OUTLINE and EXAMPLES from "Basic Bible"        RELIGION Art Posters  

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The Aim of this book is to make it easy to study the Holy Bible in regards to the Bible's most important topics.  The most important topics are those which directly impact our lives today.  What is there in the Bible that is critical to my life---making the difference between slow death and exciting life, between shallow fun and deep satisfaction, between empty meaninglessness and a fulfilling Significance?  

What does the Bible tell us that helps us to understand the nature of the Supreme Being?  How might little me be pleasing to such an unimaginably powerful Entity, and why would I want to attempt to do such?  Why is Jesus Christ more than just a religious symbol?  What is there of particular importance to me about Christ's Church?  How is Christ's Church different from Jesus Himself, and why is that difference critical to understanding God?

When the Bible refers to Eternal Life, what is it really talking about?  What does it mean to be a Christian---as Jesus Christ would define a Christian?  How does that knowledge impact the way I deal with other people, with my family, with myself?

Needless to say, searching on such wide-ranging topics through the many pages of the Bible could take years of study.  "Basic Bible: Christ and His Church" makes it relatively easy to quickly piece together what the Bible says on those topics, because of the super-clear arrangement of Bible references, brief summaries of each reference, and challenging questions to each section.

I, as the author of this book, do not tell you what you have to believe.  Instead, Bible references to subjects across the Bible are logically arranged such that you can easily do your own study and come to your own good conclusions.  I do ask many probing, interesting questions.  But as little as possible of overt personal opinion or discussion by me is included in these pages---thus allowing the scriptures to in a condensed fashion speak very powerfully for themselves, and for you to decide on your own good answers.

This is by no means an exhaustive study on any of the subjects covered, rather a general survey which lists most of the main scriptures dealing with each topic.

The material presented here has been taken from the author's own personal study of the Bible, from careful perusal of other compilations of scriptures, and from the author's courses he's given in these topics over the years.  A great deal of thought and study has gone into presenting unique sequences of information that you will not find anywhere else.

As to the organization of the verse sequences, paraphrasing, and any opinionating---I as the the author assume full personal responsibility.  The actual references, though, have nothing to do with my personal opinion, but stand firmly on the authority of the Bible itself.

This overall view of the Bible, then, by itself is of little worth---for it would stand only on the authority of one imperfect human.  It gains authority only when and if three things occur:  #1---if this book and the Bible are placed side-by-side,  #2---if each are opened up and read, and  #3---if what is found in the Bible is seen not to be taken out of context, but confirms the views suggested in this guide.

The intent of this study-guide is to be helpful to you, the reader.  If something you find here is not helpful to you, you are welcome to tear it out and throw it in the trash.  My book is not the Bible.  It is merely a guide to help you in putting together critical subjects across the expanse of the many books that are contained in the Bible.  If something is useful to you in my work, though,  I'm pleased to have been of some small assistance to your own excellent personal spiritual journey.

The Format of this book is similar to that which you'll find in a college bookstore Schaum's Outline Series.  When I was in college, the Schaum's Outline Series was a life-saver.  

The typical textbook for a college course was dense, difficult to decipher, and very expensive.  The Schaum's Outline books were relatively inexpensive, large and wide with plenty of writing and visual space, and arranged in a very clear outline format.  They would take a huge amount of material (say in college Algebra or Trigonometry), boil it down to the essential, most important things, arrange them in a very logical and understandable progression, and provide each section with excellent examples and problems for learning to actually understand and be able to work with the information.

Very practical, very clear, and very helpful!

I, as the author, did not start out writing "Basic Bible: Christ and His Church" with the intent to copy the Schaum's Outline format, it just turned out that way.  It made logical sense.  So what you see in my book is a column of Bible references clearly separated out from the text, placed to the left of the page.  Beside each reference (in a column to the right of the page) is a short summary of the key information to the topic that's in that referenced passage.  Thus at a glance you can tell what's in the references, where you've been, and where you're going.

The topics are arranged in logical sequences.  The sub-topics are arranged in logical sequences.  The references are arranged in logical sequences.  The most important subject areas of the Bible are, thusly, extracted and arranged in one long logical sequence, in essence summarizing the many books of the Bible into one easily-followed, "Basic Bible" sequence!  If you were to start at the front of the guide, read each reference out of the Bible in sequence, and write answers to each of the questions---you would end up being very knowledgeable about the key "take-home" messages of the Bible!

For each section, the reader is given a page number at the last of the book to specific Questions.  There are more than 2,000 Questions, for which no answers are given!  These are there to help stimulate the reader's own study and evaluation of each of the Bible references.  These are not "Mickey Mouse" type simplistic questions.  These are questions such as:  "What does this mean?"  "Why do you think this says what it says?"  "How does this item relate that that other point?"  "How do you actually do what this says?"  "How does this apply to your everyday life?"

This is a guide to the Bible for people who are thinkers, puzzlers, and seekers of personal Significance!

Why don't I just write a book telling you the "answers"?   That would be much easier, both for you and for me.  Instead of laboriously putting together all these intriguing, stimulating, guiding Questions---I'd just tell you what the Truth is!  You, on the other hand, would also have it much easier.  Instead of many puzzling, nagging, irritating, confusing, difficult Questions---you'd immediately have the Answers!  No thinking needed!  "Just read what I say, believe it and do it!"

First of all, I have to be honest.  For many of the Questions I've poised---even I do not have a definitive answer.  Many times I wrote the question because I thought it was interesting, meaningful, and important---not because I necessarily knew the answer!  When I conduct small group discussion sessions on these questions, I get to learn as much or more than the group does as we together puzzle through possible answers!  Also, I find there's always a "deeper and wider" aspect to any Bible topic.  Just when I think I've got it all figured out, a whole new depth or area to that subject opens up that I wasn't aware of before.  My prior thinking may not necessarily have been wrong, just limited.  With your help (as in my facilitated small-group classes) I am continually surprised and pleased to find my understanding deepened and widened.  The wonder of the Bible is that you never get to the point you've plumbed all its heights and depths.  There's always something new, or something more to learn!

Also, it's much more fun and interesting when we are putting our heads together, me learning from you and you learning from me, than when I just get up and give a lecture.  After all, I already know what I know.  That doesn't help me learn anything, just to listen to myself talking.  I want to hear what you think!

As evidence of my utter sincerity on this point, evidence the DISCUSSION FORUM.  This is expensive and time-consuming for me to maintain.  I do so because I want to learn from you, and help you help others, and help them to help you.  The Discussion Forum is a great place to post neat ideas you've come up with in answering questions from Basic Bible, Christ and His Church.  It's also a fine place for you to pose your own questions to get input and ideas from others.

Another reason I don't just fire Answers at you is that I like to move from the lowest level of teaching (giving a stand-up lecture or writing a monologue), to the highest level:  OJT ("On-the-Job-Training").  I am interested in truly helping you (and me) get the most out of studying the Bible.  

The "Socratic Method" (time-honored as a high form of teaching) was not to give answers, but to stimulate thinking with interesting, important questions.  Why?  Learning (ingrained memory/ability) increases exponentially from "hearing one person" (lecture) to "hearing from a variety of spontaneous viewpoints" (questions asked by the audience or the class at the end of a lecture is always the most interesting part of a presentation), to "you yourself asking the questions or making a comment on some point" to "you yourself applying the information to a situation that's interesting and meaningful both to you and to others" (an actual task or job, repeatedly done, in which the information/skills are ingrained in your brain by doing the thing, making it a part of you!).  My study-guide to the Bible stimulates you and those studying with you to "operationalize" the many overlapping Principles of the Bible: figuring out how to put them into your real life, now, and to actually do them.

Jesus Christ was a Master Teacher.  He spent most of His time engaged in OJT instruction with his disciples, which is passed down to us in the Bible.  Although there's a time and place for stand-up lecture monologues, even there He answered questions with Questions.

If some day I am thought of as being a Master Teacher, I will be very proud, indeed---having followed in Great Footsteps!

WHY STUDY?

It's a whole lot easier to suck on a cold beer, lean back in your chair, watch the football game on TV, and just enjoy living.  Why go to all this extra bother?  There's a wonderful song you hear now and then on the "oldies" radio stations:  "Is that all there is?"  Is life just trying to avoid pain, grab some fun when you can, make a new generation, get old and die?  Is that all there is---just making more people to make more people?  It seems somehow sad and pointless.  The Bible is a document handed down through thousands of years.  Many great and noble Thinkers have contributed to its pages.  Millions have died defending the Bible.  People who were doing hideously evil things have use it to transform themselves into wonderful, loving, productive people!  Yes, the teachings of the Bible have often been perverted into excuses for hating people and fighting over power---but any good thing, especially a powerful thing, can be twisted and mis-used.  The Bible is not for lazy, selfish, shallow, short-sighted people.  The Bible is for hard-working, principled, searching, adventurous, creative Thinkers.  

THE BIBLE

There is a progression to the Bible, a personal and historical journey.  The progression is from baby to adult.   Mankind is described as beginning in total innocence, totally immersed in Nature, walking with God.  Babies.  Then Mankind's intelligence arrives at the point of self-awareness, God-awareness, and making of informed decisions.  Childhood.  Rules and regulations are laid down for a select sample/example of Mankind, such that their example of growth will be a guide to many others.  After that comes the joy and pain of spiritual Adulthood, in which Mankind is given a wonderful FREEDOM coupled with great personal responsibility.  How will he/she use this Freedom?  Will it be for self-gratification, or for self-development?  Will the Freedom be used to limit other people, or to edify other people?  Will it be used to hide our treasures or to explore our talents?  What will the individual adult spiritual person seek in regards to Significance?  It's a challenge, a test, a puzzle...and the clues are all there, "hidden" in the many teachings of the Holy Bible.

GOD

God is love.  God is jealous.  God is vengeful.  God is merciful.  God is justice.  God is eternal.  God is unchanging.  God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere.  So where is God???  Do you see him in outer space when you look out the windows of the space shuttle?  Some astronauts said they saw Him.  Others said they saw only emptiness.  Must God ride a cloud, sport a long white beard, and throw down thunderbolts to be real?  Or can God be behind the wind, behind the stars, even behind the emptiness?  The Bible describes GOD in terms our teeny little brains can comprehend.  Is the true reality of God beyond our comprehension, beyond our wildest imaginations, far higher than our mightiest doubts and questions?  I've often wondered if ants in an ant-farm ever question whether there is a Creator?  "Well, you know, Fred---" one ant says to the other, "there's such wonderful order to our existence.  The sugar is always here.  The water comes down to us.  The light shines and warms us.  Surely something so logical and beautiful must have a Great Initiator!"  Fred answers:  "Hah!  It's that way because it's that way.  That's all there is, Jim!  Just what we see.  It's always been that way and always will be that way.  Don't you think if there were a Great Initiator we'd have seen the giant egg He hatched out of?  Ever seen it?"  Jim is silent, thinking.  "So there," Fred answers.  "There is no Creator beyond the walls of our existence."  Proof positive---in terms the little ants' brains can comprehend.  You---the one that built the glass-walled tank, dribble in the sugar, make sure the water flows, turns the lights on and off---don't exist!  The ant has self-defined you away!  Versus the Creator of the entire Universe...how large are we?  Less than ants?  Amoeba maybe, just one-celled animals in comparison?  Maybe even less than that??  We think we are so smart, so clever.  Yet we've barely touched the rock that's circling us---from the tiny speck we sit upon, circling our sun, a tiny light amongst billions in our Galaxy, our Galaxy but one of billions of others...it's rather humbling.  How should we relate to God?  How would God want us, his favorite little critters, to relate to Him?  Important clues are all throughout the Bible.   It's a test, a puzzle, a challenge.

CHRIST

Some unique sections: 

"Old Testament Prophesies of Christ's coming." Arranged in a logical sequence, taken from the beginning to the end of the Old Testament, are seventy prophesies concerning the coming Messiah, which were written hundreds of years before Jesus' birth, and which cover the major events of the entire life of Jesus.  Beneath each reference and summary from the Old Testament are the parallel, fulfilling references and summaries taken from the New Testament.  Jesus Christ was anticipated and predicted in human history. 

"Some Teachings of Christ."   Most of the major teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples, as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are abstracted and arranged in a logical sequence:  which turns out to all relate to the Kingdom of God.   Fifty references to God's Kingdom are abstracted and arranged in a logical sequence in regards to subject and content.  As distinct from our worldly, physical nations, what does it mean to be a citizen of God's spiritual Kingdom?  Jesus tells us in His own words how to come to God and be part of God. 

"Miracles of Christ."   The people thronged to Jesus in great numbers, not just because He was a Master Teacher, but also because He could subvert and command the very laws of nature.  That was most impressive!  The New Testament describes these events not as simulated tricks, or psychological/physical temporary upheavals, but as instantaneous events that are impossible under the laws of nature.  Forty-five occasions of Jesus commanding the laws of nature are abstracted and arranged in a logical sequence in regards to subject and content.   The majority of these events concerned Jesus taking away the pain, the sickness, the disease of men and women.  Indeed, Jesus was a Master Healer, not only of the body, but also and most importantly of the spirit.

CHURCH

Christ's Church was not an after-thought, an accident, or a stop-gap measure.  Indeed, it was a fulfillment of long-established, Old Testament prophesy.  Old Testament and New Testament references concerning the establishment of Christ's Church are abstracted and arranged in a logical sequence concerning subject and content.  Also, the characteristics of the New Testament Church, as laid out in the writings of the New Testament, are abstracted and arranged in logical sequences.  What should be Christ's Church's organization, recognition of authority, method of worship, name, work, mode of accepting new members, and significance?  Why is any of that important?  There is a great power to the New Testament Church being focused, facilitive, and simple.  

SEEKING GOD

God has put Himself at a short distance from men and women.  I am convince that this is part of our test.  It would be much simpler if He just appeared in person, in an undeniable and physical manner, to each individual human being.  Then we'd say:  "Oh yes, there's God.  I see that He is so powerful that I have no choice but to do what He says."  Then everyone would bow down to Him and serve Him.  But it's not that simple.  Viewing the very same pile of evidence (the Bible, the Universe, and our own selves), we can logically come to completely opposite conclusions:  1) the Universe is cold, cruel, unthinking, mechanistic, and Godless; or  2) the Universe is brilliant, logical, beautiful, and a Creation made by a Grand Creator.  In the pages of the New Testament, we see men and women seeking and finding God.   Jesus states that His purpose in coming to earth was to help Mankind go to God, Jesus Himself being a doorway to God!  References from the New Testament concerning conversion to Jesus Christ are abstracted and listed in a logical sequence of subject and content.  Brief discussions by the author are included on the topics of inherited sin and falling from spiritual safety.  One of the goals of conversion is dealt with in particular depth:  the prospect of eternal life, immortality, in the presence of God Himself.  References relating to physical death, spiritual death, death-in-life, and life-in-death are abstracted and arranged in a logical sequence.

BEING A CHRISTIAN

This is one of the most interesting and extensive sections of this study-guide.  Once a person becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ, what then?  What should the identifying characteristics of a Christian be?  What things should a Christian value about Christianity that even non-Christians would agree are valuable?  How should a Christian deal with continuing sin, both in him/herself and in others?  What specific things should a Christian work hard at trying to subtract from his/her life?---add to his/her life?  What specific attitudes should a Christian work very hard on achieving?  In what ways should a Christian work to express those attitudes as specific passive and active actions?  How should a Christian deal with God, with Christ, with fellow human beings?  And finally, what does it mean to have true, Christian Love?  New Testament references on all these topics are abstracted and arranged in logical sequences.  Being a Christian is not just attending a Church service now and then.  Being a Christian is a whole way of life, that transforms and informs all that we do and are.

Personal Study.  Prominently featured with each section of references is **Questions: p. ___**  On that page, targeted to that particular section, are FACT Questions and THOUGHT Questions.  The Fact Questions review what was in the Bible references.  The Thought Questions deal with the "how, what, when, where, and why" questions concerning the material.  The reader can use these Questions as a handy review (Fact Questions) or as a probing guide into exploring the implication and meaning of each of the references.  Whenever a person reads words in the Bible, one should try to figure out not just the literal meanings but also the "take home message" or why those words are there.  One doesn't have to be a Greek or Hebrew scholar, or to go off on fanciful tangents, to do this.  It's just plain common sense:  what's the take-home message?  What's the most important thing I should take away from reading these words?  What's the main message I should be learning from these words?  Words are written symbols of verbal symbols.  What do those symbols stand for?  What's the point?  And how do I incorporate that knowledge into my own, personal, life---right now!?  The extensive "Questions" sections is an in-depth guide to helping us struggle with the critical meaning of what we read from the Bible.

Study with a Friend.  If you're like me, it's very difficult to remember where everything is in the Bible.  I have a terrible memory, and even though in the past I've tried to memorize key verse in the Bible I finally gave up.  One of the reasons I wrote "Basic Bible: Christ and His Church" was to have a handy guide to where things were in the Bible that was logical, in-depth, detailed, very clear, and very easy to use in studying the Bible with friends.  I turn to the outline of the book, flip to the relevant section, look at its outline, and within a few seconds have a logically-ordered list of scripture references plus handy quick summaries right in front of me on the subject we are interested in.  Plus, the scope of the study-guide allows me to go right to whatever level of knowledge the person is at:  not understanding how the Bible is put together, not believing in God, not believing in Jesus, not believing in organized religion, not believing in the New Testament Church, not knowing how to become a Christian, not understanding eternal life, or not understanding what it really means to be a Christian.  Then right in front of us are detailed guides to opening up the Bible, logically proceeding through the Bible on that particular topic, and (if needed) probing questions on each section to guide our discussions.  Plus, the format of the guide is very respectful of my friend, allowing him/her (with my friendly prompting) to come to his/her own good conclusions.  And you as the teacher/guide can use whatever pieces or parts of the study-guide that are useful to your study, adding or deleting whatever other material you wish.  Complete flexibility to quickly and easily help the other person understand the Bible.  It's fun, fruitful, and an exciting way to explore the heights and depths of the Holy Bible in regards to how in impacts my life, now.

Give Sermons or Lecture Classes.  Being so logically laid-out, with Bible references to the left and summaries to the right, put in an outline format, with topics following neatly on topics, with each reference ordered as to meaning and content---"Basic Bible: Christ and His Church" is a powerfully-detailed list of hundreds of sermons and/or hundreds of lesson plans.  The most time-consuming part of getting up a series of subject sermons or series of Bible subject class plans is hunting down and connecting many Bible references.  A concordance can help one find the references you want, but doesn't put them together in logical sequences.  Teaching a course or preaching a series of sermons using "Basic Bible: Christ and His Church" starting from the first and continuing straight through would take years if not decades.  Once again, you can start where-ever you wish, discard that which is not useful to you, use that which is, add or delete whatever you want to make the most effective presentation.  There's a great deal of pre-prepared material all laid out, tied tightly to the Bible, and ready-for-use contained in the 296 pages of this study-guide. 

Facilitate a Small-Group Discussion Class.  The most exciting use of this study-guide is as a guide to facilitating stimulating, meaningful, exciting discussion in small-group classes.  Small group classes usually contain no more than a maximum of 20 people, usually less.  This gets into the higher levels of effective teaching, in which the class members get to hear themselves participating.  The best way to use this guide is to read all the references in a section straight from the Bible, going around a circle of the class members, each member having the opportunity (which they can certainly pass to the next person if they want to) to read one of the references.  Then the class turns to the Questions and goes through them.  You as the instructor do not give your own answers.  You job is to guide, stimulate, and support the discussion of the group on the questions.  In this fashion, the class will get 10X as much good from the class than if you were to just lecture them.  Also, it's lots of fun, with important/meaningful outcomes.  None of the questions are trivial.  They all deal with important aspects of the Bible references with direct application to our lives, here and now.  Once again, there's enough material in this study-guide for decades of stimulated, exciting discussion  in a facilitated small group, directly on particularly-important Bible references that are read straight out of the Bible, the subjects all previously researched, arranged, and logically laid-out for immediate, easy access.

OUTLINE and EXAMPLES from "Basic Bible: Christ and His Church"     

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