Threw My Bible Away

[chip]

I have been away from home for several weeks, taking my new Aramaic Bible with me to read and study from. When I got home, I was delighted to be back to my bed and my favorite Bible. Well, at least until I started leafing through it .....

Do you underline and write comments in yours? I do and I was appalled at how I had gone through highlighting all of the verses dealing with marriage, finding a spouse, etc. That is not what the Bible is supposed to be about! Yes, finding a spouse is important, having a God-ly centered marriage is important, but my relationship with God should not be centered on this!

Getting away and just reading, without the distraction of all of those highlighted verses, allowed me to not be distracted with concerns about my future marital welfare and concentrate on my relationship with God and coming to a better understanding about myself.

That Bible joined the mountain of trash as I selected what I was going to keep in my life as I set out for an adventure. I have other Bibles to replace my favorite, ones without any underlining or comments written in the margins. Ones which will not instantly open up to passages on marriage.....

 

[Photoss]

I agree with you; I find that we all go through different periods of life, and sometimes you just don't want to be distracted by the notes and highlights you made when you were a different person a year (or years) ago.

However, if I were you I would consider keeping your marked-up Bible. I keep all the Bibles I make notes in, so that one day my kids can flip through them and get a look at who I was at that point in life.

 

[Smudge]

I can't help but wince but at the same time, I feel that a huge part in getting ready for a real relationship, is learning how to not be in one.

 

[zeroturbulence]

Nooooooooo. No one should ever throw away a bible. It should be given away instead to someone who wants it. If u can't find any takers, put a post-it note on it that says "FREE BIBLE" and leave it near the entrance of a church.

 

[Jullianna]

I can't help but wince but at the same time, I feel that a huge part in getting ready for a real relationship, is learning how to not be in one.

This is a wise one.........<3

 

[Lucy68]

You'll find that as you age, Chip, your priorities will change . When you are a dad, you'll probably take out your hi-liter again. I mark up all of my books though I don't mark much in my bible because the paper is so thin.

Good for you to see that your relationship with God is THE most important relationship of all. The health of all other relationships is based on this one.

 

[xXErraticEmilyXx]

I like underlining some things that really speak to me. I do it so when I need to find that verse/ looking for encouragement, I can flip through and look for underlines. Sometimes I box "chapters" if the whole thing is something I want to look into more. I keep a journal where I can write out what I think these verses mean, then I go get others' perspectives, then I come back and write what I think now. Then I go back to it after some time and see if my ideas have changed any and if it were a good change (in the right direction) or bad.

If you'd like my advice, I would suggest keeping the old Bible. It can show you how much you've grown in times when you're feeling apart from God or otherwise discouraged. It can show how your priorities have changed or the way you think about a subject or even a different style of writing/wording things. We sometimes forget how far we've come, but you would be able to pull out your old Bible and say, "It's right here."

 

[Aiko1789]

For me I just keep a separate notebook that I write in and write down all the passages my pastor went over or things I've studied and go back to it later. That way my bible is never marked.