Longitudinal bible reading benfits.

I like to read the bible longitudinally: just start reading from a major intersection or some place that seems relevant and keep going in a straight line. Doing a 'study' searching out sections to develop a specific theology has it's place, but certainly not as part of my regular reading pattern.

A while back I started re-reading the gospels because I realised that although I knew Jesus unconsciously, I didn't know Him very consciously. What do I mean? It's like knowing your partner so well they are almost part of you, like Chris and I, yet not really thinking about how they are outside of being with you. There's probably some helpful terms and phrases from either psychology or theology (or both) that could be used to describe this, but my brain is too fuddled now to dig them up.

I have just realised that's not at all what I intended to write.

The point was that a while back I started off with Matt 1 and I'm not on II Cor 4. A phrase that increasingly annoys me is telling people to 'do what it says' in reference to the bible. I put my hand up and admit that as a teenager and into early 20s I'd certainly subscribe to that, and later on too, to a degree. But in treating the bible as an instruction book we lose sight of the nature of what was written. In the case of the letters to the Corinthians, in the first letter Paul goes in with guns blazing, then comes back to deal with the fallout that caused.

Anyone recognise a pattern?

This is so important for us to see, because we so easily take a I Corinthians stance, without realising that we're going to need to restore the person/group back to ourselves later on. Was Paul's initial letter wrong? I don't think so, and there's certainly a place for clear, strong correction today, as the church is just as messed up as then. At the same time we need to recognise the risk of alienation this poses and be ready to reconcile others back into a good relationship again.

I hope that makes some sense.