Passage Requested: "All of them!"

Question:

I've never studied the Bible before, and I'm having some difficulty understanding the passages.

Comment:

PASSAGE REQUESTED: "All of them!"    COMMENT: My first suggestion would be, slow down! What's important is not that you understand every word in the Bible but that you become comfortable with it. Once you're comfortable with you relationship to it, then you can move through it from beginning to end if you choose, or browse through and let divine guidance lead you to helpful passages.   There are three simple questions that can be applied to any passage – whether a long story or a simple, one-sentence statement – to help guide you to a deeper understanding. First, what's happening in the story? Books and the Web can be helpful in giving us a sense of the world in which it takes place, and the significance of details that might seem obscure or unimportant today. Second, what does the story tell me about living a human life? What's the “moral” of the story? And third, what does the story tell me about myself? At this deeper, metaphysical level each character is a thought in our own consciousness, and I can see that the passage is really about my own personal challenges and growth.   I hope you'll keep checking “Interpret This” as we continue to post comments on requested passages. And you might check out Bible Alive on Unity.FM for a weekly discussion. And if you'd like a helpful book, I'd recommend Reading the Bible Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg.   I hope this helps. And I hope you'll write again whenever you come across a passage that is particularly challenging.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed