Hello and welcome to A Coffee Date with God! I'm assuming nearly all of y'all reading this post came here from my main blog, SS Jess. And I'm going to assume that you've noticed an aesthetic difference between this blog and my main. When creating this blog, I decided to keep it very simple. No need to purchase a custom domain name; no need to have a fancy layout design. Unlike SS Jess, I have no interest in really advertising A Coffee Date with God. I don't care to have a huge following or eventually monetize this little space. This is purely for my own benefit, and it's simply an added bonus if others want to follow me on my journey. And I hope you will despite the lack of wow factors.
So now that I've gotten that little disclaimer out of the way, read on for all the explanations that may be striking your curiosity. Fair warning, this is a long post.
Choosing a Translation
Deciding which Bible translation to use was a big decision for me. Reading the Bible is already hard enough; the last thing I wanted was for the particular translation I chose to make it even harder. This is why I've decided to stay away from the King James Version even though my mom swears it's the best out there. I just don't speak Shakespearean English. After a lot of research I narrowed down my choices to the New American Bible and the New International Version.
I'm Catholic, so I wanted to use a translation from my sect of the Christian faith. The official website for the Vatican references the New American Bible, and all my poking around the Internet informed me that the NAB is the typical translation used by Catholics. But I also frequently saw that the NAB is different from other translations in some places and that it would be wise to have a more widely used and trusted translation on hand in order to reference and cross check. Honestly, that just seemed like too much work.
So I've settled on the NIV. I've read that the NIV is very widely used and trusted by many because it is accurate but also more readable than other translations. I was hoping for a more word-for-word translation, but I think the NIV will be a good mix between word-for-word and thought-for-thought. Overall, it seemed like the best version for a first-time reader like myself.
Choosing a Reading Plan
Unfortunately, the Bible isn't like your average book. Reading it cover to cover, especially for the first time ever reading it, is just not the best way to go about reading God's Word. This is one big reason why I've never read the Bible; not being able to read it from start to finish has always caused a mental block for me. (I should say that you can read the Bible cover to cover. I've found reading plans for it. But I'm under the impression this plan is better for veteran Bible readers, not so much first-timers.) But after more research and opinions from others, I've decided that a chronological reading plan would be best for me.
History was always one of my worse subjects in school. I could never really get a grasp on it, and I know it's because I had a hard time following the sequence of events throughout history. For some reason, all my teachers liked to jump around, and it confused the absolute hell out of me. I feel like in order for me to understand God's Word and to gain insight from my journey through the Bible, I need to know the order in which things happened. I've heard from many that first-timers should start with the New Testament, but that kind of reading plan is just not speaking to me. I need to know if Noah or Moses came first. I need to know if David conquered Goliath before or after Jesus. These are all such basic stories from the Bible, but I have no idea where they fall on the timeline. Being able to read the Bible chronologically will be a huge factor in me being able to understand the Word of God.
Here's a link to my reading plan if you're interested. The plan is laid out in a way to read the Bible in one year, but I won't necessarily be following that. I know I'm not going to read the Bible every day. I might go two weeks without reading, which means posts on here won't be so predictable. But I still hope you'll keep up with A Coffee Date with God even though it'll take me multiple years to read the Word. I'm hoping to read frequently enough that I won't lose my focus and motivation.
Also, I've found some incredibly useful commentary to help me understand my readings.
Why am I reading the Bible?
I've always wanted to read the Bible. I just never got around to it. It's quite a daunting task to be totally honest. But now, at 23 years old, I feel I'm ready and willing to finally read the Word.
Reason #1
I'm an opinionated person, and I'll tell you exactly how I feel if you ask me. I firmly believe in that saying "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything." So I take time to research things, to get a grasp on things. And I do this because I want to be able to stand behind my views and opinions 100% and not waver in my beliefs. I hate wishy-washy, so I do all that I can to not be that.
At the same time, I'm totally honest if I don't have an opinion on something or if I'm not sure how to feel about a given topic. Right now, my faith is one of those things I feel like I don't know how to fully defend. Now, I believe in God, and there's nothing anyone could say to me to make me doubt the Lord. But I also feel like I don't have much to say to defend my beliefs to, say, an atheist or someone who's agnostic. If someone questions my faith, I want to be able to tell them exactly why they shouldn't question it.
And along those lines, my whole life I've only ever known the Bible through others. I've only been able to go on what other people have told me the Bible says. And quite frankly, I'm tired of being complacent and relying on the interpretations of other people. If I'm going to have an opinion on my faith and if I'm going to feel so strongly about it, I need to know the Word of God for myself.
Reason #2
Now that I'm on the cusp of my early and mid-twenties, I often think about the future, particularly my future husband and children and the kind of household I want to provide for my family. I guess these are my motherly instincts kicking in.
My mom did a great job at raising me. I went to Sunday school in elementary school, and after not going for a couple years, I returned to get confirmed and be part of a youth group my first two years of high school. And even though my mom and I didn't actively talk about God or faith very much at home, I never doubted His existence. Even through my rebellious phase, my beliefs never faltered. I want that same kind of environment for my future family. I want to raise my children Catholic and have them confirmed, but I'm not looking to have a Bible study every night around the dinner table or to have Bible verses displayed on every wall in my home. I simply want my family to know God exists and for each person to have his own personal relationship with the Lord.
That's how I am. I'm very private when it comes to my faith. I even questioned if I really wanted to create this blog because it's so out-of-character for me. I don't feel I'm called to lead people to God nor am I hoping reading the Bible will change that. I just want to be able to raise a good family one day. When I was a child, there weren't near as many outside factors (I'm sure there were plenty, but I was a kid, so obviously I didn't recognize them like I do now.) that contributed to child-rearing as there are today, and there will be even more once I have kids. I feel like I need to be solid in my faith in order to combat the outside factors that will affect my children because I'll be damned if the anti-religion mindset of someone else keeps my children from knowing God. And I know that I will need to lead my kids by example, first and foremost.
One Last Thing
I'm not trying to read through the Bible to disprove anything. I feel like many Bible thumpers out there try to argue with proven science and people of different faiths just for the sake of being right. That's not my goal at all. I believe in science, and I believe that religion and science can coexist. I don't believe that one is here to disprove the other and be in constant battle. I feel like science exists because God willed it be so. We have logic and facts for a reason, and I believe it entirely possible to use logic and reason to strengthen our relationship with God.
I also have no interest in changing the beliefs of others. Like I said, I, in no way, feel compelled to lead people to God. I respect other religions, other doctrines, other beliefs, and other mindsets. I don't see it as my job to change people's minds. I feel like my job is simply to be tolerant of those with whom I disagree. As far as I'm concerned, on Judgment Day we will learn who is right and who is wrong, so there is no point in fighting about it while we're here on Earth.
If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations! I know this was long, and I don't expect my future posts to be anywhere close to this length. But I just wanted to really explain why I'm reading the Bible and why I'm choosing the particular path that I am in order to do so. I just felt it important. I hope you'll continue to join me as I read God's Word, and I hope you'll offer your insight and thoughts if you find yourself with something to say. I really do want to hear from those of y'all who keep up with A Coffee Date with God.
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