Activity from TheMoviegoer§↻

I've just finished (well not fully learned) Mark 1- enjoy....

Nice to see you around! I hadn't noticed you on the news feed lately ...

Thanks, guys! Still pushing through Mark. I still haven't learned any verses 100% according to the site, so I still keep Mark 1 in the rotation. Right now, I am in the middle of chapter 9 with the goal being to learn all of Mark. I still go through various waves of encouragement and discouragement, but I am trying to at least meet my goal, trusting that whether or not I feel like I have accomplished something, the Lord will certainly use this work in my life for His kingdom. I may not be in the feed, but I look at everyone working, and it is a huge encouragement.

It's impressive that you're already on chapter 9. Once you reach being on the site one year and a bit, then you'll begin to see some 100% popping up!

Thanks, Symota! I may be on chapter 9, but I am really only solid through chapter 5. And I think the hardest part is working on reciting what you know. It takes a lot of time to recite the work (far from perfectly too) in one sitting. Lately, I just do chapters at a time. In truth, I am severely questioning my mental capacity at this point. Very humbling, although worth the effort.

I find the same TheMoviegoer...

Thanks MrsSpooner! I will say this. The process has deepened my appreciation for Mark in ways I didn't expect. That is a good thing, for sure.

I think there is great value to what you are doing, TheMoviegoer. I encourage you to stick to your plan and keep going forward, in spite of the disappointment you may feel.

I want to qualify a bit what I just wrote. Here on the internet, we don't have the benefit of knowing each other face to face. And so I don't want to be too quick with my words. Perhaps I'll qualify what I said, that looking at things from a distance, it seems like a wonderful and noble work you've undertaken. But on the other hand, you know your own life and circumstances far better than I do, and you will decided how it is best to move forward.

I want to comment, also, that if it's helpful, I've lately begun using Anki https://apps.ankiweb.net to strengthen my weak verses. I've been using Anki for a very long time, actually, for language study. (One caveat, however, is that Anki does have a learning curve -- you have to spend sometime learning how to USE Anki before it really begins to benefit you).

What I have been doing with Anki is this: I create a "cloze" card for each passage I'm learning. As I review a passage, I take note of any words which ended up in "red". (Based on this website's parameters). Then, I create a cloze test for each of those words. There's also a specific Anki addon which is very helpful in doing this. It may seem to be very time consuming, but once you know how to use Anki, it doesn't take that long, and I'm already noticing how it is paying off.

Since this thread is not actually the right place to discuss this, I'll post this also on the Website Help group.

Thanks joosep.. I may try this. Sounds very time consuming, but worthwhile.

Yes. Definitely time consuming at first, but goes much more smoothly once you get the hang of it.

I also started using Anki in this way so that I could review my weak verses in context. When I test myself on them out of context, as individual verses, I invariably do very poorly and it doesn't seem to help much.

Yes, that's a really good point actually. I struggle with the out of context verses, and often opt to test all verses in a passage.

Memory tools are great, and I've used Anki successfully for a while now (see my post in website help). Oddly enough, no matter how I varied my verse card setups, Anki never seemed to work for me for Bible memory. Actually my inability to successfully make Anki work for this led me to this website in the first place. This is not to indicate that Anki is not valuable for memorizing scriptures. The success of memory tools vary from person to person, and you should use what works for you.

Most of my memorization comes in chapter chunks. I have completely bypassed this website's spaced repetition setup and have created my own interval system based on how I feel about the verse sections. I find that gives me the freedom to focus on the chunks I struggle with while allowing me to skip the parts I don't. My retention has gone up significantly since I started it. It is similar to what joosep does but with less manual labor. I may post about it in the future if there is interest.

I've also switched to typing the one letter format, which has increased my typing speed considerably. It was hard to make that switch, and it took me probably six weeks to feel comfortable with it. Typing is so inefficient, however. I can't tell you how many times I've said the right word vocally as I'm going through a verse only to have my finger decide to type something else instead. I've tried to setup some sort of voice system to use the website, but so far success has eluded me. I've also tried all the various memory apps available on the Android store, and they either lack the feature or poorly implement it. I wish I had programming skills. I know exactly what I want in a Bible memory tool, but I lack the skills to implement it. I have seriously considered learning programming to do just that, but it is hard to talk my 47-year-old self into doing it. That being said, of all the tools I've tried, this website is by far the best which is why I keep coming back. Kudos to Luke!

For me, setting up a PAO memory system where the chapter is the Person, the verse is the Action, and the Bible book is the object has worked fabulously for me on the out of context verses. I've posted some about the PAO system in my other group. I'm still working through it, however, and I will post more detailed examples once I've used it for a bit longer.

Excellent recommendations! The things that really trip me up in Mark are the familiar, yet slightly different phrases. For example, Jesus vs he, strictly or sternly charged, the varied descriptions of decisions to cross over to to the other side of the sea. 5:1 and 5:21 seem so easy on one hand, but when your trying to recall out of the blue (like MrsSpooner mentioned) or in the middle of a long recitation, it is so easy to get tripped up. One person recommended reciting the trouble verses over and over to have an audible, almost poetic or rhythmic retention. Maybe one day. Right now, I am focusing on getting all the content in there (heart and head) so I can get better with it. I will certainly look into Anki.

Also, thanks for clarifying your encouragement. I really do appreciate it. I know we don't know each other really well or meet face to face, however, the experiences shared here, along with the kind and encouraging words, really help. Symota, Onfire247, and many, many more regularly encourage the work with words and their work too!

Thank you, faithful brothers and sisters!

John is really bad about that too. So many variations on the same phrases that trip me up (Jesus said to them, he said to them, then he said to them, Jesus therefore said to them, he said to them therefore.) And don't get me started on the variations between Jews and Pharisees within the same verse sections that have no rhyme or reason to them that I can see. It is maddening sometimes! The dialogue itself I rarely mess up on, but the in-between stuff is frustrating for sure.

Despite my memory struggles, I find that I've been able to quote John extensively in my discussions. I don't know if I'll ever use these memorized chapters for anything, and I'm not even sure that is my goal anymore. For me, memorizing the Word is an act of worship toward the God who allowed himself to be crucified on my behalf. If he chooses to use it, great! If not, then I'll take this treasure to the grave with me. Either way, I'm not quitting. And I'll do everything in my power to keep others from quitting as well.

Whenever I feel like quitting, I tell myself three things:

1. "Quitting is only hard the first time. It gets easier and easier every time after that."

2. "Whenever you start something new, there will be two voices in your head. One will say you can't do something, and one will say you can. The one you listen to is the one that wins."

3. "The person I am five years from now will really wish I had memorized the Bible today."

As a side note, I meant no disrespect to your system, joosep. You are an established member of this community while I am a newbie. Your system obviously works, and your numbers attest to that. I was simply saying I'm too lazy to do the excel verse average tracking.

As another side note, I can confirm that the longest interval for a verse without mastering it is 8 months at 99%.

Thanks for all that valuable input, onfire247. And no problem, it's simply the system that works for me, and not necessarily intended for anyone else :)

Thanks for all these great ideas and suggestions. Very helpful.

Really helpful.. Good to know its not just me that struggles sometimes.. and some new ideas to try.👍

I just found a new way to learn whole books of the Bible easily.
1. Find a well-read version of the Bible, such as the KJV dramatized:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXiRaCqjKQ0
2. Listen to it once every day.
When you are familiar with it, slow the speed down to about 75% and try to read out loud with it (eyes closed).
3. After a month or so, you should know it!

The key is to stay mentally engaged with the reading, so you are following the meaning, and when at stage 2, to be predicting what is coming next.

If you find some verses difficult, break them up into phrases and use repetition to burn them into memory!

Thanks, will try it!

I just learned Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians this way.
This site is useful for additional practice.

Excellent idea, Saintman!

That's great, Saintman. If you are looking for the 2007 ESV dramatized that is used on this website, check out the Faith Comes By Hearing audiobook set. You can find it on youtube as well, but I downloaded it directly from them. If you use the following link, it is the first ESV dramatized on the list. You can verify this by using John 1, as there are alot of variations between the 2007 version and the modern version of the ESV. https://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/audio-bible-resources/mp3-downloads