{"id":1119,"date":"2011-07-13T05:25:30","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T09:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2011-07-14T14:56:22","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T18:56:22","slug":"confession-good-for-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/confession-good-for-the-soul.html","title":{"rendered":"Confession&#8211;Good for the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes confession is good for the soul.\u00a0 So here goes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2011\/07\/questioning_look1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1121\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2011\/07\/questioning_look1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"271\" height=\"278\" \/><\/a>I began reading the Bible on a daily basis when I was in high school.\u00a0 That was more years than most of you have been alive.\u00a0 I still read through the Bible each year.\u00a0 My goals is to read four chapters each day.\u00a0 Even though I&#8217;ve been a teacher and student of the Bible for about five decades, here are a few things I&#8217;d like to confess.<\/p>\n<p>1. \u00a0There are vast parts of the Bible that I don&#8217;t understand.<br \/>\n2. \u00a0There are even larger parts of the Bible that I&#8217;m not interested in.\u00a0 For instance, can anyone explain to me why there are intricate details in Genesis explaining to us how the ark was built?\u00a0 We&#8217;ve been told there&#8217;ll be no more flood.\u00a0 Will me need those plans again?<br \/>\n3. \u00a0 I wade through most of the prophets fighting sleep.\u00a0 I have a most difficult time understanding what is being said.\u00a0 Forget the teaching and principles&#8211;I would just like to figure out what the author is saying.<br \/>\n4. \u00a0I love the books of the Law&#8211;the first five books of the Bible.\u00a0 I cannot understand why we, Christians, have rejected the dietary laws.\u00a0 The things the Hebrews were told NOT to eat are the scavenger animals.\u00a0 We do know what scavengers eat.\u00a0 They dine on other animals that are dead or their excrements?\u00a0 What seems flavorful about any of that?<br \/>\n5. \u00a0I love reading the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles\u00a0but I almost dread\u00a0reaching the epistles.<br \/>\n6. \u00a0Revelation is a total mystery to me.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve\u00a0given up trying to understand it.\u00a0 I read it for two reasons.\u00a0 I&#8217;m promised a blessing if I do.\u00a0 Additionally, I assume that if I&#8217;m really familiar with the book, when it is fulfilled, I can say, &#8220;Aha, that&#8217;s what God meant when he inspired John to pen that.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0 During those important years, I don&#8217;t want to caught unaware.<br \/>\n7. \u00a0Even though I find the prophets and the epistles complicated and difficult to understand, I&#8217;ve gained my greatest understanding of God from the writings of these prophets and apostles.<br \/>\n8. \u00a0The Psalms are some of my favorite chapters to read because most of them have fewer than 20 short verses.<br \/>\n9. \u00a0I find some passages of the Bible so funny that I laugh out loud.<br \/>\n10. \u00a0I find some passages of the Bible so emotionally\u00a0compelling\u00a0that I weep openly each time I read them.<br \/>\n11. \u00a0The story of the cruxifixion is emotionally exhausting for me to read.\u00a0 I force myself to read and meditate on Christ&#8217;s suffering.\u00a0 Otherwise, I have a tendency to guard my heart from the pain of Jesus&#8217; sacrifical gift of love.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/07\/open-bible1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1122\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2011\/07\/open-bible1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>A good friend who is searching to find a relationship with the Lord by reading the Scriptures, told me the other day, &#8220;Each time I open the Bible there is a new revelation of God&#8217;s love when I&#8217;m finished.\u00a0 But during the process, I struggle more than I take pleasure in what I&#8217;m reading.&#8221;\u00a0 As much as I love God&#8217;s Word and depend on the scriptures for help, assurance and peace, my heart echoed her sentiments.\u00a0 As often as I&#8217;ve found revelation in God&#8217;s word, I&#8217;ve also experienced\u00a0the inner struggle of simply opening the pages.<\/ol>\n<p>Have you found this struggle during your daily devotion time?\u00a0 What parts of the scripture do you work to understand?\u00a0 What parts of the Bible have been the most comforting for you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes confession is good for the soul.\u00a0 So here goes. I began reading the Bible on a daily basis when I was in high school.\u00a0 That was more years than most of you have been alive.\u00a0 I still read through the Bible each year.\u00a0 My goals is to read four chapters each day.\u00a0 Even though&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,182,40,186,49,16,85,12,4,41],"tags":[213,688,696,214,699,703,701,689,692,6,700],"class_list":["post-1119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-bible","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-daily-bible-reading","tag-faith","tag-humor","tag-inspiration","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Confession-Good for the Soul - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/confession-good-for-the-soul.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Confession-Good for the Soul - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes confession is good for the soul.\u00a0 So here goes. I began reading the Bible on a daily basis when I was in high school.\u00a0 That was more years than most of you have been alive.\u00a0 I still read through the Bible each year.\u00a0 My goals is to read four chapters each day.\u00a0 Even though&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/confession-good-for-the-soul.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-13T09:25:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-14T18:56:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/07\/questioning_look1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Confession-Good for the Soul - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/confession-good-for-the-soul.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Confession-Good for the Soul - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Sometimes confession is good for the soul.\u00a0 So here goes. 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