When I was 14, I read through the Bible in four months. I finished up on Christmas Eve, just before leaving for my grandparent's house to open presents. Over the next few years while I was in high school, I started memorizing Scripture. Every morning I would grab a verse from my reading, write it on my calendar and work on it throughout the day at school. In short order I had buckets full of Scripture memorized, all of Romans 6, a few Psalms, and I made sure I knew something by heart from every book of the Bible.
Why do I mention all of this? Because if I tried to do this kind of thing now, my brain would overheat and seize up.
I don't know if it's just something that comes with age, or the way my brain categorizes information now. Obviously I haven't stopped learning - I'm a whole lot wiser now than when I was 19 (and thought I ruled the universe). And the knowledge I now possess, whether theological, marital, culinary, mechanical or what have you would put a "Blaine" half my age to shame.
Whatever the case, attempts at deliberate Scripture memorization are difficult for me and, well, annoying. Now, instead of memorization, I become familiar with, conversant in and knowledgeable of Scripture through sheer use. I know where things are in the Bible, but I'd be hard pressed to give any specific references that I didn't learn before I was, say, 25.
Whatever the case, attempts at deliberate Scripture memorization are difficult for me and, well, annoying. Now, instead of memorization, I become familiar with, conversant in and knowledgeable of Scripture through sheer use. I know where things are in the Bible, but I'd be hard pressed to give any specific references that I didn't learn before I was, say, 25.
So what's your experience? You may be a regular Hank Hanegraaff with a steel trap memory or just a regular Joe who struggles with memorization like me. How do you hide the Word?
2 comments:
agreed - chunks are hard (to brag on my kids a bit, they all memorized James this year - 1 chapter at a time, but they got the whole thing...i tried keeping up last year when they did john 15, but eventually couldn't...ouch!)
like all folks, i often know where a passage is located on the actual page better than i even know what book it's in.
i think growing in appreciation for systematics has actually helped me more than anything in the last few years on this front..."oh, that doctrine is taught in passages in John 1, 6 and 10, Romans 9 and Ephesians 1, 1 Peter 1...that one is Mark 1, John 1 and 20, Romans 5, Colossians 1, Titus 2, Hebrews 1...while in a worst case scenario this might lead to chopping up Scripture into disconnected blocks, and is something to be on guard against, it has helped me a lot, nevertheless.
lastly, getting an better handle on the overall flow of an epistle is helpful (and may guard against the above risk)...not so much resulting in chapter and verse memoriztion, but knowing what part of the larger argument a passage plays gets you closer to knowing where it lies in Scripture.
even though i don't do it enough and do find it harder than i used to, i think memorizing larger portions should remain a priority for when inevitable persecution comes...
I love reading the epistles all in one chunk - individual letters, that is - and it's wonderful the way everything dovetails when you read all the letters. Of course, we would expect all of Scripture to do this ;).
Your final paragraph: Remember Fahrenheit 451? The part near the end when Montag runs off into the forest and finds a group of "runaways" who, with their collective memories are able to recite the Bible and other works of literature?
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