Wow, it has been a long time since I've had the pleasure of doing a review! Almost 2yrs! It seems super fitting that the book I get to do a review on is not a brand new book, but one that is celebrating it's thirtieth anniversary and is an expanded edition!
About the Author:
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| Dr. Max Anders is the author of over 25 books and is the creator and general editor of the 32-volume Holman Bible Commentary series. He has taught on the college and seminary level and is a veteran pastor. Max was also one of the original team members with Walk Thru the Bible Ministries. He provides resources and discipleship strategies at MaxAnders.com to help people grow spiritually. |
About the book:
If you’ve ever confused the ark of the covenant with the ark of Noah, or Jericho with Jeroboam, Max Anders’ classic book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible,
is for you. In just fifteen minutes a day, you’ll learn the Bible’s key
people, events, and doctrines to get more out of God’s Word. This
simple-to-use, straightforward guide has been recommended by Bible
teachers and pastors for thirty years, and now it’s available in an
expanded thirtieth anniversary edition—with the most requested topics
from the original edition restored and updated for today’s readers.
MY REVIEW:
When I first saw the title of the book, I will admit, I laughed hard. Because in our family the Bible is the blueprint for our lives, most of our decisions are based on what we've read in the Bible and the idea that it can be understood in 30 days was, well, laughable! And then I started reading, and reading and loving it and making plans to implement it into our homeschool routine!
As a kid, we had sword drills (who can find the verse the fastest) and Bible memory challenges. Somehow this has not happened as much with my kids (soon to change!) Part of the reason was because of the different layout of the books of the Bible in our preferred version, CJB. But enough with the excuses, let's get on with the good stuff!
So this book starts out with the structure of the Bible and learning the very basics, how many books are in the New and Old Testaments, how many historical, poetic and prophetic books there are and then we get to see a timeline and how the various books fit into the timeline, this is just a basic overview. And then we dig a bit deeper into the Old Testament and check out the geography and the historical eras, poetry and prophetic books. We then do the same thing for the New Testament, starting with the changed geography and learning the historical books, Pauline Epistles and General Epistles, again placed beautifully on a timeline chart (yes I'm a nerd and thoroughly LOVE charts!)
This takes care of the first 2 sections of the book, the next section, I will admit had me a little worried, Doctrines of the Bible😒😟😨 This can be a controversial subject, and I am not quite at this part in the book yet, but I went ahead anyhow to get a feel for it. And my fears were put to rest...Mr. Anders did a solid job addressing this in his overview of Bible Doctrine, he says and I quote:
It is difficult to get two people to agree on all points of doctrine. There is an old Irish prayer that says:
"O Lord, turn the hearts of our enemies,
And if You can't turn their hearts,
Then turn their ankles,
So we can know them by their limp."
There are many people limping, in the eyes of others, over certain doctrinal distinctions. However, there is a basic body of doctrine that nearly all Christians have agreed upon. We will turn our focus to that body in this section. pg.183-184
Well that set my mind at ease! SO, he breaks it down into 10 main doctrines and goes briefly into each one of them. Without getting into the controversial stuff. For example, The Doctrine of Christ is broken down into subdivisions but we don't go deep into the subdivisions....Jesus was God incarnate, Christ was a man, After being killed Jesus was raised to life again, Jesus will return at some point in the future. That's it. oh he does give a Bible reference for each subdivision, but it is very broad and doesn't lend itself to argue with the author. He did SUCH a good job!
Next is a great chapter called How to Master the Bible So Well that the Bible Masters You!!!
I don't think much needs said on this except that it's a chapter that excites me!
AND THEN.....every teachers dream....THE TEACHING PLAN!
One cool thing about this book is that it has downloadable charts and images that can be printed or used in electronic presentations. The teaching plans are very well laid out and I'm SO excited to do this with my kids!
I realize that my review is rather lengthy, but I am SO excited about this book it was really hard to be short winded.
You can check out more details on the book here.
Don't want to wait for the giveaway? You can buy it here.
Cool thing for YOU, is that you can enter to win a copy of this book!!! I will be holding a draw on Feb 1st. Simply leave a comment here on my blog to enter the draw!
“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part
255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in
Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for
providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice
of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary
compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for
this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If
you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in
the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win. Or
if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification."
