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discipleship corner.

James Heidinga
Jul 4, 20233 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 19 – Apocalyptic Literature
What comes to mind when you think about the word Apocalypse? I suspect for many of us, we think about catastrophic world ending events...
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James Heidinga
Jun 28, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 18 – New Testament Letters: Literary Context
Nowadays, when we want to send someone a letter, we turn on a computer or pull out a smartphone and start typing. In a world powered by...
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James Heidinga
Jun 20, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 17 – New Testament Letters: Historical Context
It’s unusual to read someone else’s mail but that’s essentially what we’re doing when we read the New Testament Letters. However, these...
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James Heidinga
Jun 13, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 16 – The Parables of Jesus
Typically, when we want to learn about something we go to school to study it. We usually learn from a teacher who we expect to teach us...
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James Heidinga
Jun 6, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 15 – How to Read The Gospel
The word Evangelion or Gospel means Good News and the Bible has four books which are commonly referred to as Gospels. These books were...
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James Heidinga
May 31, 20233 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 14 – Solomon, what a wise guy!
Solomon is credited with writing a significant chunk of the wisdom literature in the Old Testament. This should come as no surprise since...
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James Heidinga
May 23, 20233 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 13 – The Law
When we think about The Law, we tend to think of it in terms of rules that limit or define our behaviour. However, reading The Law in...
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James Heidinga
May 17, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 12 – The Prophets
The section of the Bible which is referred to as The Prophets is a compilation of books that reflect the lives of fifteen people who were...
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James Heidinga
May 10, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 11 – The Book of Psalms
The Book of Psalms is the largest collection of poems in the Bible, and it can feel a bit overwhelming to leaf through its many pages and...
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James Heidinga
May 3, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 10 – Metaphor in Biblical Poetry
Last time, we looked at how Biblical Poetry speaks to our hearts by employing certain structural design elements. What more can we learn...
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James Heidinga
Apr 26, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 9 – The Art of Biblical Poetry
Poetry is another significant literary style in the Bible. In our reflection on Literary Styles in Part 3 we characterized Biblical...
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James Heidinga
Apr 19, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 8 – Design Patterns in Biblical Narrativea video series by Tim Mackie
So far, we’ve looked at Plot, Character, and Setting in relation to Biblical Narrative. There is another component which needs attention...
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James Heidinga
Apr 5, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 7 – Setting in Biblical Narrative
The Bible tells many stories which are also part of one grander story. One important aspect of a story is its setting and setting is...
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James Heidinga
Mar 29, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 6 – Character in Biblical Narrative
In this reflection, we’ll be looking at Character, the second component of Narrative and how it’s used in the Bible. Character in...
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James Heidinga
Mar 22, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 5 – Plot in Biblical Narrativea
Narrative is the most represented literary style in the Bible so it’s worth taking a closer look at the components of it. In this...
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James Heidinga
Mar 15, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 4 – The Bible as Jewish Meditation Literaturea
Every culture produces its own set of stories and ways of making sense of the world in which they live. The Bible is also a cultural...
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James Heidinga
Mar 8, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 3 – Literary Styles in the Bible
When you read a book it’s important to know what kind of book it is to help you understand its contents. If you’re reading a cookbook you...
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James Heidinga
Mar 1, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 2 – The Story of the Bible
One of the most amazing things about the Bible is that lots of different authors living in different places and times, writing in...
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James Heidinga
Feb 22, 20232 min read
How To Read The Bible – Part 1
The Bible is a small library of books. It was also written by multiple authors over many generations and in a variety of literary styles....
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