Group wall: Bible Book Memory Conquerors§↻

amen FinalAsgard, thank you for sharing that.

Excellent! Well done! Just curious, do you plan to keep repeating it in the future, or will you move on to some other part of the Bible?

Just finished with the book of Hebrews!

Love that lyelljoshua19. Such a helpful summary of Hebrews. I loved chapter 11. One of the most helpful chapters I learnt.

Thanks for sharing that, Iyelljoshua19. It’s very encouraging. I’ve learnt Hebrews 9 and 10 and it’s been great to help me “draw near to God in full assurance of faith.”
(And I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is your user name a reference to Joshua chapter 19? I’ve just read through Joshua, and chapter 19 seems an unlikely source of inspiration, so I was intrigued. Apologies if it seems an impertinent question.)

That is wonderful :) Thank you for sharing and keep pressing on to the end! I love Hebrews also, I've been listening to a sermon series on it.

I am currently in the 11th of chapter of Hebrews. I have 2 more chapters to memorize after this. I started memorizing this book in March and I will be done very soon. This book has been so impactful for me. The book is written to Jewish Christians, tempted to return back to the sacrificial system in the face of intense persecution. After these Christians are experiencing intense persecution the author, writes to encourage these Christians showing how Jesus is the superiority of the law, Moses, angels, the tabernacle, and the sacrificial system. When I am going through a tough season it is difficult to want to turn to worldly things. But we have this hope as anchor for the soul, firm and secure it enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus is bigger than any of my problems and my life so I am encouraged as "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in every way as we are yet without sin. therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. He is able to save completely those who come to God through him since he always lives to intercede for them. He is holy, innocent, undefiled, seperated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. Greater than anything I will face.

JDJDJD,
I am glad that you are enjoying the early chapters of Mark. This exercise has been tremendous in terms of seeing things in the narrative that I never really understood or appreciated. Good news! (pun intended) It continues throughout the entire book.

Onefire247,

I love the unpacking of the scripture, but my hesitance is much more simple. For me, faith is something that doesn't have to be proved for efficacy. I am humbled by the many ways God demonstrates Himself to us all the time, but I love Him and place my faith in Christ not because I have analyzed the facts, the narratives and signs, etc. and concluded that he is true and trustworthy. I have faith because a miracle has been done in my heart. He proves himself all the time, I just don't see that as a requirement. Doesn't Peter say that we believing/loving Jesus even though we have not seen him. And Hebrews (not sure who wrote it), "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

I love the question because I believe going into the Gospel of John with an honest desire to know who Jesus is, will no doubt reveal things quite unexpected to the new reader.

Well done TMG for your work so far on the gospel of Mark. I’m enjoying the earlier chapters. Maybe I’ll make the complete book one day. But that’s a long way off.

Thanks for sharing, TMG.

I understand your hesitance at the idea of someone making God prove himself. To be sure, there are times where Jesus rejects people because they ask for a sign (the Galilean officials son in John comes to mind). But the Bible does not always speak negatively against those asking God to prove himself. Indeed, the Bible is full of stories where God's followers asked him to prove himself. For example, Gideon refuses to go to battle unless God proves himself with not one, but two fleeces (Judges 6). Saul was also hesitant when Samuel proclaimed him to be the future king - because he was from the lowliest family of the lowliest tribe - until the prophet told him that he would meet three people on the road carrying sacrificial goats, bread, wine, and the Holy Spirit (1 Sam 9-10). Finally, Moses meets God at the burning bush, and that miraculous event is not enough for him to believe that God would use him to free Israel. Instead, God basically has to lay out his whole plan for him AND rope Aaron into the process as well before Moses agrees.

There are also narratives where God used external events to prove himself. Consider the Exodus narratives. Many people read the story of the 12 plagues and think God has it out for Pharaoh. That he is somehow destined to die by his hands to make God's name great in the world. Mostly they come to this opinion because Exodus starts with God saying he will harden Pharaoh's heart. But if you look at the Hebrew, the word for "hardening" takes on a transformation after the seventh plague. With the exception of the introduction, every time Exodus mentions the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, it is always "Pharaoh hardened his heart" or "Pharaoh's heart hardened itself." That all changes, however, after the seventh plague. From that point on, it is "God hardened Pharaoh's heart." God may have known from the beginning that Pharaoh would not listen to him, but that does not mean it was foreordained. More on that later.

If you examine the length of the seventh plague narrative compared to the previous six plagues, you will notice that it is much longer than the others. Up until this time, Moses mostly shows up, tells Pharaoh to let his people go, gives the consequences and leaves. This changes, however, before the seventh plague, which is much longer:

9:13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” 20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

Then the plague comes and the ones outside die. Why give this long intro when all the others have been short? It is because God truly wants Pharaoh and his people to submit to him. If they do so, the narrative ends and the people of Israel go free.

But what about the requirement that God must "show his power" through Pharaoh in order to proclaim God's name through the earth. We know from the narrative that Pharaoh did not give in, and God showed his power and made himself known by doing 12 plagues and killing Pharaoh. As readers of the story, we assume that is the only way God could have been done it. But there is another way he could have accomplished the same goal. Pharaoh was basically a god in his country, a literal deity in the Egyptian religious cult. Egypt was also one of the strongest, if not the strongest, power in the region at that time. If God does seven plagues and Pharaoh submits and lets them go, God's name would have been spread among the nations of that region just as easily.

No, God did not want to do twelve plagues. He did not want to do one plague. He wanted Pharaoh to submit, but he did not. But some did. Later on in chapter nine, it says that the servants who brought in the livestock retained their cattle. Further on, you see that most of these people that submitted also followed the Hebrew nation out of Egypt: "A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. (Exod 12:38)" When you add to that the fact that the plagues likely took about a year to play out (the narrative shadows this), you can see that it was God's desire to prove himself to Pharaoh so he would let his people go. If Pharaoh had relented, the world would have been shaken. I can see the conversations now:

"Did you hear that the nation of Egypt, the strongest nation around, was cowed by the God of a bunch of slaves within the country?"

"What? No, tell me more."

"Yeah, this God did seven plagues to prove himself and the Pharaoh converted to their religion and let them go. He even paid them to go and helped them out of the country."

"Insane. What was he thinking. That God must be really powerful."

"I know."

In my experience from reading the Word and seeing it lived out in real life for several decades, it seems that God refuses to prove himself with signs for those who should know better than to ask for a sign for things that faith should cover (i.e., established Christians who should have faith figured out by now but persist in willful ignorance by constantly asking to god to re-prove himself). [This is not to put God in a box; he is so merciful!] God does, however, seem to give signs for great events or to convince baby Christians or non-Christians that he exists. To those I give that challenge, by saying that prayer and reading John every day for three weeks, they are submitting their will to God's will. That gets God's attention!

I am working on memorizing the Gospel of Mark. I am currently finishing up chapter 14.

Great work, onfire247! I love your process and tremendously respect your tackling of John. And your prayer is interesting. I am not sure faith is ever proven... but I have always felt like John's Gospel is a blessing to the skeptic - and really challenges the reader to come to grips with who Jesus really is.

That's awesome, JD! Thanks for sharing. I, too, like John 17. I would have added it as well but I've struggled with memorizing it for some reason.

Well done onfire247. I love the all the same passages you do. I’ve not got every verse through to 100% but have learnt to some extent the entire book. It’s the only book I’ve done in entirety and I can highly recommend it. I’d have to add John 17 to your list. To hear the Lord Jesus talking to His Father in prayer. Wow. And I think it’s in verse 23 or 24 where he states that the Father loves us as much as He loves His Son the Lord Jesus. I can’t take that in! So humbling.

I have memorized the book of John. I always loved John growing up because it was so different from the synoptic gospels with it's focus on love. Indeed, when I witness to atheists who are completely unreceptive to the Gospel, I give them the John challenge.

1. Read one chapter of John every day for the next 21 days.
2. Start off each reading session with the following prayer: "God, I don't believe you exist and this is all a big giant sham. But if I'm wrong, prove it to me over the next 21 days."
3. If you say that prayer and read a chapter for the next 21 days and God does not move in your life, feel free to wipe your hands of the existence of Jesus forever.

John is a hard book to memorize. There are are a large number of chapters and each chapter has a ton of verses in it. Many of the verses sound similar to other verses in the book which makes memorizing it even more difficult. When you encounter theses verses, it is best to memorize it as a three verse section rather than one verse at a time. The verses in front of it and behind it will help you hold onto the correct pattern.

Although it is a difficult book, it is a narrative treasure. Here are my favorite sections:

1. The prologue (1:1-18). This section is great because it solidifies our understanding of the pre-existence of Jesus. It is also beautifully written.

2. The Samaritan Woman (4:1-45). I love how Jesus just calls out this random stranger for her multiple marriages, but does not condemn her for it. Instead, he uses her as a witness for the whole town.

3. The Bread of Life narratives (6:1-71). Although this is a long chapter, I absolutely love it. I can just imagine his disciples listening to this narrative and saying, "this guy is completely insane!" I can't really explain why this section resonates so well with me, but it does.

4. The Woman Caught in Adultery (8:1-11). Who doesn't love this story? A woman is caught in an act punishable by death, and it would be perfectly acceptable at that time to kill her. Yet Jesus doesn't, and instead saves her life.

5. The Good Shepherd Narratives (10:1-30). Jesus is the Good Shepherd and his sheep hear his voice. No one is strong enough to take those who belong to God out of the Father's hand. What's not to love about this section!

6. The Washing of the Disciple's Feet (13:1-20). I love Peter. Jesus tries to wash his feet, and he refuses. Then Jesus says he must or he'll have no part with him, and then he tells Jesus to wash his whole body. Also, the pre-existent Savior of the Universe washed the dirtiest part of his followers. Insane!

7. The True Vine (15:1-16). To bear fruit, you must abide in Jesus. You abide in Jesus by loving one another. Loving one another brings joy.

8. Jesus and Thomas (20:24-29). Thomas gets a bad wrap. Just a few chapters earlier, when Jesus had just left Judea because they tried to stone him and wanted to go back to raise Lazarus, while the other disciples were trembling with fear Thomas says, "let's go die with him!" Here though, he doesn't believe because of his deep disappointment and grief. Jesus shows up for him anyway.

9. I'm Going Fishing (21:1-14). Peter and half the other disciples go fishing, and Jesus shows up. Peter pulls a Forest Gump and dives into the water to see Jesus. Great stuff!

10. What About This Guy? (21:20-23). How many Christians have been derailed because they focused on what Jesus is doing in other people's lives rather than being thankful and obedient to what God is doing in his or her own life. To them, Jesus says "forget about that guy, follow me!"

Other General Observations:
1. There is a big focus on Jewish feasts and customs in John. This is not unusual considering the audience.
2. There is a big focus on the Holy Spirit in John, moreso than any other book than Acts.
3. I love the "Truly, Truly, I say to you" statements which are unique to John.
4. Language related to repentance (i.e., "you must repent!") found in the other gospels is missing in John. Instead, one finds discussions about "light" versus "dark," "condemned" versus "not condemned," "having life" versus "not having life," and the consequences of not believing versus believing.