Thanks JD for keeping us posted. And I did go to hospital and got IV antibiotics and heaps of tests. Turns out I have silent asthma and was constantly in a state of oxygen deprivation. Very difficult to diagnose. I may have had it for years. I'm slowly recovering still, but feel I'm on track to normal health now. I appreciate your prayers and those of others on the site. How is your health going?
Hey Joosep, PeterP, JD, and any others. Please pray for me. I'm unwell and struggling. I'm scheduled to go to hospital on Tuesday. I have an unusual pneumonia and antibiotics haven't worked. I appreciate your prayers.
JD, I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better. If you do make a new account, please let us know your new name. You are a valued friend on this site to many of us.
That's interesting Joosep. I have been reading John 14-16 lately. My favorite verse from there is this classic: 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Regarding 1 Peter 5:7, have you heard this song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWcE2QNQE9s
Thanks for asking, Joosep! Yes, 1 Peter 2:24 is one of the greatest verses in the Bible. Also Chapter 1 is loaded with excellent verses. I'm looking ahead to 1 Peter 5 which has some classic verses like 5:7 "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you."
Thanks for asking, Joosep! Yes, 1 Peter 2:24 is one of the greatest verses in the Bible. Also Chapter 1 is loaded with excellent verses. I'm looking ahead to 1 Peter 5 which has some classic verses like 5:7 "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you."
1 Peter 2:24. Thank you for reminding me about that verse also. Dying to sin -- a choice we are to make every morning, as we pray upon waking, but accompanying that is the joy of living to our God! and that verses is also beautiful in how Peter alludes to Isaiah 53. That verse contains the gospel in a nutshell -- "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross" .... There are so many "gem verses"; verse 23 in the same chapter, "and while being reviled, He did not revile in return"; and on and on and on.
I was wondering if you memorized all of Revelation... Good work! I thought about it, but decided to start on Romans instead. It seems to me that the more you look at any verse, passage, or book, however mundane, the more you appreciate it as God's holy, inspired, all-profitable, and precious Word.
That's a fascinating story. It reminds me of the Book of Eli movie with Denzel Washington. He plays a blind man who has memorized the KJV Bible in braille. Unfortunately the movie is ruined by violence and I can't recommend it for that reason, but the storyline is remarkable, and makes me wonder how they came up with that idea for a script.
When learning a new block of 4-8 verses, I will read each verse several times, and then hit the "next" button 9 times to get all the word boxes blank. Then I try to fill them out with >85% accuracy. I can usually get that, but might need to use the hint button. I mostly give each verse only one try per day so as to avoid boredom. And I allow myself to use the hint button to avoid frustration! Inevitably with each passing day, by reviewing the same verses, recall is always better than before. Stitching blocks of verses together to make a full chapter also takes time, which is why it takes about 3 weeks to learn a chapter.
Hi Joosep, Thanks for the questions, brother. I'm learning the whole thing, with the end goal of being able to quote any verse at any time. I'm trying to burn it "into my hard drive" so it lasts in my mind long term. To do this, I learn chunks of 4-8 verses and keep resetting them daily. When I can do a whole chapter at nearly 100% accuracy, I move on to the next one (that usually takes a 2-3 weeks for each chapter). I started around the middle of last year, and it seems I will finish around the middle of this year which is slower than I expected. However, I am surprised at how well my memory has retained early chapters. Still, I have much work to do on it, as using the website is like having on a set of training wheels. Practising quoting without any assistance from the website will be my next project.
I find this website to be better than any other system because it's fun and enjoyable, and the way it's designed allows me to test recall of each word in sequence, which is a key part of the memorization process.
well done! Can you speak for a bit on how your memorization of Revelation is going? What's your end goal, and how far have you gotten in reaching it?
I decided a while ago that your advice about memorizing Revelation was well placed, and I'm in the process of combining it with what I'm doing with Luke. Luke will continue to be my main focus, Revelation the second.
I'll be interested to hear about your own approach to Revelation, with respect to memorizing it. Are you memorizing all of it, or rather, selected portions?
Hi Joosep, Thanks for the questions, brother. I'm learning the whole thing, with the end goal of being able to quote any verse at any time. I'm trying to burn it "into my hard drive" so it lasts in my mind long term. To do this, I learn chunks of 4-8 verses and keep resetting them daily. When I can do a whole chapter at nearly 100% accuracy, I move on to the next one (that usually takes a 2-3 weeks for each chapter). I started around the middle of last year, and it seems I will finish around the middle of this year which is slower than I expected. However, I am surprised at how well my memory has retained early chapters. Still, I have much work to do on it, as using the website is like having on a set of training wheels. Practising quoting without any assistance from the website will be my next project.
I find this website to be better than any other system because it's fun and enjoyable, and the way it's designed allows me to test recall of each word in sequence, which is a key part of the memorization process.
When learning a new block of 4-8 verses, I will read each verse several times, and then hit the "next" button 9 times to get all the word boxes blank. Then I try to fill them out with >85% accuracy. I can usually get that, but might need to use the hint button. I mostly give each verse only one try per day so as to avoid boredom. And I allow myself to use the hint button to avoid frustration! Inevitably with each passing day, by reviewing the same verses, recall is always better than before. Stitching blocks of verses together to make a full chapter also takes time, which is why it takes about 3 weeks to learn a chapter.
Hey FinalAsgard, your idea of memorizing Luke is excellent. I have some thoughts on memorizing the gospels for my own future plans, which you might find helpful.
The Bible is the most precious book on earth, and the Gospels contain most of the direct teachings of Jesus Christ. Remember John 6:68 "Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Obtaining eternal life is the most valuable thing, and the words of Jesus Christ are essential to this.
Also, Jesus makes this remarkable promise in John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. "Keeping" implies both memorizing and obedience. It's hard to obey the commandments of Jesus if you can't remember what they are!
Also, Matthew 28:20 says, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." So the teachings of Jesus are vital to ministry.
And Matthew 5:19 says, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Based on these verses, I feel that memorizing the words of Jesus takes priority over the narrative sections. And memorizing all the teachings of Jesus found in all the gospels would take less time than the entire book of Luke or the entire book of Matthew.
If you get a red letter Bible and compare the gospels, Matthew and John have many long sections of the teaching of Jesus, and I find them to be written in a very memorable style, so I would learn those first. Luke has some unique red letter sections also, not found in other gospels. They are also some of the most challenging in terms of obedience. (Luke 12 and 14)
I usually read the books through many times before embarking on memorizing, which makes them a lot easier to learn. Also this gives you time to pray and find out which books and passages the Lord wants you learn at this point in time.
If I was to design a Christian homeschooling system, I would include the strengths of ACE, but add a detailed testing system to identify where a child has unique gifting, and then customize an advanced teaching programme to nurture those gifts. That would include creative fields such as art and music. It's interesting that Mozart was homeschooled, and had a musician father to teach him. Also Akiane Kramarik was mostly homeschooled, and is probably the greatest painter alive today. What do you think?
I did ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). It was the only one available at the time (late 80s) in Australia. We were among the pioneers. Looking back, the key strengths were: 1. Heavy emphasis on Bible memorization. Key verses were learned, and printed on every page of every book. Also rewards were given for memorizing entire books of the Bible. The value of this is priceless. 2. Goal system. You had to learn to set your own goals. 3. The most important subjects, Spelling, English and Maths were designed very well. 4. Science had plenty of great information on the famous Christians who laid the foundations of Science (Newton, Faraday etc). 5. Literature got us to read some of the best books outside the Bible. eg. Missionary biographies etc
The biggest drawback was the strong patriotism, which was irrelevant for us. But I suppose that could be a good thing for Americans.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone doing ACE now. They have probably updated the curriculum many times. We did mostly 2nd and 3rd editions.
Hi Jappel, I noticed your comment about me, so I thought I'd respond as it might be helpful. I had for many years been afraid of reading and discussing Revelation because the events described are scary, and also it's hard to be sure of the meaning of many things. The time of the Lord's return is not something I have mentioned, or predicted. I wouldn't even speculate on when that might occur.
The things I said about the asteroid are in response to a question about whether the events in Revelation are literal or figurative, and in the future or the past. I find it very interesting that a large asteroid is predicted by scientists to come close to earth or possibly hit the earth in 2029 or 2036. Also, Revelation's mention of a burning mountain being cast into the sea sounds like it would match this.
If the asteroid could be the fulfilment of this, how might this affect us today? If we knew that we only had 6 years left, might we use our time more efficiently to serve the Lord?
I'm only asking these questions in the hope that they might motivate someone to serve the Lord sooner rather than later and not be complacent.
My impression is that most of the events described in Revelation are going to occur in the future, but perhaps sooner than we would like, as I mentioned for the mark of the beast.
Here is another one to think about. In Revelation 8:8 it talks about a burning mountain being cast into the sea. Could this be an asteroid? There is a Christian man who believes it is and that it will hit the earth in 2029. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEgzqq9YMLU
I would say none of those are entirely correct. If you spend time thinking about each event, place and character, you can determine whether these are literal, symbolic, past, present or future.
For example, I've been thinking about Babylon which is mentioned many times. Most commentaries fall into the trap of describing ancient Babylon with all it's historical details. However Rev 18:24 is a huge clue that it's not a physical place. Because all the saints and prophets were not slain in ancient Babylon. I would suggest it's a spiritual place that is connected to events taking place on earth. (like a parallel dimension) In the same way that in Ephesians 2:6, we are seated in the heavenly realms, but physically we are present on earth. I have not read this in any commentary or in any theological book, but to me it's the only way to make sense of everything said about Babylon in Revelation.
Also, there has never been a "mark of the beast" required to buy and sell as in Revelation 13:17, so I would say that's a future, literal event. We are heading towards a cashless worldwide economy with microchip transactions, so that seems more likely than ever to be possible, and may be sooner than we expect. Look up the Aadhar Digital ID in India, which is government issued biometric IDs.
I think the biggest danger of the Preterist position is being lulled into a sense of false security, that the dramatic events of Revelation are all in the past, and the future is rosy. This results in Christians being unprepared for the trouble and persecution that's going to come.
There are many problems with the idealist position. If you think the mark of the beast is just some abstract symbol, you might be willing to get a microchip in your hand or forehead to buy food. The consequences of accepting the mark of the beast are severe, so I think we would be wise to take it literally and refuse to get microchipped.
Here is a question to consider: Do you think the first three chapters of Revelation are relevant to us as believers today? Or are these chapters directed to ancient churches that no longer exist? I saw a testimony of a young lady on youtube, and she prayed to the Lord asking Him which church she is in. The Lord answered by giving her a dream in which she met someone who told her she was in Philadelphia. I find that fascinating, as it shows these chapters are totally relevant to us today, not past or future, and not literal, but spiritual.