Yes! It is a delight to see and hear from you, PeterP! And I agree with joosep... all by the grace of God. And that grace includes those who have built this site and the people on it who share such encouraging words.
What a joy, Joosep! It is truly good to hear the honest, heartfelt desire to grow closer to God through His word, while at the same time recognizing that it make take time to find the best process to do it. It is funny how much I recognize many of the difficulties you have faced with using the site. I may have told you this, but I started memorizing Mark because I was reading a commentary that would present a passage and then spend several pages unpacking it while referencing earlier parts of the chapter. Well, I would get frustrated because I would have to relook up the earlier passage and reread it to understand what the commentary was referring to. I said to myself, "it would be easier if I just had the gospel memorized. Sure enough, I googled it, and found a guy on the web who while preparing to write a commentary on I Corinthians, took time to memorize the book first. I was so inspired, I found this site and jumped in with both feet. Years on, I feel like you. I believe I have been richly rewarded with insight, recall, and a sense of knowing the word more. But at the same time, I don't want to get fanatical or obsessed improperly. I can see why you changed motives, methods, etc. over the years. But to me, the most important thing is that you are still committed to the word. It is our most powerful and best means to know our lord and savior. For that, I am super grateful. Keep up the good work, brother! I hope when I am 68, I am still going strong in the word as well!
This is very commendable, joosep! I do believe there is great value in your approach. There is another user on the site that has at least started each verse of the Bible (A1, I believe). I am probably the opposite as I really try to thoroughly commit and refresh the passages I work on. However, moving through as you described and achieving a high percentage of recitation is awesome. My question for you is open... What is the greatest benefit of your method? Or How have you most enjoyed or been challenged by your process? I believe I am still learning some ways to benefit from my own approach (cooky as it is at times). However, I am always curious about how this site and memorization as a whole informs people who undertake it. You mention some things, like getting the feel for author's intent (and God's of course), but internalizing and the relational are more subjective and harder to understand. To me, I love that when reading through the OT, I see things differently for having memorized Mark's Gospel and Peter's letters. Some direct reference and some not so direct. I just hope I can keep going. I find this much better than my previous devotional approaches.
Thanks, Joosep! I am just finishing up II Peter. So, now I have Mark, I Peter, and II Peter memorized. But I really appreciate what you are saying about internalized passages. There are two things that are difficult for me, which are hard on this site too through no fault of the site.
1. Memorization doesn't really take hold when you don't understand the passage. I memorize first, and then eventually get a better understanding of the passage, so I am doing things in reverse.
2. The way verses break sentences make things really difficult to memorize well. For example, in II Peter 2 it says (and i don't usually memorize the verse numbers), "But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matter of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction," Now this ends the verse mid sentence and feels like a sentence. But the next verse starts... "suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure..." That phrase "suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing" is the end of the sentence, but because of the verse breaks, you have to really work at getting the thoughts completely right.
Anyway, sorry to launch into a bunch of weird struggles, but it does matter when you are trying to understand the passages well.
Now I will watch the video you sent.
Always good to hear from you joosep! You are such an encouragement.
Amen! Comment when led, and always keep up the good work... not because it makes you good (it doesn't), but because it moves you toward Him! Peace be with you always!
Thanks, joosep! As always, I love to hear and see how you are approaching things. I am still amazed at the work, and I am glad to see that you have a great plan. I am still working on 100% per selected book. Just started 2nd Peter, so I have time to consider what is next... but likely NT. Originally, I had thought either Hebrews or Romans next. In a way, we have the same goal. Keep me posted when you can. It is always encourage to hear about your progress.
I realize this message seems a little redundant, but I do hope you are well... AND that things are going well for you. Slight but important distinction. My guess is you're somewhere around Luke 12...
I realize this message seems a little redundant, but I do hope you are well... AND that things are going well for you. Slight but important distinction. My guess is you're somewhere around Luke 12...
Everything is going fine, TheMoviegoer, thank you for asking! I'm still working on Luke, but I've also broadened my focus somewhat. As to being on Luke 12 ... it depends on what you mean by that. I've at least started all of Luke, but many of those have a low progress %. I've been wanting to cover more of the New Testament for a long time, so I've expanded the number of verses I'm working on, while placing less emphasis on raising the progress %; rather taking every passage as seriously as I can, and then moving on to the next. I generally repeat each passage three times before moving on. I know it's not exactly what this website is designed for, but it's what I feel is right for me at this point in time, and it's been a blessing.
I'll be a bit more precise: I'm going through the NT in order. On January 14th I started with Matthew 1:1, and today I completed Matthew 24:58. Yes, I know I talked about working exclusively on Luke, and I feel bad about going in a different direction, because of how people have supported me here. But I've felt for a long time, that instead of focusing exclusively on maybe 1000-2000 verses which I am attempting to raise to 100% progress, I should instead be either reading or listening to or studying, or all of those, the Entire Bible. And so I decided to commit to that on 14 January. I'm doing the NT here, and I'm attempting to finish in 144 days, after which I'm planning at the moment to repeat the process. For the OT, I either listen to the audio, or I listen to several Bible teachers whom I respect as they go verse by verse. It's just what I feel the Lord would have me to do, and it has been a wonderful blessing, just as Luke also was to me and still will be, when I get to it. The bottom line in this is that my aim here is not memorisation. It's rather to go through the NT in order and to give each passage some meditative and / or study time as I repeat it 2 or 3 times. If the progress % ends up going backwards, I'm not letting that trouble me :) I won't get into heaven based on anything I've achieved on this website. Rather my desire and my hope is that I will better know the Lord and also know His ways. See Jeremiah 9:23-24. To anyone who read all of this, thank you for giving me a listen and may God bless you greatly as you use this website in whatever way the Holy Spirit may direct you. May He bless you as you meditate upon and commit into your hearts His Holy Word. Each word of God is a treasure.
Thanks, joosep! As always, I love to hear and see how you are approaching things. I am still amazed at the work, and I am glad to see that you have a great plan. I am still working on 100% per selected book. Just started 2nd Peter, so I have time to consider what is next... but likely NT. Originally, I had thought either Hebrews or Romans next. In a way, we have the same goal. Keep me posted when you can. It is always encourage to hear about your progress.
TheMoviegoer, thank you so very much for the encouraging words -- it truly means a lot. We in the Body of Christ are meant to hold one another up in support. I will try to share more often -- perhaps I will make one of my sets public from time to time, and then use that to comment on what and how I'm doing. Blessings to you and yours.
Amen! Comment when led, and always keep up the good work... not because it makes you good (it doesn't), but because it moves you toward Him! Peace be with you always!
It is always encouraging to hear what you are up to and about your process. Not because there is a particular process that should be followed, but rather that the process reveals much about your heart. Keep up the good work.
First, I applaud your efforts on Luke without aiming for perfect recitation. While my work on Mark was with a desire for perfect recitation, I am still not there. I am not sure I will ever get there. It is a monumental task, and by way of encouragement, I have benefited much much more from a more thorough knowledge, emphasis, and focus on Mark than recitation can give. I Peter is radically different. I feel like letters are easier to get right in terms of recitation, but they are much more compressed in terms of depth. So, I am progressing ok (1st three chapters done), I don't feel like I get it yet. It's coming.
Always good to hear from you Joosep. Thanks for your faithfulness to the work!
It is fairly easy to get to the 70% mark on this site... it is the 80-100% that is really complicated. However, it really is about the process. In your earlier post, you mentioned your thoughts on Luke 11:8, and I believe that this is one of the great things about memorization. The focus provided by memorization leads to further study, meditation, contemplation, etc. and it just helps. My devotional life used to be very problematic. I would sit down to read and I would be overwhelmed by expectation. Kind of knowing that I should be doing something, but always feeling like I was now in some kind of special moment where I was supposed to have connection and revelation... I don't know. It is hard to explain. However, over the last two years, the focus of lengthy memorization has removed all of that. I no longer have time to worry about whether I am getting it right or getting something out of it. Yet, when I think about where it has taken me, my mind, my heart, etc., I know that it is good and helpful.
I love that you are digging into different translations and the Greek. My dad used to do that (he was a pastor and was pretty good at Greek and Hebrew), and his study was profoundly enhanced by knowing the language. I would come home from school and he would be surrounded by books. I would ask him what he was working on, and he would say, "you're not going to believe this, but the word x in the original Greek has multiple meanings, but we normally see it translated as x, but it can also mean y." His enthusiasm and joy of learning was awesome. You took me back a bit with Luke 11:8.
On a humorous note, I went to look up Luke 11:8 to get a sense of the verse you were mentioning, and I accidentally went to 11:18... and was totally lost.
Also, I agree with FinalAsgard. You're point about being more heavenly minded in order to be earthly good is really the heart of the Gospel. So often, we are driven by our performance and try to fix ourselves instead of focusing on Jesus and the Gospel. It isn't about improving, fixing ourselves, or what we do. Rather our attention should always be on what He has done. All action, obedience, work, etc. is informed by that.
I began I Peter on July 5th, and I am currently at 67-72% on the three sections of chapter 1. I have to admit that it is very strange to go from a gospel to an epistle. So far, I don't understand the section breaks as much, but unlike Mark, I started Peter with no real previous knowledge other than what I have gleaned through reading the Bible straight through or sermons. Basically, I may recognize oft quoted verses, but before beginning, I wouldn't have been able to tell you the theme off the top of my head. So, as strange as it sounds, I feel like I am encountering Peter really for the first time.
As I told one of my friends, I have been challenged on my Christianese. There are words and phrases in Peter that are commonplace in the church, and their use in Peter has challenged me a little bit. For example, I normally think of the word salvation as the singular moment when a person comes to Christ... the moment they are saved. In I Peter 1, all three tense understandings are being discussed. You were saved, you are being saved, what you will receive when He comes again. This may seem like a minor technicality, but the fact that Peter writes this broadly to multiple churches and regions (and to us) means that it must be important.
Again, I haven't done any significant study of Peter yet, so my understanding is fresh and a little haphazard in my mind. I hope that by the time I get close to the end, I will have a better handle on what Peter (and most importantly) what God had in mind for us in giving the letter to His people.
Also, keep up the good work on Luke. I visited your blog after you posted the other day, and I gasped when I saw the 80 verse chapter. Mark 14 is close at 72 (I think), and the long chapters are very difficult to sort out in my brain.
I began I Peter on July 5th, and I am currently at 67-72% on the three sections of chapter 1. I have to admit that it is very strange to go from a gospel to an epistle. So far, I don't understand the section breaks as much, but unlike Mark, I started Peter with no real previous knowledge other than what I have gleaned through reading the Bible straight through or sermons. Basically, I may recognize oft quoted verses, but before beginning, I wouldn't have been able to tell you the theme off the top of my head. So, as strange as it sounds, I feel like I am encountering Peter really for the first time.
As I told one of my friends, I have been challenged on my Christianese. There are words and phrases in Peter that are commonplace in the church, and their use in Peter has challenged me a little bit. For example, I normally think of the word salvation as the singular moment when a person comes to Christ... the moment they are saved. In I Peter 1, all three tense understandings are being discussed. You were saved, you are being saved, what you will receive when He comes again. This may seem like a minor technicality, but the fact that Peter writes this broadly to multiple churches and regions (and to us) means that it must be important.
Again, I haven't done any significant study of Peter yet, so my understanding is fresh and a little haphazard in my mind. I hope that by the time I get close to the end, I will have a better handle on what Peter (and most importantly) what God had in mind for us in giving the letter to His people.
Also, keep up the good work on Luke. I visited your blog after you posted the other day, and I gasped when I saw the 80 verse chapter. Mark 14 is close at 72 (I think), and the long chapters are very difficult to sort out in my brain.
Thanks for sharing what you have learned so far. That's really awesome. It's amazing that no matter how many times we've read a particular book/section of scripture, it comes across as so different when memorizing and meditating on it. 1 Peter is a great book. I look forward to hearing more about what you're learning!
(I say "dear" because you are both, after all, brothers in Christ, as fellow believers in Jesus Christ)
I read Moviegoer with great interest what you wrote, and thank you for your insights.
I appreciate that you mentioned, TMG, the tense understandings; I myself am trying to go slower in my own process here, and to notice more what is going on in the Greek.
For example, Luke 11:8. NASB uses the word "persistence". King James says, "importunity". ESV says "impudence", the NIV says "shameless audacity", in translating the Greek word, ἀναίδειαν, anaideian, which in the original Greek meant "shamelessness".
There is a broader lesson which Jesus is teaching us here regarding being persistent in prayer. (I'd strongly advise any who read this to read the whole passage in context). But anyway, I am trying to go a bit slower and to learn such lessons from the Greek or from commentaries, Bible teachers, etc.
I want to comment about the 80 verses of Chapter 1 of Luke: I began working on those sometime in the hazy past. I don't remember for sure what year it was, but it was well before I started this journey 3 months ago.
At the time I broke it up into maybe 4 or 5 passages, and that's how I did it. Now many of them are at 100%, and most of the rest are in the high or mid-90s.
HOWEVER, if a person breaks everything into smaller passages, it's also ideal to accompany that with moments when you rehearse or repeat or practice the entire chapter as a whole, to keep your feel of the whole chapter -- or to simply read using an old fashioned book, the whole chapter -- to keep the feel of the whole chapter in your mind and soul.
I wish to reflect a bit more on the Gospel of Luke. I'm treasuring this journey through Luke specifically as a person in my late 60s. As one gets older, you simply begin to think more, "Well, mathematically speaking, it's simply logical that the moment of meeting Jesus is much nearer than before". One becomes more confronted with the actual reality of that fact. For that reason I truly treasure so much, the words of Jesus in Luke. I treasure too all of Luke's intervening narrative, every word. But the words of our Lord Himself -- that one whom we will all meet -- and now here I will refer to Final Asgard's memorized epistle, Philippians -- Paul says there that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (See Philippians 2:10-11).
I love our Lord Jesus, and I look forward very much to being in His presence in heaven. Pie in the Sky bye-and-bye? No, not in my opinion. I need to be more heavenly minded, I think, in order to be more earthly good (Colossians 3:2, set your mind on the things above)
As an old man, I am also long-winded LOL. Thank you for permitting me to take this liberty and share my long thoughts. Love our Lord and be devoted to Him.
"I need to be more heavenly minded, I think, in order to be more earthly good" I love that... This idea has actually been something I've been thinking of lately.
I just want to add to TheMoviegoer, I didn't even think to congratulate you on the 67 - 72% in the three sections of 1 Peter chapter 1. Well done! and we look forward to hearing more about it in the future.
It is fairly easy to get to the 70% mark on this site... it is the 80-100% that is really complicated. However, it really is about the process. In your earlier post, you mentioned your thoughts on Luke 11:8, and I believe that this is one of the great things about memorization. The focus provided by memorization leads to further study, meditation, contemplation, etc. and it just helps. My devotional life used to be very problematic. I would sit down to read and I would be overwhelmed by expectation. Kind of knowing that I should be doing something, but always feeling like I was now in some kind of special moment where I was supposed to have connection and revelation... I don't know. It is hard to explain. However, over the last two years, the focus of lengthy memorization has removed all of that. I no longer have time to worry about whether I am getting it right or getting something out of it. Yet, when I think about where it has taken me, my mind, my heart, etc., I know that it is good and helpful.
I love that you are digging into different translations and the Greek. My dad used to do that (he was a pastor and was pretty good at Greek and Hebrew), and his study was profoundly enhanced by knowing the language. I would come home from school and he would be surrounded by books. I would ask him what he was working on, and he would say, "you're not going to believe this, but the word x in the original Greek has multiple meanings, but we normally see it translated as x, but it can also mean y." His enthusiasm and joy of learning was awesome. You took me back a bit with Luke 11:8.
On a humorous note, I went to look up Luke 11:8 to get a sense of the verse you were mentioning, and I accidentally went to 11:18... and was totally lost.
Also, I agree with FinalAsgard. You're point about being more heavenly minded in order to be earthly good is really the heart of the Gospel. So often, we are driven by our performance and try to fix ourselves instead of focusing on Jesus and the Gospel. It isn't about improving, fixing ourselves, or what we do. Rather our attention should always be on what He has done. All action, obedience, work, etc. is informed by that.
Yes, Moviegoer, all that makes sense, particularly the first paragraph where you described that "expectation" and then being freed from same by engaging in memorization ... I've had the same experience. Profound thanks.
Can I just pause and say that I never thought I would memorize enough scripture employ a spreadsheet to track it. I also never expected to meet others who do the same! Regardless of how mechanically and methodically elaborate the process may be, many are learning, meditating, and proclaiming the Word. Praise the Lord! Protect us all from pride, and may we all encourage each other to keep up the good work. Thanks again, joosep for your work, sharing it, and straight up encouraging us to keep learning!
Great to see the progress, joosep! I too am wondering about how you break down the younger passages. I usually break chapters up according to the section breaks provided in the print Bible. Is it the same for you?
I am glad you all are enjoying it. I literally was just going to reference it, but after rewatching his intro, I thought we all would enjoy. The recitation is also really good (as a recitation... clearly the words or His Words and are perfect). And the reminder about how these letters were intended and expected to be heard when written is a good reminder about the importance of proclamation, corporate worship, preparedness, etc.
That is awesome, Secundus! You may or may not be memorizing the whole book, but below is a link to a guy who recites all of I Corinthians in a worship service. I am not suggesting your memorize a whole book or try and "measure up" to this guy by sharing it. I simply wanted to share it because it was inspirational to me to pursue memorizing scripture. Also, I just watched it again, and his introduction was so interesting, I thought you and everyone might find it encouraging as well. Regardless, I hope you continue to grow in the love of Christ as a result of all your engagement with the Word.
Peace, The Moviegoer
Note: the article lists lots (14) of reasons to memorize scripture, but the video I referred to is at the end of the article.
Congrats, PCA! I am assuming your username reflects your membership in the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America). Welcome. I am a PCA member despite it not being reflected in my username. Anyway, glad to see you on the site and working on the WSC! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, JDJDJD. And seriously, someone shared a link of a really solid professional performer on stage reciting all of Mark. This was encouraging and intimidating at the same time. I don't know that I could live up to that one. I have started I Peter, but I am hoping it won't take another 100 million points to complete that one. Though I am still peppering chapters of Mark into my daily work, just to keep it retained.
joosep, it certainly isn't required, but I do wonder if there is a connection to improved memory based on each method (typing and recitation). I still struggle with both, but I believe they complement one another.
Hats off to JDJDJD and a nod to Secundus's hopeful target. PeterP would likely been a winner if I wasn't also going back and covering older material at the same time, but I think we can all agree that if Cali2022 had been correct, I may not have made it.
joosep, thanks for digging up the old prediction. I couldn't figure out how to find it yesterday, so that is much appreciated.
Thanks for the update joosep! You are taking on quite the challenge, and I love it. Also, I did things a little differently for Mark (getting closer to 100% before moving on), but I really like your approach. There is something really helpful in taking on bigger sections of the narrative at one time. I think it would have helped me. One thing that I have been struggling with, and I am wondering how you approach it. Do you do any recitation verbally, apart from the site work? I did initially, but haven't been able to keep up. So, 1-6 are pretty solid, 7-10 are rough, 11-6 are solid (mostly because they are most recent). Thoughts?
Thanks again, to all of you. There have been so many awesome stories, experiences, methods, testimonies shared, and all have contributed to the ongoing effort. I considered shooting a video of a full recitation, but someone posted a full video recitation of Mark that a professional did (it was impressive), and I am not sure my version would inspire. And it would be long. I have only done 6 chapters at any give stretch and that works out to about an hour for me, so the full book would probably clock a little under two hours... Yikes. Philippians makes a lot more sense (excellent work Final Asgard) because I understand that the epistles were often read to congregations in order to share them. I am sure the Gospels worked similarly, but I really do think epistles work better as sermons. That said, I am so happy to have spent these many hours in Mark. I have learned a lot about myself, and more importantly about Jesus and His love for us. How amazing that we have these eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus that go way beyond simple delivery of facts. I may take a day or two off... or I may jump right in to I Peter. Either way, I am excited to keep going through the Bible with you all.
Praise the Lord for His overwhelming love and grace,
And just like that... Mark is done 100%. Total score 100,225,800 (with a lot of reinforcement of chapters 1-16 along the way). Thanks to everyone for all of the encouragement along the way. Soon, I move on to I Peter. Praise be to God.
Hi, mrsmoo! And I hope everyone's celebrations were uplifting and honoring to the Lord. And thanks for the good words, joosep. I still haven't finished Peter, but as far as memorization is concerned, I hope I am never finished. I know that our position before God is not based on merit or performance (how could we possibly add to the work Jesus did on our behalf), but I want to always seek more of Him.
David Mamet, the playwright, wrote a book on acting called, "True and False." And in the book he makes a claim that an actor's ability to deliver an honest and true performance hinges on how well the actor knows and understands the script. In other words, it isn't so much about method acting and try to perform based only on experience, but rather understanding what the author of the work developed and intended for the character. I really believe that the work of memorization and study work hand in hand and help us know more about God and His love for us. The more I know and understand this, the more deeply and faithfully I can do the things He calls me to do. I will still always struggle with sin(s) and my own selfishness, but God doesn't call us to leave us as we are. He slowly transforms us and works in spite of our sin and shortcomings to grow His kingdom!
What I love about this site, is that most of the folks I have talked to really get this idea. And for the record, it isn't about knowing God more than others, it is simply about knowing Him more and more... with the ultimate hope that that will draw us into his Kingdom more and more where He will graciously use us for His glory.
Thanks, joosep! Me too! I will probably start right away, but don't be surprised if I just enjoy a day. However, I am really looking forward to I Peter.
Haha, joosep! My final section is Mark 16:14-20. As I was going through my first run this morning, each verse was falling to 100%, and I was getting more and more excited with each verse, at 16:19, I was super excited because I never studied the verses individually. I thought if I got up through 19, I was done. Alas, one more final verse.