MILESTONE 3: READ THOUGHTFULLY

CHAPTER REFERENCE: CHAPTER 8: READ THOUGHTFULLY

FIRST STEP in every Bible Study: observation. What do you see? The author of our reference book
pointed out that what made a person better as a Bible student than another is that one can see more.

RECORD!

Answer the following questions

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?

2. What two numbers on the telephone dial don’t have letters by them? (don’t look at your mobile
phones  )
3. Your best friend is left-handed or right-handed?
4. How many squares do you see below?

5. The title of our current milestone is? (Don’t look at the textbox  above)
6. On a telephone/mobile phone, there are 12 buttons. What 2 symbols bear no digits? (again,
don’t look at your mobile/telephones  )
7. What time did you wake up today? (Note: should be exact; no estimates please)
8. Do books have odd-numbered pages on the left or right side?
9. How many times did we have a question concerning “telephones/mobile phones” so far?
10. What made a person better as a Bible student than another again?

***See answers at the end of this milestone.

How did you do? Are you the type who not only see things but actually observe? If not, don’t be
discouraged. It takes different techniques to learn and improve in the area of observing.

Where should one start then in improving as a Biblical detective? Of course, one must be good at
reading (because this is how you can extract as many observations and insights as you can from the

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Scripture). We will now start with the first among the ten strategies to first-rate reading: read
thoughtfully.

READ THOUGHTFULLY

There are many ways on how to read the Bible. One way is to read it with your thinking cap on. Pay
attention to every detail as a detective would normally do in a crime scene. Ask yourself questions as
you go from one word to the next in each verse. Make sure that you don’t just browse through it.
Instead you study the text.

Reading thoughtfully is all about having the mental discipline in the objective of wanting to get wisdom
out of what you read.

An example of thoughtful reading given at the book is the story of Frank Morison—an English journalist
who had the primary goal of disproving the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having that goal in mind, he
studied the four gospels – took note of every detail, paid attention to Christ’s last seven days prior to
crucifixion, he examined His disciples: Peter the fisherman and James, the brother of Jesus. Etc.

After Morison studying the Scriptures, he wrote “Who Moved the Stone?” published in 1930. Other
than being one of the best defenses written for Christ’s resurrection, it became the story of Morison’s
conversion to Christianity.

That is a by-product of learning how to read thoughtfully.

REFLECT!

Read the Book of Philemon. Approach the text thoughtfully by asking questions such as: Who are the
people involved? How are they related to each other? What was Paul saying? What issues have been
discussed? Are they relevant today? Is it applicable to you in any way? Etc.

Take note of the difference from how you read the Bible before trying to apply the skill of reading
thoughtfully and now that you applied it. Any difference? What did you learn? Share it to people you
know. It might bless them 

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