{"id":6428,"date":"2021-05-12T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T16:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/?p=6428"},"modified":"2021-05-12T11:51:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T16:51:13","slug":"i-just-cant-stop-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/i-just-cant-stop-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"I Just Can\u2019t Stop Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Molly Jo Nyman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is complicated. What if reading the Bible wasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Imagine a gathering of people with only God\u2019s Word in their hands. No DVD curricula, no workbooks; simply a story, if you will, with no chapter and verse numbers, section headings, or footnotes. And after reading this Bible, imagine a discussion with no big agenda or intimidating questions. Instead, there\u2019s simply conversation around questions you can\u2019t get wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the unique atmosphere created by Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience<\/a><\/em>, and Nancy Tang was excited to share the impact it\u2019s had within the church in Minnesota where she coordinates small groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been loving the Immerse Bible series and have several groups reading. My group is on the fourth of six books, and we thoroughly enjoy spending time together simply reading the Word of God,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the goal of providing the best reading experience, <\/a>Immerse<\/a> has a one-column layout that\u2019s free of distractions. At a glance, it looks like an ordinary novel rather than God\u2019s anointed revelation. For Tang and others, this new approach is subtle, even imperceptible, but delivers innumerable benefits and profound impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether readers are well-studied Christians or those opening the Bible for the first time, Immerse<\/a> facilitates an unhindered awareness of God\u2019s Word. And without the added verses numbers, chapter breaks, and other markers that were not in the original text, it encourages reading longer portions of the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tang said, \u201cThere is something interesting that happens to my brain when I read without the headings. Someone in my group said, \u2018I\u2019ve read the Bible before, so I don\u2019t know why this time is so different, but I just love it!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI invited a group of eight women to my home (pre-COVID) each Sunday afternoon to read through the Immerse: Messiah<\/a><\/em> book. Each person in the group knew me but had no connection to each other prior to our meeting. Our 16 weeks together turned out to be a huge blessing. The women got to know each other, and it was great to see how our own experiences lent to the discussions. We had a mix of women who were new to reading the Bible and those who had read parts of it over many years. In either case, I often heard the comment \u2018I didn\u2019t know that was in the Bible,\u2019 or \u2018I didn\u2019t know that was the meaning.\u2019 It was rewarding to be with these women and watch the Word come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanne Schroeder is also involved at Tang\u2019s church and noted the impact she\u2019s experienced and observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve been using the Immerse Bible<\/a> books in our women\u2019s small group and have had a very positive response. The women have remarked that they\u2019ve never been able to read through the Bible in this way before. Someone said, \u2018I start reading the daily portion and find that I just keep reading well beyond that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to reading like a story, there\u2019s also the support of reading it with others. Schroeder continued, \u201cSeveral women are reading portions of the Scriptures that they either just missed or skipped before because they were difficult, but in this study with others, they are getting more understanding from what they are reading. The four questions help us to focus on listening to God\u2019s Spirit as we read and discuss His Word together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI especially like that it is given to us in the New Living Translation, which is very readable and gives a new perspective on the familiar passages as well as the more obscure passages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another church member, Wendy Seelhoff, added what might be the most impressive response to Immerse. Just a few women responded to her invitation to read every Tuesday evening, but they enjoyed it so much that the group grew, and they have consistently read together for almost two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seelhoff said, \u201cAfter we finished reading all six books, we enjoyed it so much that we decided to start all over again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Photos are not of group participants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Molly Jo Nyman Life is complicated. What if reading the Bible wasn\u2019t? Imagine a gathering of people with only God\u2019s Word in their hands. No DVD curricula, no workbooks; simply a story, if you will, with no chapter and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":6435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,12,23,10,4,22],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6438,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions\/6438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/tyndalebibles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}