Reading the Whole Bible In 1 Month?

26 Dec

The 30 Day Bible Shred

The 30 Day Bible Shred is one of my favourite bible reading plans. It's an absolute sprint through the bible, rather than a meandering year long reading plan that most people give up on when they get to Leviticus (speaking from experience). But why would you even want to attempt this somewhat intense and crazy experience?

I first encountered the Bible Shred in 2017 by an Instagram post from Nathan Finochio. The idea is simple - read the whole Bible in 30 days starting on 1st January. Entire books of the Bible are grouped together into large chunks to get you through it all. For example day 1 of reading includes Genesis chapters 1-42, Day 2 of reading includes Genesis chapter 43 to Exodus chapter 29. The point isn't to take your time and meditate on the word, but to "see the shape of the “tree” as opposed to studying “leaves.”". It is an uncomfortable exercise, but one that has some huge benefits every year I do it.

What could you get out of this?

1. Design patterns become a lot more obvious

Imagine watching one Marvel movie every couple of weeks. There may some things you pick up that are consistent across all the movies. But if you watched a Marvel movie marathon and watched them all in one sitting, you'd quickly see how the movies are tied together with various quotes and themes that are repeated throughout the films.

When you're reading entire chapters and books of the bible, you start to see these design patterns that parallel each other. For example, Exodus 3:5 and Joshua 5:15 both use the phrase "Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place that you're standing is holy" indicating a significant encounter moment that Moses and Joshua have with God. These two sections are quite far apart in the bible, but become very obvious when read only a few days in-between.

2. You can compare stories side by side

Many of the narratives in the bible were written to be compared to one another. For example on day 7 of the plan you read about the rise of King Saul and the story of his life, and then on day 8 you read about the life of King David. It's very easy to compare the two stories when you've read them both in their entirety right next to each other. You start to see intentional comparisons that the author is making of the people they're writing about. This is something that can easily be missed when you only read a few chapters at a time over a long period of time.

3. It can lay a foundation for bible reading and study for the rest of the year

Don't focus on the things that are confusing and odd. Take note of them, but the goal is to get an overview of the whole story rather than focus on the micro. By the end of this you'll likely have a list of observations and questions that you can then go on to study throughout the year.

4. It can consolidate everything you've learnt the previous year

After spending a year of studying and doing biblical devotions, going over the whole bible can bring together all the lessons you've learnt and show you how much you've grown. As more themes become obvious they can become solidified in your bible roadmap as you learn them.

Wow this sounds great! Is it hard to do!

Of course its hard to do! You're reading through 66 books in 30 days! In fact, you'll probably need to make time to do this. On average, it takes me anywhere between 2-3 hours A DAY of reading/listening to the bible to get through it on time.

2-3 hours a day! That’s crazy I don’t have that sort of time!

I reckon you do, have a look over what you're meditating on and you’ll see what you can change.

But the reality is that most of us have that time available to us, we just need to sacrifice a couple of things to prioritise this. You may need to need to cut out Netflix or Youtube or social media - I can promise you that it is worth it. Be aware of your infinity pools and make them hard to get to, and replace them with reading the bible.

Here are some tips that may help you through this

Do it with a group
1. If you're a part of a christian community, then see who else would be interested in doing this
Block out sections of time each day to commit to it
1. Maybe get up a little earlier each day to find the extra time, and cut out activities that may prevent you from committing to this
Use a translation that is easier to read
1. Translations such as NIV, NLT and ESV are often a bit easier to read as they lean towards translating ideas and themes rather than exact working
2. Whereas NASB and NKJV focus more on literal word for word translations requiring a bit more mental effort to process
Use a narration if easier
1. Purchase and download an audio book of the bible, or some translations in the Youversion Bible App allow you to stream a voice over narration
Take notes
1. Take note of everything that doesn't make sense
  1. Use a notepad or notes app to capture those questions, and then leave them alone
2. Take note of everything that does make sense
  1. Write down things that now make sense, they're evidence of your bible roadmap developing
If you fall behind, don't give up, but try to catch up
1. Don't feel shame or guilt if you fall behind. The reality is that we all have active lives and things will probably prevent you from doing this on time
2. But do what you can to catch up on readings you miss!
If you still keep falling behind, still don't give up
1. Even if this takes you more than 30 days, completing the Bible Shred is a huge accomplishment!
2. Many Christians struggle to read the whole bible within a year, let along within 30-40 days

Overall keep in mind the goal - you're looking over the whole tree from its roots to the topmost branches, rather than studying each individual leaf.

There is a reading plan available on the YouVersion Bible app and on Nathan's website - http://www.nathanfinochio.ca/shred

Reading Plans

Luke Quinlivan