bible often sheds great light on the commentaries.
Commentaries (Macarthur and hundreds of others) are written by Bible scholars/groups to provide insights into the Bible. Many Study Bibles (NIV, Life Application, other) do likewise. It's important to remember that the Bible, not commentaries, is inspired. However, while there is some variation between commentaries, most are surprisingly similar.
With regard to apocalyptic 'stuff,' much of Daniel, Revelation and other books focus on the End Times. Thus, commentaries on those books/sections also deal with 'apocalyptic stuff'. If this is your first exposure to commentaries, I would suggest that you start with the book of John and use the Bible, rather than the commentary, as your primary source of information.
Well, gee, thanks, but actually I have read the entire Bible several times. That's why my question was not about recommending to me that I read the Bible. I enjoyed the commentary because it gives some insight on the history, some comments, some insight on the language, stuff like that. Sometimes that can deepen your understanding and make you enjoy and think about what you are reading in the Bible. But for example, this particular book was written 20 or 30 some years ago, and so the author was sort of reaching over what is the next great "empire" to conquer the world and fall, and his guess was... the future European Union! Hehe I think we all know how that powerful empire turned out... I also found it weird that he kind of ignored the extremely powerful empire that is the U.S. and saw Europe as sinister but I digress. Anyway, I thought that was sort of goofy and unnecessary. There was also some other goofy stuff in there that sort of ruined it for me, but I don't want to get into political issues, I just want an informative, apolitical work.
Junk. Stay away from MacArthur. He's a Calvinist nutjob.
At least he has one thing right. He knows that the modern tithe takers are fleecing the flock. But he rarely speaks on it because he does not want to upset his Calvinist buddies who rob the church goers via the tithe.
At least he has one thing right. He knows that the modern tithe takers are fleecing the flock. But he rarely speaks on it because he does not want to upset his Calvinist buddies who rob the church goers via the tithe.
Sheesh, this seems more complicated than I thought. I just wanted some insights and stuff like "well this word means THIS in Aramaic," stuff like that...
Oh well.
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