Introduction:
One of my main concerns is that most
Christian churches don’t have very much Bible teaching.
So I have tried to encourage many
to study the Bible more and even begin home group Bible studies.
Recently, I have had
opportunities to share about my logical indent method of formatting Scripture
with some leaders in a
world-wide denomination
and they thought it was good and could help
the indicated Bible study revival.
My Bible study tools can be
used by any Bible lover to teach from.
I have ETRSFed all of
the New Testament, 3/5 of the Old Testament, and over 200 Bible word
studies.
I have learned every
time I have ETRSFed and ETRLFed.
You can too.
Hope that you
will enjoy all that follows.
I
have learned much every time I have done the logical formatting.
Isaiah 28:9-10
“Whom shall He teach knowledge?
And whom shall He make to
understand doctrine?
They who are weaned
from the milk and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept;
line
upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”
2 Timothy 2:15
“Study earnestly to present yourself
approved to God,
a workman [or workwoman]
who does not need to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the Word of
Truth.”
Hope
that you will too learn from doing ETRSF
and will share the results with others
via the Internet or/and Bible study groups.
Note: The following is about
the way I have been logically formatting Scripture since September 1977.
Most of my
Bible study courses have it because it causes reasoning which helps for better
retention.
After reading the
directions, try your favorite Bible chapter, etc.
The man Ilearned this from even did his personal letters this way.
For
producing inductive study for a Bible chapter or passage:
Download the desired Bible chapter, or
passage, or Bible word search results into a MS Word document.
The software I usually use are from
the free e-Sword downloads or
or the Lockman Foundation
downloads Amplified and NASB Bibles.
First be in the frame of mind as Proverbs
3:5-6 and Jude 20-21 in order to be sensitive to The Holy Spirit.
Type the reference title above the first
verse.
Press the Enter key and that is
where the first verse number goes.
If the verse number is one
digit, put 2 spaces in front of it.
Then press the space bar
4 times.
Determine how much of the first verse
should be on the first line.
Most likely there will be a comma or
semi-colon at the end.
In most cases, you will want to get
as much on each line as possible,
but any equal important phrases
usually should be separate lines
indented the same
positions from the left of the page.
There are four main choices of this
logical formatting:
If a phrase or statement is just a logical continuation or
subordinate to the line above,
start it three or four spaces
to the right of the starting place of the line above.
Some letters are thinner
than other letters, so that is why the 3 or 4 option of spaces.
If a phrase or statement seems to
be of equal importance to one of the lines above,
start the same amount of
spaces that are before the same importance line above.
A phrase or verse which seems to be just a clarification of a word
or phrase in a previous verse
should be indented at least 7
spaces to the right compared to the previous line,
so that the next line can
start as it is a continuation of the previous line normal phrase or statement.
Such is a
parenthetical statement
and could be easily
left out and not affect the meaning of the context.
If a phrase or statement ends a
definite paragraph either
skip a line before starting
the next paragraph
or just start at the
left-most part of the next line.
Then sometimes I make the studies better
Bible study tools or even courses by doing the following:
I will bold or/and underline
important verses or phrases (the find and replace function saves time)
or/and I will insert thought
provoking questions.
