Watchtower Study January 12 -
Enjoy Personal Study of Gods Word WT December 1, 2002 Religion - How Should it be Financed?We had an awesome Vice Principal in elementary school. He arranged for the entire sixth grade to climb a mountain. Thats right; we all climbed Old Baldy. That Vice Principal imparted a special gift to us all, which is not easily measured on a grade chart. Old Baldy wasn't exactly Mount Everest, but it did manage to touch each and every one of us with a sense of adventure and wonder. The event was a huge success, and became an annual rite of passage for sixth graders ever after. Four years later when my brother went to Old Baldy, the event had been virtually ruined by meddling adults. First of all, the kids had to earn their right to go by completion of various assignments, projects, and reports regarding the geography and history of Old Baldy. Second, a miscreant child who earned a black mark in the year was banned from going. My heart sank as my brother described the complex set of rules and guidelines that every sixth grader had to navigate to earn the "right" to visit Old Baldy. I grieved for the "bad" kids who would lose out on this life-changing event because of some stuffy old rule-makers.
Which brings me to this weeks study article. This is the most patronizing piece of writing I have seen yet.
p. 5 Please open your Bible and read these verses. Then we will discuss them together . The article then expounds over six paragraphs what Solomon wisely kept to six verses. In this article, the beauty of the bible is buried in a mountain of language loaded with duty. ...we must...some may .. find it laborious...the responsibility falls on us individually...we must...we should never allow [distractions] to treat Gods Word with indifference...pay attention...we must...pay attention...we should...appreciate personal study...effort, discipline, and sacrifice...what should be the motive...we should desire knowledge...in order to please God...we want to be worthy...to be a worthy and approved servant...how closely we adhere to Gods word...our personal study must affect our thinking and our conduct...we must protect and control our mind...pay attention...flush out selfish, fleshly thoughts... The WT has managed to turn the study of the bible in to a complete chore.
If anyone is genuinely interested in personal study, I suggest they skip this week's article all together. Since bible study is encouraged by the WTS, go do it.
But why let the WT do all your thinking for you? Look up a scripture and consider how you may apply it personally. Make the bible your own. While researching this article, I found dailytext.com, a set of verses offered daily with no commentary. The intent is that the reader can reflect personally on how that scripture affects his or her life. At the same site, I found a guideline for personal meditation and prayer that Martin Luther used. I am going to give it a try.
Martin Luther's prayer patternhas been used at Mount Carmel in the form of an acronym which spells T.R.I.P. to outline the discipline of reading a Bible verse, and then asking the following four questions of that verse:
What in that verse am I
Thankful for?What does it reveal that I
Regret or need to confess?How should I
Intercede or what should I pray for?What
Purpose for my day does this verse give me?T
hanks, Regret, Intercession, and Purpose, or T.R.I.P. These letters represent the four questions that are being used by many today to unlock the personal application of a scripture passage. Meditation on the daily passages while focusing on these four questions is what reveals the application of each verse to one's life.For a meaty article on how to study, check this out: