30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes a Day by Max Anders - Book Report/Review Example

? 30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes a Day by Max Anders The book 30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes a Day is written by Max Anders. He was honored with his Doctor of Theology degree from the Western Seminary and his Master of Theology degree from the Dallas Theological Seminary. In January 1999, he was appointed as the Senior Pastor of the Castleview Baptist Church. Previously, he was a college professor and an adjunct professor at a seminary, and also an instructor. Max Anders has penned twenty books, including a ten-volume series called What You Need to Know About the Bible. He is also the original developer as well of the general editor of The Holman New Testament Commentary. This book is divided into three sections; each of them being further branched out into chapters, which further have sub chapters. This is to give the reader the complete summary of the contents of the Bible in a concise and organized manner. But at the same time, Max Anders makes sure not to skip out on any important material. The first section is titled ‘The Story of the Old Testament’. This part has sixteen chapters which cover in around a hundred pages in total. The first chapter is called ‘The Structure of the Bible’ in which the author starts off with talking about how the Bible can be very easily divided into two main divisions, mainly the Old Testament and the New Testament. In all, there are a total of sixty six books which form the complete Bible. The Old Testament starts off right from the beginning of time, about how everything was created. This part narrates the stories about God, the lives of the Jewish people, their poets and also the prophets they had till the time Jesus Christ was born. The Old Testament consists of thirty nine books which have been penned by twenty eight authors over a time period of around two thousand years. In the New Testament, there is the record of how Jesus Christ was born, how he spent his life teaching Christianity, his ministry and also that of his disciplines that was carried on even after the crucifixion of Christ. The New Testament consists of twenty seven books which are written by nine authors in a time span of under a hundred years. To understand the Old Testament well, one must focus on dividing it further into various categories, three categories to be specific. The first is the Historical, which has seventeen books under it. Eleven of these are Primary Historical Books that is; these focus on retelling the history of Israel, the Hebrew nation. Six of these are the Secondary Historical Books that is; they repeat the content of the primary historical books in detail. The second category is Poetical, which has five books under it. The third is Prophetical under which come the last seventeen books. Their texts talk about the prophecy of Israel. The author has also added a ‘Time Line of Old Testament’ diagram in the book in the Introduction, so that can be put into use when going through this chapter of the book. Similarly, the New Testament can also be divided into three types of books. The first one is Historical and this consists of the first five books. The matter in these texts is about the four gospels and also the book of Acts, including the story on Jesus and the Church. To understand the whole New Testament properly, it is necessary to read these five books. The second category is Pauline Epistles which has the next thirteen books in it; nine of these are to the Churches and the next four of them to the Individuals. These books have letters which were once penned by Paul who was one of the apostles. The third one is General Epistles, which has the last nine books in it. These books are a compilation of letters which were once addressed to certain individuals and congregations by various people. Both the epistles mostly give out instructions on the Christian doctrine and the lifestyle a believer should follow. The second chapter is called ‘The Geography of the Old Testament’. The content of this chapter is to give the reader some knowhow about geography as that is necessary to gain some perspective over some of the events that are talked about in the Bible. Having the knowledge of the names, locations and also the distances between significant geographical locations is quite helpful. If the geography is not paid attention to, one way not be able to understand the happenings properly. This chapter starts off with focusing on the various bodies of water as figuring them out would help a lot with understanding the geography of the Bible. The first important body of water is the Mediterranean Sea as to east of this is where the Israel lies and that land is what the Old Testament is mostly about. The second one is the Sea of Galilee, which is a fresh water lake as long as fourteen miles and the width is seven miles. It is situated inland of the Mediterranean Sea for around thirty six miles. The Jordan River is the third one. It flows to the southern direction of the Sea of Galilee for thirty five miles, ending up in the Dead Sea. The fourth is the Dead Sea itself which is located at the complete south; it is around three thousand feet under sea level. The result is that the water manages to enter but not flow out, leading to a high deposit of minerals which makes it impossible for any living creatures to survive there. The river of Nile is the fifth one. This river flows through Egypt’s center and ends in the Mediterranean Sea. Next come the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, also known as the twin rivers. They flow for around a thousand miles on their own till they merge and their flow is deposited in the Persian Gulf. The last and final body of water to be mentioned is the Persian Gulf which is a means of separating Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Along with the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, the Persian Gulf is the far eastern boundary of Israel. The important locations talked about in the Bible are discussed next. The first, most obvious one is, of course, the Garden of Eden. This is assumed to be next to four rivers, two of them to be the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. Next comes the country Canaan or Israel or Palestine. These are situated amongst the midst of the Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Galilee, the river of Jordan and also the Dead Sea. This piece of land has a number of names over a period of time in the Old Testament. It is called Canaan in the Genesis, Israel in the book of Joshua. After a time span of thirteen hundred years, it is named Palestine. This is mentioned in the starting of the New Testament. After this comes Jerusalem which lies to the north west side of the Dead Sea, among some mountains in Israel. Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel and plays a central role in the story told in the Old Testament. Egypt is considered to be where the ancient civilization started and also has a main role in the Old Testament. Assyria is situated at the head of the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. This country is talked about in the Old Testament as one which conquered the North of Israel and dispersed the country’s people. Babylonia is another country which is known for conquering Assyria and the south of Judah. This was one hundred and thirty six years after Assyria had conquered the North of Israel. This land lies in Mesopotamia in the midst of the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. Then there is Persia, another historical superpower. It is situated at the north of the Persian Gulf and has a role in the Old Testament. This is because it conquers Babylonia and allows the Hebrews to come back and start a new life, rebuild Jerusalem and bring back their temple worshipping. To help make this clear, the author has added the maps of these countries and bodies of river which seems quite similar to the state of Texas. The title of the third chapter is ‘The Historical Books’. It tells how the text in the Bible can be divided into around twelve main eras, including a central figure as well as a key location for every era. Out of these twelve eras, nine of them are talked about in the Old Testament, whereas as the rest three of them play a role in the New Testament. The first main era of the Old Testament is when God created the universe and the man and other things which allow the living creatures to survive on land. Also, certain early events are also included. These refer to the descent of Adam to earth due to the disregard of the orders of God. It is about how Eve and Adam were tempted by Satan and, as punishment, were sent away from heaven. The second era is the Patriarch. This era covers over a time span of around twenty years during which the Hebrews were born to a family of patriarchs. These happenings took place during the time of the prophet Abraham. The third era is the Exodus regarding the time when the Hebrew people migrated after being slaves for over four hundred years in Egypt. This happened when Moses was the prophet of the people. Then there is the Conquest where the Hebrews conquer back their land once they come back from Egypt. This took place during the time of Joshua. This period is followed by the era of the Judges which covered a time span of four hundred years. During this time, Israel was governed by some rulers who were called judges. This was when Samson was the prophet. Then there is the Kingdom, this era lasts for around four hundred years. Israel transforms into a nation under a monarch during this time period. This was when David was the prophet of the people. There is Exile which covers around seventy years during which the leaders of Israel had to live in exile as they were conquered by other countries. This event took place under Daniel’s prophet hood. This era is followed by the Return in which Jews who were once exiled returned back to Jerusalem and built the city back, and also the temples. During this time, Ezra was the prophet. Lastly, there is the era of Silence regarding the four hundred year time span between the Old Testament and the New Testament. This was during the time of the Pharisees who were a political party, also a social movement and followed a particular school of thought. There is another map inserted by the author which shows the ongoing movement in the Old Testament during the above mentioned eras. The fourth chapter is called ‘The Creation Era’. The content of this chapter is taken from the Genesis 1 – 11. It starts off with how Adam was the first human being that was created by God. Instead of listening and following every of God’s commands, he sinned and that led to God changing the original plan that He meant for all mankind. There are four major events happening during the Creation era. The first one is the creation of universe and everything that belongs to it, including Adam. There is a belief of how man is created in the image of God. Following that concept, Adam and Eve are created in a similar way, too. The second one is the fall of the human. The first sin that was ever committed was when Satan lured Adam and Eve and convinced them to break off the apple from a tree in heaven, thus ignoring God’s wishes, and, in effect, rebelling against Him. The result is that they are sent away from the Garden of Eden, and down to earth. This was the start of sinning. This was the why every man till now suffers from pain, it is due to the evil which started such a long time ago, the effect of which is still felt by all mankind today. The third one is about the flood, which is connected to the sinning talked about above. As the concept of sinning entered, mankind continued to disregard God’s instructions of how to live and continued to choose the wrong path. Till, eventually, there were just eight people who were living righteously, following God’s wishes. This resulted in God commanding water to flood the whole world, to destroy all the people due to all the number of sins which were committed by them. Only Noah and his family were excused due to their loyalty to God. Lastly, there is the account of the Tower of Babel. After the flood, God commanded all mankind to diversify to various areas and populate them. Instead, they disobeyed him and all stayed at the same place. This was a time when all the people spoke the same language. They honed their talent in construction and decided to build a Tower so high that it would reach heaven; it was called the Tower of Babel. When God saw this, He realized that the building would only result in His people straying away from Him. To stop that from happening, He caused everyone to speak different languages. This led to them not being able to understand each other, thus, they were unable to complete the building. In effect, the people of different languages spread out to four corners of the planet and nations started to be being born. The fifth chapter is called ‘The Patriarch Era’ and the matter of this part is taken from Genesis 12 – 50. This was the period when the prophets were emerging from the same family. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph were all from one family but of different generations. These prophets were the rulers of the Hebrew people during the beginning of their existence. The time spent as slaves in Egypt enabled in making the Hebrew people even more spiritual, and under their prophets, they emerged as a great, thriving nation. Abraham was the first major prophet sent by God and was generally considered as the father of the Hebrews. God wanted his creations – the human beings – to go through redemption and make the right choices in life. To put the plan in motion, He wanted to have someone who would portray Him and spread His word to the people who were not quite on the right track. To perform this task, God chose Abraham. The prophet was promised a country, several descendants and also God’s blessing. Before prophet hood, Abraham used to reside near the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. It was God who guided him to live at Canaan with his sons Ishmael and Isaac. The mantle is carried down and passed on to Isaac, one of Abraham’s sons. It was during his lifetime that many important miracles were witnessed by the people. He lived a thriving life and died of old age, leaving behind his two sons Esau and Jacob to carry on the family. God follows His word and fulfills his promises to Abraham. The prophet hood was then passed on to Isaac’s younger son Jacob. As a youth, Jacob is a sly creature but he soon turns over a new leaf and turns into a good man. He has a progeny consisting of twelve sons, all of whom are blessed with the promises made to Abraham. His sons had their own families which turned into the twelve tribes of Israel, whose father was Jacob. Next, it is Jacob’s son Joseph who becomes a prophet. He was sold as a slave by his eleven brothers who had no sense of religion or worshipping God. As a slave, Joseph is transported to Egypt. Over there, due to his righteousness, his position rises till he becomes a great leader of the land. After his dead, his followers are enslaved for over a long period of four hundred years. It is this suffering which makes the Hebrew people rethink their life decisions and beg to God for escape from their misery. The sixth chapter is ‘The Exodus Era’. This was the movement when the Israelites were freed from their slavery in the land of Egypt and went back to Canaan. The book of Numbers states that there were an approximate of 2.5 to 3 million people who migrated from Egypt to Canaan. It was also during this period when God performed great miracles which have been mentioned in the Bible. Moses was the one who headed this move. It was through him that God relieved the Hebrew people from the slavery and then sent them more life guides to follow. There are four main happenings which took place during the Exodus Era. The first one was Deliverance. This refers to how God helps Moses to plan how to free the Hebrews from the slavery they had suffered through for four hundred long years. The Pharaoh does not agree and ten plagues are imposed on the country to pressurize the ruler in letting the Hebrew people leave. He does agree, but only to take his word back later. The Hebrews had travelled to the Red Sea when the Pharaoh reached there. God gave Moses the power to part the Sea and the Hebrews were able to walk across it. The water then flowed back to create a barrier between the Egyptians and the Hebrews so the latter could continue on their journey without being captured again. They went back to living on their homeland. The second was the Law. This was the period when the Hebrews got together as one, the land was called Israel and they were its people. The Israelites travelled southwards towards the bottom of South Peninsula and camped at Mount Sinai. It was this mountain that Moses climbed alone to meet God and here God’s Ten Commandments were revealed to him. There was also a revelation regarding the Law which was to be followed by the Israelites about how they should live their life. In this God assures His blessings for the obedient followers in abundance and curses for those who ignore the Law. In the first section of the book, the chapters’ seven to twelve are regarding the rest of the eras that have been mentioned earlier. Chapters thirteen and fourteen are about the Poetical and Prophetical Books. The second section is titled ‘The Story of the New Testament’ and has just five chapters. The text in them talks of the Geography referred to in the New Testament; the Gospel, Church and Missions Eras; and also the Epistles. Section three is called ‘The Ten Great Doctrines of the Bible’ and it has eleven chapters in it. The first one gives an overview of the Bible Doctrines whilst the rest describe the doctrines. There are the doctrines of Bible, God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Angels, Man, Sin, Salvation, Church and finally, the Future Things. These three sections are followed by a Conclusion written by the author and then the Summary of the Bible. Anders miraculously manages to summarize What the Bible Teaches in just a 1000 words. He has another passage written on the Message and Story of the Bible, and also its History. Lastly, there are the Ten Great Doctrines of the Bible written. Max Anders’ 30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes a Day is quite a helpful book, particularly in this day and age when one does not have the time to sit and read the Bible, know what God wants. This book allows the reader to understand what the religion is all about in a simple and easy manner. At the same hand, it does not leave out any important matter either; it has all been given in a very concise, yet understandable manner. Anders’ book is very organized and shows everything in a step by step manner. There are even some maps where required so that the reader can connect everything that he has read with the diagrams in front of him. It makes the whole scenario clearer and more comprehendible. It is most definitely a book that a believer who wants to know more about his religion or the Bible should pick up. Particularly due to its quality of giving facts straight out in this period of time when we live such busy lives and cannot spare many moments trying to read and decipher the Scripture. Bibliography Anders, Max. 30 Days to Understanding the Bible in 15 Minutes in a Day. Thomas Nelson, 1998. Read More