Today’s Bible Study is going to be a little bit different.

Previously I focused on how we

should carry ourselves as Christians in the world, but after doing this a few times I figured

maybe we’d be able to have better discussion of the Bible once we get a little more comfortable

with reading it. So the goal today will be to learn one approach by using how I prepared for

today as an example, flaws and all. If this doesn’t go well, blame Connor

Of course preparing to lead a Bible Study is going to be different from you doing one

yourself, or having some quiet time, or just reading the Bible but I figure there all basically the

same thing with the only difference being how much time you have to spend on the material.

Alright let’s get started. Our passage today is Leviticus 19:9.

9
“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather
the gleanings1 of your harvest.

1. Let’s start with a classic question “What stands out to you?”

 Any questions about what this verse means?

2. Does this verse speak to anyone?

 I chose this verse because it didn’t speak to me. I did not enjoy reading Leviticus

at all and the verse itself seems arbitrary and irrelevant to non-farmers.

 It’s really easy to find one Bible Study-worthy passage. The Bible’s really long.

It’s a little harder to do one for every book, but it’s more than doable. It gets

challenging to do one for every chapter, but the problem is we’re supposed to

believe that every word is God-breathed. And the bigger problem is there are

probably more verses like this one.

1
the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields
where it is not economically profitable to harvest
  And if I’m going to sit here and say we should all read the Bible as if I do, I might

as well pick a verse exemplary of what we’ll find

This also brings us to another common issue with Bible reading. Sometimes we focus

too much on the problem passage without considering its role in the Bible as a whole. So let’s

take a step back and ask

3. What is the Bible about?

 The Bible is about our God who desperately loves his people who keep on failing

o Synopsis: God Creates us to be in Union with him, We Sin and turn away,

God Saves and brings us back, God Asks that we be Distinctly his

(separate), We fail

o A lot of the stories whether they cover books or just sections, all sort of

have this type of plot progression

 It definitely isn’t about us isn’t about us or our behaviour.

o The Bible goes to such lengths pointing out all the flaws of everyone from

Abraham’s lack of trust, to Noah’s drunkenness, to David’s infidelity,

Jonah’s self-righteousness, and Job’s lack of gratitude

 Double check. I watched a few YouTube videos to make sure I didn’t miss

anything too important

4. Okay, then what’s Leviticus about?

 It’s a bunch of rules for how to behave?

o Okay, but we said the Bible does not consider us as its subject.

 I was lost so I Googled it and learned that the theme of Leviticus is “Holiness”
 o At first it didn’t really help, but okay let’s run with that for now and move

on

5. Where does the book of Leviticus fit in the Story of the Bible?

 Genesis: Creation and Fall

 Exodus: Enslavement and Salvation (for lack of better words)

 Leviticus: Sanctification which I’ve read, is a translation of the Greek word

“Holiness” which itself is another word for “a separation”

o Now we’re getting closer to understanding why Holiness as a theme still

keeps God in the centre of the story

Now let’s come back to the passage and read directly around the verse

6. What’s this section about?

 Being like God

 2
“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I,
the Lord your God, am holy.
7. How does not reaping to the edges of your field exemplify God?

 10
Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.
Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

Let’s quick recap

8. What did we do?

 Before even re-reading the verse, we doubled checked that we knew what the

Bible was about and that we knew what Leviticus was about

 Then with that knowledge in mind and understanding what part of the story we

were in, we read the passage in its immediate context to figure out what the
 passage was really about and why something so arbitrary was important enough to

make it in the Bible

 We also used resources such as each other and your teachers and I used the

Internet to make sure we weren’t missing anything or too off (if you want me to

plug some Bible sites come ask me after)

And it sounds like a lot of work and it kind of is, but don’t get overwhelmed. It gets easier. Like

now you know what Leviticus is about and for the most part you won’t have to worry about

digging deeper too much. Or at the very least you have some keywords to Google yourself. And

as you keep building this foundation of Bible knowledge, it gets easier. Until it doesn’t but

that’s a long ways for you kids.

9. Finally, is this important?

 We already talked about us believing in the Bible as the Word of God but that’s a

meh response

 I will say, understanding what you are reading makes what you’re reading a lot

more enjoyable Commented [CM1]: Amen! Christian Hedonism

 And learning to actively read the Bible helps you understand God the Creator and

not some god of your creation and I promise you, you can’t make up a god better

than one that made you

 But there are serious consequences of people taking their religiosity to extremes

that the Bible can’t defend

o The Church has killed people & has made people want to kill themselves
  We aren’t talking about Westbro Baptist level extremism, we’re talking

judgmental-conservative-everyday-self-righteous level extremism that isolates

and pushes people to the outskirts of society

10. Other things to keep in mind

 Know that you’ll be wrong and know that you will not pick up on everything.

Ever.

 Sometimes knowing who wrote it, when, and why matters. Most “introductions

to ..” a book will mention all the important stuff

o Korean vs Canadian norms

 It’s important to know the style of what was written. If it’s poetry, read it as

poetry. If it’s sarcastic, read the sarcasm.
o I’m sarcastic all the time and I have definitely made a few enemies
because people have taken me seriously
 And, this works for me, but ask yourself what don’t you get or what don’t you
Commented [CM2]: Context changes everything! Give an
examples and maybe a few different types of context,
immediate, and cultural?
I hit my wife vs I hit my wife with the teddy bear she got me
last Christmas
How are you (West) vs Are you full (East) Mutually
incomprehensible

agree with in this passage? And look into it.