During this whole year, I have been reading the Bible in a different way. I got the idea here.
The long and the short of it is this.
1. Choose a book of the Bible.
2. Read it in its entirety.
3. Repeat #2 twenty times.
4. Repeat this process for all 66 books of the Bible.
Simple, huh? I recommend it.
They suggest starting with the shorter books and I have. I have read 2nd and Third John, Titus, Philemon, Ephesians, Jude, and in the last few weeks I have switched over to the Old Testament and today I read Obadiah for the twentieth time.
It is quite interesting the new things you learn as you read it this many times. Generally speaking during the twenty times, I read it in different versions, I read it with the greek, I read it outloud and I compile a Friday Everything with it. Today, I read it out loud to my five year old daughter, explaining it as I went along.
And I always take notes on how I can apply what I read to my life. Here is what I have gotten from the latest book –
Take away for Jamsco: Obadiah
1. Sin causing pride will bring you down.
2. Don’t think, when things are going very well, that you can’t lose big quickly.
3. Men doing sinful acts can be God’s agents to work his will.
4. Help others when they are experiencing calamity. Do not aid in the calamity.
5. Anyone who is sinning should expect punishment at any moment. Repent.
6. God’s people will be the eventual winners.
7. God’s blessing is very important, strong and good.
The Responsible Puppet 
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October 14, 2007 at 12:51 am
bethyada
I remember reading about a man who wouldn’t preach on a book unless he had read it 50 times. Think it may have been MacArthur (though can’t remember).
I also read that reading a book 30 times leads to memorisation or something like that. Tried reading James. Can’t remember how far I got, but never another book.
My pastor started a series on Revelation last year. Hasn’t got far as other topics keep coming up; but he said he just kept reading it over and over. (If you listen to online sermons email me and I’ll give you the link to his excellent sermons).
Frankly, most Christians just need to read the Bible in its entirety.
October 15, 2007 at 10:37 am
jamsco
Good comments. I would be interersted to know what percentages of Christians have read through the whole Bible.
October 21, 2007 at 9:48 pm
bethyada
The other thing I thought was that humans reading the 4 points would read each book 20 times, whereas a computer interpreting the algorithm would do so 21 times; once when doing #2 the first time thru, then repeating 20 more times!
I also remember reading that one of the church fathers (I think Chrysostom) has the book of Roman read to him thru entirely once a week. What insights does one gain on the 100th reading?
I have started with Jude. While I may do the 20, I doubt I will do this for many other books, especially the longer ones.
Barna may have some comments about reading the Bible in its entirety. Perhaps Vox could ask his ilk.
October 21, 2007 at 10:19 pm
jamsco
I would suggest doing it for a midsize book (James? Ephesians?) before quitting. It’s a challenge.
Perhaps I’ll ask Vox to ask his ilk sometime.