Bible Study for the Biblically Challenged Anyone?

Perhaps the word "false" is a poor choice, but here is what I mean.  AND as I will say many times over, this is MY opinion.  Any religion that worships "false gods", as called in the bible, in my opinion is a false religion.  Any religion that took the re-wrote it - by actually changing the meaning and taking parts out and adding their "own" parts in my opinion false religion.  Any religion that believes in more than one god or believes there is no god and that they control their own after life is in my opinion a false religion. 

This thread is about bible study both the Old & New Testaments. I use the NKJV & KJV in my studies.  I also have NIV and GW translations for reference. 

James 1:2-3 "My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance." MoodyK13
Dx 2/1/2008, IDC, 1cm, Stage Ib, Grade 2, 0/4 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2+

Sarai is first mention in Genesis 12:29.  At this point she is living in Ur and Abram has taken her as his wife.  Ur was located on the Euphrates River about 200 miles from the Persian Gulf in the country we know today as Iraq.  Her role is extremely important, as God makes His covenant to Abram: 12:2 "Then I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So in essence, Sarai's womb will "birth" this great nation.  Which she does when she has Isaac.

Verse 30 tells us that she is "barren" meaning she hasn't been able to conceive yet.

Terah, Abram's father, decides to relocate his family, so they pack up and head to Canaan.  They only make it to Haran which was located in the northern corner of Iraq/Iran.  The land of Canaan was southwest of Haran and is located in today's Israel.

So lots of things happen between 12:1 - 10 so I'll pick-up with verse 11: "As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.  When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will keep you alive.  So tell them you are my sisterso that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you." 

According to my bibles footnotes, Sarai was remarkably beautiful even for her advanced age.  She was 10 years younger than Abram.

12:14 - 20:  "When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.  When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram's wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh, and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels."

" But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram's wife.  So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!" Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions."

So from here to through chapter 15 gives all the details of their journey and where they end up, etc.  It also tells us that Abram and Sarai have "adopted" Lot because Lot's father, Abram's brother, Haran had died.  There is no mention of Lot's mother that I can find, so I assume she is dead.

Beginning Chapter 16:

1  "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

2  And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

3  And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

4  And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5  And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

6  But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face."

We can study Hagar next because her role and her son Ishmael is instrumental in the "birth" of muslims.

Here is an excerpt regarding Ishmael:  16:11 "And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

12  And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every manÆs hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

God changes Abram's name to Abraham 17:5 and Sarai to Sarah 17:15 and in God's covenant with Abraham says He will "bless" her also:  17:16 "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."

Sarah will give birth to Isaac when she is 90 years old!  17:17 "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear"?

Then possibly the most important sentence in the whole Old Testament comes in verse 19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."

Then all kinds of things start like circumcisions etc.  This is enough for now.  Thoughts?

Sure great idea!  what topics would interest you the most right now and we can organize something on it.

Thanks!  You know I love you. 

Hey Rocktobermom! I am tickled to see you here! 

I would never intentionally bash any religion, regardless of their beliefs.  I do get passionate, but I will always try to not be judgemental.  Studying other religions is very informative and that is the whole goal.

But there are other religions who have different teachings regarding Christ than the bible.  These religions, re-wrote the bible changing the actual meaning of the scripture.  Im not talking about using different words that mean the same thing, Im talking about actually taking scripture out and re-wording to mean something TOTALLY different.

How do I know my bible is correct and thiers isnt?  Good question and Im gonna tell you how I reached that conclusion:

By approximately 500 BC, the 39 Books that make up the Old Testament were completed, and continued to be preserved in Hebrew on scrolls.  By the end of the First Century AD, the New Testament had been completed. It was preserved in Greek on Papyrus, a thin paper-like material made from crushed and flattened stalks of a reed-like plant. The word "Bible" comes from the same Greek root word as "papyrus". The papyrus sheets were bound, or tied together in a configuration much more similar to modern books than to an elongated scroll.

The oldest copies of the New Testament known to exist today are: The Codex Alexandrius and the Codex Sinaiticus in the British Museum Library in London, and the Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican. They date back to approximately the 300's AD. In 315 AD, Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identified the 27 Books which we recognize today as the canon of New Testament scripture.

John Wycliffe (1320-1384) was a theologian and early proponent of reform in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. He initiated the first translation of the Bible into the English language and is considered the main precursor of the Protestant Reformation.

How do we know his translation is accurate of God's word and not his own? 

Well in 1947 scrolls were discovered in caves on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea.  The most important thing about the Dead Sea Scrolls is the numerous Biblical manuscripts which have been discovered. Until those discoveries at Qumran, the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures were copies from the 9th and 10th centuries AD by a group of Jewish scribes called the Massoretes. Now we have manuscripts around a thousand years older than those. The amazing truth is that these manuscripts are almost identical!

Over six hundred scrolls and thousands of fragments have been discovered in the 11 caves of the Qumran area. Fragments of every Biblical book except Esther have been found, as well as many other non-Biblical texts.

There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms.  The Isaiah Scroll, found relatively intact, is 1000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah. In fact, the scrolls are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found

They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek teach us even more about Judaism and Christianity. "They represent a non-rabbinic form of Judaism and provide a wealth of comparative material for New Testament scholars, including many important parallels to the Jesus movement. They show Christianity to be rooted in Judaism and have been called the evolutionary link between the two."

Most importantly they were found to be 99.5% accurate to the English translation of the Bible that we have today!!!!!

God is Awesome!

Welcome burns_la!  I am glad you are here and I hope you will feel free to contribute as well- not required obviously--LOL!

Roctobermom that is cool that you were a minister!  You can definately help us!!!!  What is the "parallel bible" ?

ShirleyH will do my very best to keep this a bible study, not a thread for telling people where they should worship how they should worship, etc.

this is about educating ourselves on God's word.  I want to learn as much as possible and I want to share what I myself have learned.

So does anyone have any comments with regard to my first "study" post on Sarah?  Do we keep going with Sarah?  What are thoughts / suggestions.  I want to keep this going. 

I am also happy to discuss more than one topic at the time.  If anyone wants to stick with just one, then they can, but I dont want to spend a lot of time on women in the bible if someone is wanting to know about Jesus lineage and vice versa.  I dont want to spend a lot of time discussing baptism if someone wants to know about Moses.

So I have the post beginning with sarah I am going to finish her up and hopefully everyone will see how important she is and how it all intertwines with other issues.  for example, if she hadnt insisted on Hagar and Ishmael leaving, would we have the muslim religion today?

interesting stuff!!!  stay tuned!!!! 

EWB no pressure to believe any one persons take on the scripture especially mine! 

GrammyNancy, welcome to you too!  thanks for the book recommendation the title is very intriguing! 

ebann You are so right, through God all things are possible!!!  I am also going to check out the web address in your signature!  Im tickled that I noticed it beings every since chemo my "radar" has been blocked !