Reading the Bible is hard, B

Continuing on with the series of blogs on ideas that have helped me in my Bible reading. 

1. I am currently putting together a lesson plan for youth group.  The plan is to read through the book of Mark.  The goal is not simply to learn what Mark says, but also to learn how to read the Bible.  How I plan to go about that with the youth is to ask a set of questions about each passage we read.  I may have heard some of these questions from one of my professors, but I don't remember who it was.  Here are the questions.

1. What can I learn about God from this passage?
2. What can I learn about me (or humanity) from this passage?
3. What questions do I have about this passage?

This simple approach can be applied to any book or passage.  Though these questions may seem obvious, the fact is we often neglect to ask them when we read the Bible.  By asking these questions, we can start moving in the right direction in understanding the Bible. 

Obviously, this approach most likely still leaves us with lots of questions about the passage.  But actually considering specific questions we have about particular texts is a great start to getting understanding.  Sometimes, if we don't actually articulate our questions, they can add up in our heads to the point where we feel overwhelmed.  There are so many things we don't understand, and we're not even sure what those things are, so it seems pointless to start down the path.  The best thing to do is to formulate specific questions, write them down, and pick one or two to begin studying more in depth. 

For example, I wrote down these questions for Mark 1:1-8:

What does "gospel" mean?  How is Jesus the Son of God? Who's Isaiah?  What is a prophet?  Who is John?  What does baptize mean?  How did John know Jesus was coming after him?  What does it mean to baptize with the Holy Spirit?  What is the Holy Spirit? 

Many of these questions seem simple and I probably could give a decent answer to them without studying further.  But if I really want to gain understanding, and if I want to be able to teach this passage to the youth, I need to look a little deeper.  What is the definition of a prophet?  What exactly do prophets do?  What does baptize really mean.  I know what baptize looks like, but what does it mean?

Hope that helps.  More to come...