Recent activity from TheMoviegoer§↻

A million! You're killing it this week.

I noticed that too ... scorching your way up the charts ...

So, I have been getting up early in the morning and going over my latest chapter, then a previous chapter, and then shorter sections of either a trouble spot or new material. I average a little over 100k points each session, and I can’t figure out how I got to a million.

Hard work and consistency is how you get a 1m in a week. We've all seen your consistency and dedication. I've thought about trying for 1m in a week as well, but I think 800k was the closest I could get and maintain my sanity ha! Others have come close, but you're the first person I've seen do it without an achievement boost. I'm sure there are others on here who have done it before I joined the website as well.

Thanks, onfire247! You know it means a lot coming from you. I never knew it would take so much to learn a whole book. Worth it… even if I don’t make it!

I feel you! I've only got five chapters left of John, and they are all pretty short chapters. I will make it, and you will too.

I love it. I think John is a great book to memorize. I think I started with John, but then I began a study of Mark, and then I went that way. We probably we will finish close to the same time.

I love John, truly I do. But it is a nightmare to memorize. Here is memorizing John in a nutshell (16:16-19):

16 "A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me."
17 So some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, 'because I am going to the Father'?"
18 So they were saying, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about."
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'?

Here we have three variations of the same phrase "you will not see me" in three separate verses spread out across four very wordy verses. While the translators were probably trying to have variety while staying true to the original Greek, this type of translation plays havoc on memorization. You see stuff like this over and over and over in John. Not only that, but you'll see different variations of the same phrase spread out across different chapters as well. It is easy mix them up no matter how much effort you put into memorizing them. For the perfectionist in me, it is maddening!

But there is so much significance in John. You have the prologue that talks about the origins of Jesus before his birth. You have the bread of life narratives, the woman caught in adultery, the Good Shepherd narratives, the raising of Lazarus, the Vinekeeper pericope, and love as obedience to God's commands all over the place. I absolutely love John, but man I hate memorizing it ha!

Onfire247, I feel your pain. Mark has "some" similar passages, but this one seems particularly tricky. One thing I have started doing that has helped me (especially in the case of trying to recite a particular chapter that jumps around) has been reading a commentary on the passages as I memorize or refresh a chapter. For example, Chapter 7 of Mark has three narrative events that are building a theme. I didn't recognize much of the nuance of the overall thrust of the section or some of the nuances, however, now that helps me place some disjointed narratives.

Keep up the work Onfire247, I honestly don't think either of us realizes how helpful this will be when we have completed each gospel and then revisit it in years to come through memory.

Totally echoing your pain

Onfire, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this challenge.
I too am aware of those difficult sections, and it's just one of the reasons I'm still at the level
of learning key passages, rather than whole chapters of John.
I don't think I could survive without knowing John 14:1-6, 27.
I'm also concerned that in trying to learn all the narratives, my grasp on the most critical verses would be weaker.

I've been thinking along similar lines, Saintman. I haven't decided anything yet, but I've wondered lately if I should intensify my focus on a more narrow selection of verses, and truly be able to recite them instantly from memory, rather than to learn very long passages.

I want to quickly emphasize, it's a personal decision made between the person and God.

In my own case I've already invested so much time and effort on such a large number of verses that it would not be easy now to change course. I'm just saying, that I understand what you've said here Saintman, and I think that your thoughts are worthy of some consideration.

But each person will decided what is best in terms of how it relates to his / her own walk with God.

Good discussion. I’ve done most of John 10 through 17 now, and I’m finding it really helpful to have the more famous parts in the context of the narrative flow. But I hear what you’re saying about the translation, Onfire. The thing that gets me most is the apparently random mix between ‘the disciples’ and ‘his disciples’.

PeterP, I am often tripped up by the simple and impossible to figure logic of name(s) and pronoun(s). And he vs and Jesus has no governing rule or guideline. You just have to know it.

With very heartfelt respect to the discussion, I must also say that while I may find it tedious to work on seemingly insignificant parts of the narrative between more significant ones, I always come back to the fact that God didn’t provide a list of great passages. In his wisdom, He gave us narratives with seemingly odd and random details (… and they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.), and He did it intentionally. This doesn’t mean we’re required to focus on memorizing them, but to me, it helps me get through those seemingly difficult passages.

Yes PeterP, that is annoying as well, as is the pronoun use TMG mentioned.

Personally, I mix my trek through John with passages and verses from other places as well. I think there is value in both individual verses and passages. The reality is anything can be memorized. In fact, I have that passage I referenced memorized word for word. It just takes more time at the beginning.

Lately, I've been trying something new. Instead of slowly building up a passage by reviewing one verse at a time per day, instead I will do my one verse once and then not touch it again until I have reached the end of the group of verses. Then I will take that group of verses and memorize it all at once.

So, for example, my latest passage was John 16:16-24. The first day I learned two verses once. The next day, I skipped those two verses, and did two more verses. I repeated that until I had reached the end of that grouping. The next day, I took that entire group and I did it over and over and over until I had it memorized as a group. I then put a bracket at the end like this (21). This indicates to me that I have to get that passage right 21 days before I move it up to weekly. By "right" I do not mean perfect, but rather that I know the narrative flow from one verse to the next without having to use a hint at the beginning. If I get it right, I reduce the number by one. If I get it wrong, I leave it where it is and repeat the passage again as many times as I need to have the narrative flow. Once I get it to (1), I will likely move it to weekly with a bracket of (7). Then bi-weekly (7). And finally, monthly where it will stay forever.

I've done this for about a month now, and I'm noticing a pattern. The first time I learn it in earnest, it will take me 10-15 times before I can do it from start to finish without significant mistakes. The next day, it takes me 3-4 times. By the third day, it is usually 1-2, and by the fourth day I can typically start removing numbers. My hypothesis is that although this is painful at the beginning, it will save me time in the long run.

I recognize this is more time that most are willing to spend on this website, and there is nothing wrong with that. Frankly, I find that after about an hour of memorizing practice my brain is done whether I want to be or not. I only say this to illustrate the importance of the beginning when it comes to memorizing. I am having a lot more success memorizing when I do large chunks of work at the beginning of a passage than I do slowly over time. By the third or fourth day the passages fly by because I am not wasting time trying to remember what was next. It just comes to me and I type it. So although I am doing, for instance, John 14, 15, and 16 every day right now, it really only takes me about 20 minutes to fly through that set.

You have to force your brain to recognize that something needs to be stored in long term memory, and the only four ways I found to do that are to.
1. Tie the memory with a strong emotion (anger works best).
2. Tie the memory to an absurd or disgusting visual.
3. Tie the memory to a smell.
4. Repeat the data over and over and over with slowly increasing intervals.
I find steps 1 and 2 work best with individual verses, but only 4 works well with passages.

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I love these types of discussions because they force me to think about memorization in different ways, which then gives me new ideas on how to make this journey easier.

Hi Onfire,
I have looked into those memorization techniques, and also the ones where you link each word to a location, like rooms in a house.
I have decided not to use them, for a few reasons...
These are secular methods, but we are dealing with sacred Scripture, which is of a higher
order. If I were to try to mix the two, I feel I would be contaminating the purity of Scripture.

Also, if we have faith that God will help us memorize and remember something, simply by reading, recall and repetition, God will honour that by increasing our ability.

And, lastly, if we exclude worldly garbage from our minds, (like movies, TV, social media), we will have a lot more space to fill with valuable Scriptures.

Moviegoer, yes, God didn't give us a list of most precious verses, but making such a list of your own favourites is not difficult.
I don't want to discourage you from memorizing whole books by any means.
Just for me personally, I'd rather know all the key verses in the New Testament than every verse in one book.

Thanks, Saintman! Likewise, I think passage memorization is incredibly helpful in so many ways. Also, I think memorizing entire books rarely works out practically. In other words, I don’t think that I will likely go around reciting the entire gospel as much as I would quote passages. Still, reflectively, I like the idea of solidly knowing the entire work as I continue to study and meditate on it.

Regarding memorization techniques, I am in favor of meditating on the passage itself, the verse itself, the meaning of the passage in context, and MOST of all the God who is the author of the passage. Philippians 4:8. I pretty much agree with what Saintman has written here.

But I also absolutely support and applaud (as does Saintman) those who are memorizing passages and chapters. (I too will continue to do the same, with those I've already begun learning)

... but at least for now I don't plan to add new passages / chapters

That concludes my thoughts on this topic :) The blessing of knowing Him I pray for all of us (Philippians 3:8-16) (Now there's a passage I need to know up to the level of instant on demand recitation ... for the sake of my own spiritual health and walk with God)

I appreciate where you are coming from Saintman. I have nothing but honor and respect for your continued dedication to God's Word, and I have personally learned a lot from your posts on here. If you feel that using methods outside of pure faith in God is taboo, far be it from me to dissuade you from doing what you feel comfortable with. Your success speaks for itself, so whatever you are doing obviously works for you. You also bring up good points that one should not forget that it is God who gives one the ability to remember anything, the importance of limiting the distractions of the world, and the necessity of depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance in all things.

You might be interested to know, however, that ancient Jews used memory techniques to memorize Scripture as well. For example, the Talmud talks about students who use the shapes of the Hebrew letters as a mnemonic to memorize certain moral teachings (this reappears in the 1300s). Likewise, early Rabbis would use techniques like dramatizing Scripture, putting it to song, or creating guessing games on the shapes of the letters. Some also chose to eat certain foods and exclude others because they assisted with the memorization of the Torah. In other words, they used whatever methods they could to assist with memorizing God's word. Jesus himself, since he was a Jew, may have used the methods as well, but this is speculation obviously. It is not speculative, however, that Paul used both the sacred and the secular in his pursuit of the kingdom of God. Indeed, he wrote many of his letters using Hebrew, Greek, and Roman argumentation methods, writing forms, and logic styles to get his message of grace across. Indeed, God uniquely equipped him with those traits because he needed an instrument who could communicate Jewish concepts to a non-Jewish mindset.

I'm also reminded of a story I heard once called the drowning man. It goes something like this. A man was stuck on his rooftop during a torrential downpour. Seeing the water rising and having now way to escape, he cries out to God for him to save him from drowning. Not long after praying this prayer, a family in a rowboat comes by, and when they see him, they cry out asking if he would like to get into the boat. The man on the roof shouts back at them, "Thank you, but I have prayed to God to rescue me." And the boat moves on. A few minutes after that, a guy passes by in a motorboat. Likewise, he asks the man if he wants a ride, and the man again refuses because he is standing in faith and waiting on God. Finally, a helicopter comes by, and once again the pilot asks the man if he is in need of rescue. Once more, the man refuses, choosing instead to rely on his faith. Not long after that, the water rises up and the house collapses, drowning the man. When the man dies, he goes straight to heaven because of his faith and is ushered into the throne room of God. Once he gets over the awe of being in God's presence, he asks God, "Lord, I prayed to you in faith for you to rescue me, and I stood in faith knowing you would rescue me, but I still drowned. Why did you let me drown, God?" The Lord answers him, "I sent a rowboat to save you, and you would not take it. Then I sent a motorboat to rescue you, and again you refused. Finally, I sent a helicopter to take you to safety, and once more you stayed on the roof. What more did you want of me?"

If there is one thing that the Bible (and life) has taught me is that God refuses to stay within any limits I try to put on him. This doesn't stop me from trying, of course ha! God moves in crazy ways through crazy methods sometimes, and he often blows my mind when he does so. I come from a strong faith background (Word of Faith, specifically), so I get where you are coming from there. It is my prayer that when God sends me a boat, I'll see it as from him and get in.

The way I see it, Jesus is the Lord of all creation, and that includes the systems that exist within his creation, whether they give glory to him or not. I also believe there is nothing I could do to profane his Word except to not obey it. To loosely quote Psalm 103, I am but grass that flourishes for a bit and then is gone. Trust me, there are parts of the Bible I would gladly change if I had the power, but sadly (and thankfully), his Word stands no matter what my flesh may wish or do. God speaks to different people in different ways because some people will only hear him in those ways. If God does not speak to you through memorization techniques, he will choose the methods that will work best for you. In my case, he has chosen a different memorization path for me than you, likely because we are destined to bring his message of grace to different audiences.

Amen!

Hi Onfire. Yes, our methods are different but hopefully we can both be used by God in the future.
Personally, for me it seems much easier just to read and recite verses and burn them into memory through repetition than come up with memory aids (which then also occupy memory space).
That just seems like too much work, especially when we are talking about hundreds or thousands of verses, each containing perhaps 20 words.

I do find it interesting to hear what methods others use, and that's
one of the great things about this website.

Hi Onfire, those memorisation techniques you mention can work. However, in a nutshell I would discourage people from attaching an absurd or disgusting visual to a Bible verse because it might cause one to sin - especially an immature Christian if they allow their imagination free rein with no bounds. No offence. Just a thought :)

My thoughts have been the same, as what Annette CN just said.

We are truly blessed to have so many different perspectives in the kingdom of God. I am glad that I have such established Christians on this website to sharpen my iron. Thanks for all your contributions to this website, and I am honored to call myself a member of it.

I also pray that I may learn, as God may desire to teach me, from the varying perspectives and experiences conveyed by people who are part of this website.

Hi, I've recently joined this website and I was reading through this. You guys are a blessing and I want to encourage all of you to keep up the memorization in your different ways. All of you, I believe, have millions of points on here, bearing testament to how hard you work at memorizing. Thank you for your hard work and contributions to God's kingdom!

Welcome, Carla_Bryant! Everyone here has played a significant role in keeping me encouraged along the way! We all have various goals and motivations, but the best goal is that we are all getting to know more and more of God's Word.

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Keep up the encouragement and always strive towards Christ.

Wow. What a great voice!

Thanks, onfire247! I really appreciate the encouragement!

We miss you, TMG! I hope all is well. Don't give up on your goal of memorizing Mark!

Thanks, onfire247! I really appreciate the encouragement!

I second that emotion! (with a nod to Smokey)

Wow. What a great voice!

I loved his voice too. For some reason, that song came to my mind, and I listened on youtube.

Thanks, JDJDJD!

There are two things to say about this site and the effort of memorizing scripture. I never imagined I would get this far, AND I had no idea how much support would come from everyone using and following the site. It makes sense on one level, but most of the time you're just grinding through the verses on the site. It is profoundly encouraging to have people chiming in with words of encouragement, strategies for getting through tough patches, and examples of how this has helped their walk with Christ. Many, many thanks! And blessings as well.

I'm proud of what you've accomplished over the last ten months, TMG. I'm also excited to see what you'll accomplish in the future. Congrats!

I add my congratulations!

Fabulous achievement, well done, TheMoviegoer! 👏🏽

There are two things to say about this site and the effort of memorizing scripture. I never imagined I would get this far, AND I had no idea how much support would come from everyone using and following the site. It makes sense on one level, but most of the time you're just grinding through the verses on the site. It is profoundly encouraging to have people chiming in with words of encouragement, strategies for getting through tough patches, and examples of how this has helped their walk with Christ. Many, many thanks! And blessings as well.

Wow that is quite an achievement. Well done and great to see such commitment. 👏

Thanks, JDJDJD!

Thanks, Joosep… “I believe, help my unbelief” Mark 9… I don’t try to memorize verse numbers, but it right after Jesus’ transfiguration.

Then there is hope!

Thanks, Joosep! The points are doing better than my memorization, though.

whoa .. approaching 20 mil .... smokin' your way up the charts

Thanks, Joosep! The points are doing better than my memorization, though.

Been there.

Then there is hope!

Where there's breath there is hope, I do believe.

Thanks, Joosep… “I believe, help my unbelief” Mark 9… I don’t try to memorize verse numbers, but it right after Jesus’ transfiguration.

Amen. Thanks for sharing that :)

Awesome, TMG!

Great job... way to stay on fire, onfire247!

joosep, haha. I know, I was having some fun.

I thought Daniel was also Belteshazzar...

Congrats, uvance! Great work!

Very impressive! Might I suggest a new name… onfire247-365

Yes, and thanks to joosep and mrsSpooner for their great insight as well!

Onfire247, I think you really are on to something. God is building a foundation in you through the word. And our temptation is to try and determine a difference through our effort. I have committed a lot of time to Mark, but I haven’t stopped sinning. I don’t see any tangible way that I have improved as a person. More importantly, I know that God doesn’t see this and say, “Finally, you’re getting somewhere. Now, I can work with you?” The only think I can say 100% is that the time in the word is good. He called us to obedience, and this is one way I can be obedient. I can’t be perfect, and as a sinner, I can make even studying the scripture an act of self-righteous pride. But because the Word is true, powerful, transformative, etc., I can’t keep studying and remain unchanged. That is unchanged… lowercase u. We have already been completely Changed by the Gospel. That sign and wonder was performed at salvation.

Onfire247 and joosep, how about you? I am curious about how your work here via the site has been encouraging to you or others.

Haha, that is great, Onfire247! You have no idea how many times I am glad and encouraged to see you still going full tilt! I know we only know each other through the site, but I do believe the unity of purpose behind the goal of memorizing and meditating on the word ties us together! I think about how one important part of the early church was unifying around the teaching of the apostles. One testimonial aspect of my odd desire to memorize Mark is how it has influenced my study of other books. I am leading a Sunday School class on Acts, and my work on Mark is so relevant. Okay, that is obvious, but here are just a few concrete examples. One, Stephen’s accusers mount a similar false case against him as the did against Christ… especially Mark’s account. Two, the Pharisees anger toward Stephen’s ministry reflects their insatiable demand for signs and wonders to confirm their origin… also similar to Mark 8. Finally, Stephen’s final words refer to Christ as the Son of Man…. I read a commentary that said, Stephen is the only other person (other than Christ… often in Mark) to use that name for Christ in the NT. I haven’t confirmed this last point, but Mark’s use has caused me to explore its origins in Daniel. Good stuff. I hope it is helpful to people in Sunday School, but I know that has helped my puny brain remain more engaged than before.

I was thinking about you today, TMG. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you. I'm so thankful that you're holding strong to your commitment to memorize Mark. I'm excited to hear about the breakthroughs that are coming into your life because you have placed God's Word above your own earthly desires. Hang in there!

Haha, that is great, Onfire247! You have no idea how many times I am glad and encouraged to see you still going full tilt! I know we only know each other through the site, but I do believe the unity of purpose behind the goal of memorizing and meditating on the word ties us together! I think about how one important part of the early church was unifying around the teaching of the apostles. One testimonial aspect of my odd desire to memorize Mark is how it has influenced my study of other books. I am leading a Sunday School class on Acts, and my work on Mark is so relevant. Okay, that is obvious, but here are just a few concrete examples. One, Stephen’s accusers mount a similar false case against him as the did against Christ… especially Mark’s account. Two, the Pharisees anger toward Stephen’s ministry reflects their insatiable demand for signs and wonders to confirm their origin… also similar to Mark 8. Finally, Stephen’s final words refer to Christ as the Son of Man…. I read a commentary that said, Stephen is the only other person (other than Christ… often in Mark) to use that name for Christ in the NT. I haven’t confirmed this last point, but Mark’s use has caused me to explore its origins in Daniel. Good stuff. I hope it is helpful to people in Sunday School, but I know that has helped my puny brain remain more engaged than before.

Thank you for sharing all that about Acts, Mark, and Daniel, TMG (it was a good read), and thank you OF for encouraging TMG. We are designed to need and be interdependent upon one another.

Good stuff, TMG!

Onfire247 and joosep, how about you? I am curious about how your work here via the site has been encouraging to you or others.

One of my challenges with my memorization work here is that so far there seems to be few external or internal benefits that I can measure. Thanks to Covid, I have had few external interactions with people since I started this process a year ago. Additionally, there seem to be few measurable internal changes as well other than the occasional changes I'm noticing in my thought processes. A year later, I remain essentially the same person I was when I started, which is frustrating. I must confess that because of these facts I frequently feel like giving up on the whole matter.

I don't quit, however, because I feel that God is building something within me that must exist before the external fruit appears. In fact, as I was typing this, I was thinking about how the largest and most beautiful of skyscrapers begin with a foundation that is deep and wide enough to support its height. I feel that way. God is building a foundation in me for something in the future. I have no idea what that is, (and frankly it scares the bejeebers out of me) but I trust God and his processes. After all, Jesus spent 33 years on this earth, but only 10% of it was spent in active ministry. So, for as long as this process takes, I'm all in.

Onfire247, I think you really are on to something. God is building a foundation in you through the word. And our temptation is to try and determine a difference through our effort. I have committed a lot of time to Mark, but I haven’t stopped sinning. I don’t see any tangible way that I have improved as a person. More importantly, I know that God doesn’t see this and say, “Finally, you’re getting somewhere. Now, I can work with you?” The only think I can say 100% is that the time in the word is good. He called us to obedience, and this is one way I can be obedient. I can’t be perfect, and as a sinner, I can make even studying the scripture an act of self-righteous pride. But because the Word is true, powerful, transformative, etc., I can’t keep studying and remain unchanged. That is unchanged… lowercase u. We have already been completely Changed by the Gospel. That sign and wonder was performed at salvation.

I'll just say, I agree with what's written above, and a change in my life is that I'm calmer, more patient than before -- my wife will attest to that. A far cry from what I ought to be, I'd quickly add. I also just feel that my knowledge of the Word is somehow deeper -- it's not easy to quantify that. It's just something I feel or know more deeply. Romans 10:17 applies here, methinks.

Peace. When I'm faithful to do my morning routine in coming here, if I take each verse slowly and consider it before God as I go, I find that afterwards, as I go about my activities for the rest of the morning, I truly have a deep and profound peace that passes understanding. This is not a human thing -- John 14:27, 16:33, 20:19, 20:21, 20:26. It's not a human thing, it in no way comes about via human effort. See the verses I referenced.

As the day goes on, if I am not diligent to continue to seek God throughout the day, the cares of the world then come back upon me. We must steadfastly continue to go to Him as His servants, as His sons and daughters, humbling ourselves.

Here's a few other verses to consider: Luke 18:1, Luke 21:36, Ephesians 6:18.

That's my testimony of how using this site has affected me.

How interesting folks, I can share your frustration sometimes onfire247, in fact the more verses I learn, the less well I know each of them! I feel like my fingers have learnt them to type, but not to say.. which is a shame.
Personally benefits include... (after 18 months)some structure to my quiet bible times ( often I will follow up on verses I have learnt in a bid to understand the context more)
Better bible knowledge for discussion with others in church, I find it easier to discuss Christ and the cross, Christ is quicker to my thoughts and lips in everyday conversations.
Peace as joosep says.
On a good day when I am muttering verses to myself it feels like the scripture is part of me, flowing through me.
My children watch and sometimes help me remember verses.
Many more I'm sure......

Thanks everyone who’s contributed to this topic. Very helpful and encouraging. 😊

Yes, and thanks to joosep and mrsSpooner for their great insight as well!

If I may, I'd like to add one more quick thought: lately I've been using more often this site's "Practice" feature. As you are reviewing, once you've been tested on each verse, you can then choose if you wish to practice it. You can do this as many times as you want before going on to the next verse. I've been doing this more often lately for my problem verses, and I have noticed later that it does indeed have an effect.

I'm talking about doing this *during* the course of a review of a passage, not as something separage from reviews.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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