I started Carson’s commentary on John a few days ago. I had a great time reading through John in the NLT first.

I forgot to review Greek verbs! I don’t know how, I just forgot. I’ve been reviewing words and my noun, definite article and adjective conjugations are fine but for some reason I neglected verbs. So I got myself in such a mess I had to spend three days just concentrating on verbs. Not just remembering them, but going back and reading how and why they’re formed the way they are so that they make sense to me. I think I’m OK now and am ready to move on to chapter 15. I’ve learned my lesson.

Polishing God’s Monuments was very good. Some of it was a bit cheesy and some was a little preachy with really basic advice but much of it was exposition of the OT related to suffering which I love and was very good. I don’t know if I’d want to read it again but there are some quotable quotes so don’t get rid of the book.

I’m reading Polishing God’s Monuments as my in-between book. It’s OK but not as good as I had hoped. A great/terrible story within it.

I’m reading through Matthew again in the HCSB and will read through John in the NLT and then read Carson’s commentary on John.

I think I’m going to read the NLT Mosaic devotional starting Nov. 29.

I’m halfway through Black’s Greek grammar and want to use the workbook more. I have to write a review of the book which will be difficult.

I finished the commentary last night. That took a lot longer than I thought it would. I was sick, had a couple of back procedures, depressive episodes, but the last couple of weeks I really got more disciplined with not wasting time in the internet and also learned a couple of speed reading tricks which actually helps me to concentrate more.

That was the longest commentary I plan on ever reading straight through.

I may do a post on the main blog.

Cross posted on main blog because I want a record of it here.

Esteban encouraged me to read and study Greek for the Rest of Us because I like to read commentaries and it would help me learn some thing about Greek that might help me to better understand what they’re talking about in NT commentaries. I learned more about why translations are different and a bit about exegesis than about Greek partly because the book wasn’t organized in a way that was easy for me to learn from.

So I decided to actually learn some Greek and started with Croy’s grammar. After getting almost a third of the way through I got a review copy of Black’s grammar and decided to switch to that. I’m a third of the way through that now.

At this point now I can finally better understand what they’re talking about in commentaries when they comment on the Greek. I even know quite a bit of the vocabulary. Even though I only plan on going through beginning level I won’t stop here because I’d like to be able to read some Greek at a beginning level.

So, I’m encouraged that it has helped me a bit with my original intention. I hope to be able to use a Reader’s Greek NT by later next year. I don’t know if a beginning level will help with exegesis or not. What do you think?

For needing no introduction it’s a long introduction! But it’s great.

This really threw me for a loop at chapter 7. I was so confused I decided to just go over the whole book again. Then I read chapter 7 slowly and I got it, kind of. When I was doing the exercises, I was getting everything backwards–Imperfect vs. Aorist. I mark off the ones I got wrong and do them the next day. Then all of a sudden I GOT IT. I got all five of the previous wrong ones right.

I hope I don’t get that stuck again, but I know if I do, I can call Esteban or keep plugging away until I get it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. I’d rather get beginning Greek than just get through intermediate.

I miss memorizing Scripture but I’ve been making some mistakes in reviewing so it isn’t a bad thing to just keep reviewing what I have. With that much it’s been hard to maintain. I wish I could find a medication where I can get some memory back. At least I’m not like my 50+ year old friends where every day is a new day.

Being sick was awful. Wanted to die. 5 days ago I finally started feeling “normal” again. Funny how I’m thankful to be back to my normal depressed chronically in pain self instead of wanting to throw up and die and being in medication withdrawal self.

I got really behind on reading France’s Matthew. Partly because of being sick and partly because I read the intro to Matthew in deSilva. Now I’m back at it and a little more than a third of the way through. This puts me behind in the three year plan but there’s no hurry.

I think I’m going to start reading through the OT beginning of 2010 no matter where I am with other stuff, God willing. I wanted to be done with the gospels by then but there’s no way.

I switched Greek grammars a couple of weeks ago. This is working out great. Black is so much better than Croy. I don’t want to write so negatively about Croy on the main blog. I’m on chapter 7 of 26 and feel like I’m learning things more thoroughly but more efficiently. Right now I’m going through more than a chapter a week. Let’s see how that goes as I get to the level I was at in the Croy.

I’m reading Mounce but not studying it.

My day with the Lord on Monday went well. Fasting from the computer, internet, TV and music was very difficult at first, then really great, then kind of lonely. Then at the end of the night I felt like I had done everything I wanted to do which was great. I only ate bland food that’s quick to eat or drink while at the kitchen counter.

I prayed through all the prayers at the end of the chapters of Tozer’s The Pursuit of God throughout the day. I did my normal praying I’d do on that day, praising, thanking, confessing, petition and prayed for some friends too. At night I got down on my knees and acknowledged His greatness, my need for Him, asked for grace to live for Him and abandon myself to Him and prayed for healing.

I reviewed almost all memorized Scripture. I looked at the context of some of the shorter ones, especially the OT.

I read through Colossians in the GNB and Ephesians in the REB for something different. 6:10-18 is great in the REB. 1 Thess in HCSB. I read some other stuff I can’t remember. I noticed how often the Bible speaks of gentleness, forgiveness, bearing with one another etc. which is something God has been working on me a lot. I hope and pray this helps this to increase in me.

Give thanks every day (I can’t find the verse! May have been REB). God has been more and more giving me a spirit of thankfulness, which I’m very thankful for, more and more but the everyday part kind of stood out for some reason. I think I do, but I should make sure I do. There is no lack of things to be thankful for.

I went outside and looked at the flowers.

I didn’t want to spend time on Greek on this day but did keep up with the vocabulary stuff.

That took up the whole day and night even though it doesn’t seem like it would.

I’d like to do this once a year.

Here we go! I’ve been practicing wasting as little time as I can on the internet lately so that I can spend as much time as I can reading. Conversely, there are a lot more blog posts I’d like to write. I just want to only read things on the interwebz that are beneficial. I’m really looking forward to this. John, Luke, Acts and Genesis will seem short compared to this (but not by much).

I don’t know what happened, but Greek became interesting to me starting a couple of weeks ago. It’s not just something I’m trying to learn so that I can use a reader’s NT and understand a good bit of what I’m reading, but it’s actually interesting to learn how things work, understand things that perplexed me for a while and a light bulb goes off, word order (not that I understand it), how economical it is etc. This makes the exercises much less frustrating. I won’t say it’s fun, but it’s interesting.

I’m on Chapter 11. Still going slow.

This is being posted here instead of the main blog because it’s impossible to explain. I want to keep it here for my own reference.

I sometimes worry about if we’ll have enough money for later in retirement years. I was reading Matthew 16:5-12 about how the disciples realized they forgot to bring bread (they should make lists!). When I read about Jesus telling them about how He provided the bread for the 5000 and 4000 men, God brought to mind about how much easier it is for Him to provide for us when we have this abundance all around us. He provided for them out of nothing.

This is also very humbling because my faith is weak enough that I have a hard time believing even though we are in this rich society. But I don’t feel unnecessary shame, just a desire for more faith that only He can give through His grace.

I love it when the Holy Spirit opens my eyes to something. I believe this is what “revelation” (or insight or whatever) is that Paul spoke about in Ephesians 1:17.

I finished Cole’s commentary on Mark and really got a lot out of it even though it’s somewhat basic. Some questions weren’t answered but I learned a lot from it and there are the other synoptics including France’s imposing commentary on Matthew. I asked myself a few times if I really want to go through that 1200 page tome and yes, I really do.

I just started Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

I’m considering copying my notes from my NRSV to my HCSB even though the NLT will be my main reading Bible for at least another year. I’m reading the NLT before I read the commentary and now the HCSB after and might start taking notes in the HCSB. Maybe.

Apparently I’m unusual because I’m Reformed and don’t like the ESV.

I’m in chapter 10 of Croy’s book. It’s going slow because of my age, time I’m willing to spend (although I’m working on it every day), mental energy or lack of, especially with all the medical stuff and wanting to learn it well. I decided not to think negatively of this in any way. In fact I’m glad I’m not learning Greek in school or I would forget the majority of it by the time I’m finished racing through it at college speed.

Charismatic : Only 1
Hands are already in the air.

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Pentecostal : 10
One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

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Presbyterians : None
Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

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Roman Catholic: None – Candles only.

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Baptists : At least 15.
One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the
change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken.

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Episcopalians: 3
One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk
about how much better the old one was.

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Mormons : 5
One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.

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Unitarians :
We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the
need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found
that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or
compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday
service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions,
including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all
of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

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Methodists : Undetermined
Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved.
You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Bring a bulb of
your choice to the Sunday lighting service and a covered dish to pass.

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Nazarene : 6
One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.

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Lutherans : None
Lutherans don’t believe in change..

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Amish :
What’s a light bulb?

The Big Worship Goof

Just posting this to keep a record of it.

Every Christian is a theologian. Not all Christians are professional theologians, but we are all theologians because we are all thinking and learning about the things of God. The question is not whether we are theologians or not, but whether we are good theologians or bad theologians. Because our theology affects every aspect of our lives, from our worship to our work, it is vitally important that we be good theologians.

–R.C. Sproul or someone at Ligonier

I’ve finished Revelation and I really enjoyed it. It’s so nice to read again how things will end up. That’s been comforting.

My in-between book is In Christ Alone by Ferguson. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I’m a little more than halfway through right now.

I’m going to start reading Mark in the NLT and want to read as much as I can at a time to get a good overview. Then I’ll start the commentary by Cole. It will be nice to get back to the Gospels.

Greek is hard! These paradigms just don’t stop. I have no timetable though and I’m learning things pretty well as far as I can tell. I’m only on chapter 7 right now.

I’m nearing the end of Revelation. I will be going to the commentaries on the Gospels, since I started my commentary reading in Romans. I’ve been looking at the page counts of the Matthew-France, Luke-Green and John-Carson. (Mark by Cole is shorter.) I didn’t realize how large they were. Most will be as long or much longer than the Romans commentary which was a huge undertaking for me. I really want to do this though. Do I really? I think so.

I’m not sure how I’m going to handle the Old Testament. I was going to read about four commentaries in-between the Gospel commentaries but I think I may read through the whole OT first, then the commentaries.

Learning Greek has slowed down my reading a bit so I hope it’s worth it. My 3 Year Plan may become more like 3 1/2 and that’s not including Calvin’s Institutes, Ladd’s NT and a couple other biggies. And there’s all the “regular” books I have that I want to read.