Holy must reads

[ephraimanesti]

Thank you for the thought.
But i am interested in christianity in general not its fringe "end of days repent and sell your belongings the rapture/doomsday is coming in 2012" type of things.

course if im mistaken and its not a fringe group but actually part of the general religion then i would appriciate a heads up.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

You are spot-on as far as skipping the "end times" stuff, at least for now--not so much because it is "fringe" but because it is irrelevant. Suffice it to say that time is limited and you are a long way from home.

Carry on!

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[Sketcher]

I recommend an easy-to-read translation, such as the NIV. I use the KJV too, but people can get confused because the English is 400 years old.

There are various Bible-reading plans to get you through the Bible in a year. I haven't used one of them myself. But one brief little work you should read before delving into Exodus 20 and beyond (the Law of Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments) is Martin Luther's sermon on how Christians should relate to Moses. There are a lot of atheists who have problems with Christianity because they don't see us doing everything the Old Testament tells us to do, and they don't know why. And unfortunately a lot of Christians don't know where the line is and why it's there either. But Luther's sermon is consistent with Jewish interpretations of how their law does and doesn't apply to Gentiles. Here it is.

 

[Criada]

There are several Bible reading plans here:
BibleGateway.com- Audio Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and Bible study tools., and there is also the option to listen rather than read.
Also, whilst I agree that the New Testament is the best plce to start, may I suggest that you read the book of Psalms as well

 

[razeontherock]

I do agree that the transliteration done by Eugene Peterson, called "The Message" is excellent. It's understandable, modern language and still gets the point across.

I would say read the whole New Testament through before tackling too much of the Old Testament. Most of what Christianity is is contained between Acts and Revelation, several times over so it gives broader perspective. The Gospel of John starts "in the beginning," so it seems a logical starting place to me, then the book of Acts follows so a lot of us are saying a similar thing. (Read 1 Gospel, then Acts) From there the rest of the New Testament is short and designed to be understandable i.e.; revealing God. With Revelation being the lone exception but I still say read it, just realize much of it will make NO sense; but words of Jesus Himself are in there.

In contrast most of the Old Testament is designed not to reveal God, but to conceal Him. Major exceptions are the book of Psalms and the story line of the beginning of our Faith in Genesis, but it is such a BIG picture trying to see God through all that can take a lifetime. Also, if you find the beginning of the New Testament in an in-print Bible, you realize that almost all of it is Old Testament. So the New Testament is really short in comparison!

Cover to cover you can read it all in a year if you just make it through 3 chapters a day.
The important thing is, just read it.

 

[Maggie893]

If you are going for some audio books beyond scripture itself, you might try these:

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis

If you are into some more lofty types of books I would definitely recommend St. Augustine's Confessions. Augustine knew the basics of Christianity but chose a life totally apart from that and then suddenly went back and it all made sense in a whole new way. He's phenomenal. So while he's a more ancient writer, he's still very relevant.

Another more contemporary read, at least compared to Augustine, would be Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton.

There are so many books I could recommend but those are the starters that I would suggest. Some variety in style and cultures to them.

Have fun and I hope to hear back about what you think of them!