What You Require for Effective Bible Study

Have you ever wondered whether you can gain vast knowledge of the bible than the average church going person? Do you long to challenge some of the bible scholars who are constantly confusing you on matters of theology and you think that you do not have enough money to enroll in one of the theological schools? You don't need to worry anymore because I want to give you a few tips on how to make bible study interesting.

The bible is very boring for some, and therefore asking them to take time and read the bible might just be a waste of time. But for those who are really interested in putting some few minutes daily for effective bible study, then the first thing you need are many (almost all) versions of the bible. If you cannot afford to have at least five versions, then the King James Version (KJV) and the New International Version (NIV) will be mandatory. For those who have personal computers, acquiring bible software such as power bible CD will be to a great advantage, but ensure you add to it the NIV since it is not part of the versions provided in the software.

Then the next tool for a good student is a bible dictionary. The bible contains places and terms that we cannot readily know of due the ancient nature of this book. A good bible dictionary will have tried to explain places and background information concerning the use of some terms. When going for a bible dictionary, try as much as possible to acquire an honestly researched dictionary which does not incline towards a particular denomination, so that you get to understand the true meaning of the bible words and events. If such a dictionary is not available in your locality, then a variety of them can be useful. Those who have the power bible CD will have the advantage of accessing such a variety of dictionaries. Another tool which is equally important and require equal consideration as the bible dictionary are the bible commentaries. Not only will a bible commentary give you insight on the biblical teachings but will enable you appreciate the understanding of scholars who have researched on the bible. A commentary should be a corporate authored one as opposed to individual authored which will contain personal inclination rather than the bottom truth as you would like to appreciate.

After acquiring these physical requirements for a bible study, the next thing to look for is a simple topical study guide. A variety of these will also be recommended, comparing a topic on one guide against topics in other guides that will lead you to specific places of the bible. Even as you go through the bible guides, it is also necessary that you develop an attitude of coming up with your own topics. Questions that always linger in your mind may be the first topics you would like get answered. And most importantly is the fact that you should within a set period, be able to complete the bible topics as ranging from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation.

I will call the above requirements hardcopy requirements because they are tangible. But for effective bible study you should foremost have a program of studying. This program will contain what to study at what time and place, and how much time do you allocate to a particular topic or set of topics. The program should also be able to incorporate group studies and discussions, so that you can well understand what others think on the said topic. A good program will have at least 15 minutes daily, with much prayer and dedication towards fulfillment of such a study.

The last comment I would like to leave you with before to embark on serious study is that if the study leads to suggestions that you should change your lifestyle, then it would be wise to conform to the suggested lifestyles in order to fully reap the benefits of effective bible study.