what is your favorate book in the bible

John 3:16

NT: Hebrews, Acts, Luke, Ephesians.

OT: Lamentations, Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiasties,

The Gospel of John

Book of Romans

Romans

Diane_Windsor said:

The Gospel of John

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me too

Judges, Matthew

I enjoy the wisdom Proverbs provides. I enjoy the gospels which tell us about who Jesus is and what He did for us. I also enjoy Romans.

As far as the OT goes, I find the book of Genesis endlessly fascinating. Sigmund Freud once boasted that he was first person to delve into the inner psychology of man. He obviously didn't read Genesis anywhere near closely enough.

Plus there is the pure, outrageous grace of God throughout. Take the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, for instance. Here we have Sarah desperate to have a child. With far too little forethought, she gives her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham to act as both a surrogate mother and "wife" (Gen 16.3). Abraham proves willing and poor Hagar has no say in the matter. Anyway, she conceives and is thus able to accomplish what her mistress could not. The result is that she doesn't just walk around the house, she floats. And when Hagar got the hankering for things like pickles and ice cream in the middle of the night, guess whose husband got up from bed to run out and get them for her. This is the exact opposite of what Sarah had hoped would happen through her grand plan. Instead of being "built-up-with-a-son" through Hagar (the Hebrew 'ibaneh is likely a pun on the words bano, 'build up', and ben, 'son'), Sarah "became of light-worth in (Hagar's) eyes" (vv. 4, cf. 5). Sarah grew insanely jealous and overcome by such raw emtotion incoherently blamed Abraham for the whole situation, shouting, "The wrong done me be upon you! I myself gave my maid into your bosom, but now that she sees that she is pregnant, I have become of light-worth in her eyes. May YHWH see-justice-done between me and you" (v. 5). Abraham tells Sarah that Hagar belongs to her and so is hers to do with as she likes, which is not particularly gallant considering Hagar's pregnant with his child. So, Sarah "treated her harshly, so that she had to flee from her," with no where else to go but into the wilderness, which meant virtually certain death. It was there in the wilderness that Hagar, who in more contemporary terms amounts to an abused, runaway teen who is knocked-up with the child of another woman's husband, is met by God who, amazingly, enters into a covenant relationship with her that closely mirrors that between him and Abraham (the big difference being that God never tells Hagar that through her seed "all the families of the earth will be blessed").

(Interestingly, we see definite foreshadowing of the exodus. For here we have an Egyptian slave being treated harshly by her Hebrew masters because she turns out to be too fertile, and so is driven out into the wilderness where she encounters a loving God. In the book of Exodus, we have Hebrew slaves being treated harshly [the wording used to describe these two situations is the exact same in Hebrew] by their Egyptian masters when they turn out to be too fertile, and are later driven out into the wilderness where they encounter their loving God.)

What a sordid mess this is! Two people in a position of power--who, what's more, have been specifically chosen by YHWH to represent him to the nations--deliberately use this position to exploit a vulnerable young girl in a very personal way. On Sarah's part there is desperation, abuse, and murderous envy. On Abraham's part there is too much indifference, a singular ineffectuality, and not a little cowardice in the face of his wife's anger. On Hagar's part there is ill-placed pride. All of this mixed together with the potent addition of sex makes for a very unseemly affair, and one in which we would think God in his holiness would wish to have no part at all and would instead steer well clear of it all.

But we would be wrong. Rather we find God right there in the midst of it, half-giddy with compassion, making great nations, throwing promises around like the last of the big-time spenders handing out $100 bills like confetti at a wedding. And if God is right there in the midst of this mess in all its humanness, making things right, chances are good he's right there in the midst of our own lives, in all its human messiness, making things right.

Romans. It's like the Constitution of Christianity covering everything a person needs to know in order to become saved.

Probably John's Gospel in the NT, though Mark spoke powerfully to me when I read it throiugh once in one sitting.

In the OT, Exodus if I had to pick just one, Or Isaiah from the 40th chapter onwards. (Though maybe I shouldn't pick bits of a book. )

Romans and James

Most anything in the NT.
OT Song of Songs

I love proverbs! there is so much good advice in it, nice and short to the point, I love it!

There is a tie between Psalms and 1 Corinthians for me.

Job



& 2nd Corinthians