Tim Sean Youmans - Blessed to Bless: An Introduction to the Bible

Copyright 2020 by Tim Sean Youmans

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are taken from the Common English Bible, CEB Copyright 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The CEB and Common English Bible trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of the Common English Bible.

Scriptures marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Cover design by Jennifer Kopec, 2Pug Design
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Youmans, Tim Sean, author.

Title: Blessed to bless : an introduction to the Bible / Tim Sean Youmans.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019048944 (print) | LCCN 2019048945 (ebook) | ISBN 9781640652460 (paperback) | ISBN 9781640652477 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible--Introductions.

Classification: LCC BS475.3 .Y68 2020 (print) | LCC BS475.3 (ebook) | DDC 220.6/1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048944

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048945

for Succor Hill

... all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you. (Gen. 12:3)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Look, I myself with be with you every day until the end of this present age. (Matt. 28:1920)

M any people revere and respect the Bible, but very few people have actually read it. This is because the Bible can be very intimidating. Its a gargantuan collection of books, written long ago by over forty different authors. People disagree about how it should be read and what the stories mean. Blessed to Bless is a basic introduction to the Bible and those complexities.

What you read here is the result of an invitation given to the parents of fifth through eighth graders at Casady School in Oklahoma City, a pre-K through twelfth grade Episcopal preparatory day school. Middle school students at Casady move through a four-year survey of the Bible, studying the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians call the Old Testament) in the first three years and then they do an introduction of the Christian Scriptures (or the New Testament) in the fourth year. Parents are invited to read through the Bible during the school year following the same pace as their child. When we began, I expected fifteen or so to be interested. I was surprised when over ninety parents showed interest! A website was set up in which I posted the same reading assignments the students were given in class along with commentary. These have become the chapters of this book.

I often tell my students that religion (and in this case the Bible) is like baseball. It can be as complicated as you want it to be (with all the variables of pitcher and batter statistics, superstitions, and the like) or it can be simple (a bunch of folks playing catch). This introduction tries to be simple and basic, but at times will point out the potential complexities of certain stories and ideas within the Bible. It is far from a comprehensive explanation of the Bible, but it will serve you as a foundation for deeper study.

Does this book have a religious agenda? Yes and no. Casady School, like many Episcopal day schools, has students from a wide range of religious backgrounds. The schools population is comprised of Evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian families, as well as Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist families. We also have a number of nonreligious families, including intentionally science-driven secular families. Our school loves and respects these families; we do not aggressively attempt to proselytize our students.

On the other hand, because we respect our students and families, Im honest about my own faith and understanding of the scriptures. I am an Episcopal priest who was raised in a Baptist, evangelical home. I do think God is at work in the world, present in the day-to-day lives of people, and that the essence of those interactions and hopes are expressed within the Bible. That is why Ive entitled this book, Blessed to Bless. God blesses the entire world through the life of Jesus Christ and then invites us to join in this relational equation. Ultimately, I will be pointing this out to you as you move through the Bible, but it is done with respect for my diverse audience. I share Jesus, but I do so in the same way I sense Jesus shared himself: honestly, generously, and nonanxiously. As I walk you through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it is my hope that you will sense this at work.

This book is for people like these students and their parents. If you are a Christian and you want a basic introduction to the Bible, this book is for you. If you are not religious but you want to have a sense of what the Bible contains and what it means to Christians, this book is also for you. It can be read together as parent and child; it can be used with a group of parents reading the Bible together with their children, and it can be used for a Sunday school class for teens or adults. Its for all types of beginners as well as those who want a refresher of the scope of our salvation story.

How to Use This Book

Each chapter begins with a reading assignment from the Bible. Do not skip this. I write the commentary assuming you have read that particular text of scripture. If you skip it, the chapters content might seem to have a stranger rhythm than if you did read the biblical passage first. In order to get the most out of this survey, read the biblical text first, usually three to five Bible chapters (about the length of three to five normal pages), then read the guide here. Each chapter ends with a few questions for you to consider and discuss.

If you decide to read two chapters of this book each week, you will complete this survey of the Bible in about one years time, depending on your consistency. Keep in mind that you will not be reading the Bible in its entirety. This book is a survey, which introduces you to the larger framework of the Bible, not every word. Even so, if you read everything that is assigned, you will have read more of the Bible than the majority of the population, even most practicing Christians. And you will have a foundation upon which to read and study further.

Written on an eighth-grade reading level, there are times when I wanted to get into more complexity but chose not to do so. This is written for approximately the same age as those classroom students who inspired it, namely ten- to fifteen-year-olds. But there is no reason why it cannot be used for older teens and adults, especially ones who have no previous knowledge of the scriptures whatsoever. It is a basic introduction. Youll also notice places set aside in the text called BVC. This is short for