James is the best NT book

[Brickjectivity]

Hands down its the easiest to read, is short and yet it continues to 'Age' with you as you learn. Its a nexus to which Bible readers can refer and which is like a key to understanding many of the books. The easiest way to find James is to look it up online, but in a typical paper Bible it is located towards the end of the 'New Testament' section, just before the books called Peter, John1,2,3, and Revelation.

Its main message: "Be wise, but don't talk so much;" but it has so many others!

Its got juicy mysterious phrases: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." James 1:18

You want to study the 'Bible'? If you have a Christian background this book is the one to memorize. If you're new to 'Religion', James is only 5 chapters long, and you will go up 2 or 3 levels just by reading it once. It is an awesome letter that propounds some of the central teachings common among Christians of the earliest times. You don't have to understand Pauline lectures, or sermons or much at all to read James the first time. There may be some things you will want to look up, but that is ok. Its a great place to start.

 

[Shiranui117]

TBH, I absolutely love James. It was the first NT book I finished reading after the Gospels, and that thing is chock-full of quotable quotes.

 

[crossfire]

The Book of James is one of my favorites.

 

[Muffled]

Hands down its the easiest to read, is short and yet it continues to 'Age' with you as you learn. Its a nexus to which Bible readers can refer and which is like a key to understanding many of the books. The easiest way to find James is to look it up online, but in a typical paper Bible it is located towards the end of the 'New Testament' section, just before the books called Peter, John1,2,3, and Revelation.

Its main message: "Be wise, but don't talk so much;" but it has so many others!

Its got juicy mysterious phrases: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." James 1:18

You want to study the 'Bible'? If you have a Christian background this book is the one to memorize. If you're new to 'Religion', James is only 5 chapters long, and you will go up 2 or 3 levels just by reading it once. It is an awesome letter that propounds some of the central teachings common among Christians of the earliest times. You don't have to understand Pauline lectures, or sermons or much at all to read James the first time. There may be some things you will want to look up, but that is ok. Its a great place to start.

My sunday school teacher told me to start with John. It was good advice because later in life it led to my salvation. Granted spiritual things are less easily understood but without spiritual enlightenment, what have you got? I read Proverbs in High School. It had lots of wisdom but very little spiritual insight.

 

[Brickjectivity]

My sunday school teacher told me to start with John. It was good advice because later in life it led to my salvation. Granted spiritual things are less easily understood but without spiritual enlightenment, what have you got? I read Proverbs in High School. It had lots of wisdom but very little spiritual insight.

Hi Muffled. Yes, my sunday school teacher said that too, and it got me baptized at age 7. From there I advanced through the ranks of wisdom and awesomeness until I arrived at my current level, and I say start with James. Nevertheless, James probably thought John was cool. Ok, you can read John first, but make sure you read James or its like playing UNO without any SKIP or REVERSE cards.


I'm giving you a real frubal for your reply --- not one of those fake frubals so many people got thousands of in the Frubal Frenzy of '49.

 

[jtartar]

Hands down its the easiest to read, is short and yet it continues to 'Age' with you as you learn. Its a nexus to which Bible readers can refer and which is like a key to understanding many of the books. The easiest way to find James is to look it up online, but in a typical paper Bible it is located towards the end of the 'New Testament' section, just before the books called Peter, John1,2,3, and Revelation.

Its main message: "Be wise, but don't talk so much;" but it has so many others!

Its got juicy mysterious phrases: "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." James 1:18

You want to study the 'Bible'? If you have a Christian background this book is the one to memorize. If you're new to 'Religion', James is only 5 chapters long, and you will go up 2 or 3 levels just by reading it once. It is an awesome letter that propounds some of the central teachings common among Christians of the earliest times. You don't have to understand Pauline lectures, or sermons or much at all to read James the first time. There may be some things you will want to look up, but that is ok. Its a great place to start.

Brickjectivity,
You definitely cannot go wrong with James!!
I believe myself that it you are a beginning Christian, or one that has not had a lot of time to study the Bible, First and second Corinthians should be studied because it has so many things about how Christianity should be practiced.
There is disputing about which Gospel book was the first to be written. It seems to me that it was Mark, because it was so much shorter, and it gave the other Gospel writers leaway to expand on his writing. If the other Gospels were written first, it would seem odd to me that Mark would write a book that did no expanding on what was already written.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I believe myself that it you are a beginning Christian, or one that has not had a lot of time to study the Bible, First and second Corinthians should be studied because it has so many things about how Christianity should be practiced.

I agree you have to teach children how to live, so James by itself would not be enough. Definitely you'd want some basics. I would want certain things specifically addressed by elders for any new person reading the Corinthian letters. Corinthians comments on Jewish laws and cultures, and it uses figures of speech that aren't familiar. That isn't obvious at first, so a lot of beginning Christians get confused about it, particularly 1 Corinthians 7 which talks about marriages, factions (slavery), and virgins. Without experience elders, often new christians or new independent churches (as they age) go through an obsession with virginity, with marriages that look perfect to outsiders but are nasty on the inside and get involved with factional posturing. They drag scripture into a political arena, seemingly with the best of intentions. New independent churches, one by one, go through these common stages where they discover the hard way things that other churches have already learned and could have shared with them. Many problems can be avoided by having some mature people around who've lived the story. Sometimes marriage becomes so terrifying and risky, girls become afraid to get married, particularly if non-virgins are marginalized. Sometimes arguing is given a shrine in the temple right next to Jesus, because this little bit about 'Slavery' is not seen as a comment about factionalism. While I agree Corinthians can provide material not present in James, experienced elders should be the first ones to comment upon it, people who've lived a while and have proven their good sense. I Corinthians 11 has some confusing things in it about hair, and its very difficult to figure out what the man is talking about hair for. Its just hair, isn't it? Next thing you know, you've got Christian churches with women wearing tiny little hats but who don't know why they're wearing tiny little hats.

 

[Quagmire]

not really, but that's king james for you, or so I thought.

This thread is supposed to be about the Epistle of James (otherwise known as the Book of James) Epistle of James - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not the King James Bible.

 

[Xchristian]

accept my apologies please. if an admin can remove my contribs I will be grateful. thanks

 

[Desert Snake]

accept my apologies please. if an admin can remove my contribs I will be grateful. thanks

It's an easy mistake to make. Romans is good too, IMO.

 

[Quagmire]

accept my apologies please. if an admin can remove my contribs I will be grateful. thanks

Done.

 

[Muffled]

Hi Muffled. Yes, my sunday school teacher said that too, and it got me baptized at age 7. From there I advanced through the ranks of wisdom and awesomeness until I arrived at my current level, and I say start with James. Nevertheless, James probably thought John was cool. Ok, you can read John first, but make sure you read James or its like playing UNO without any SKIP or REVERSE cards.


I'm giving you a real frubal for your reply --- not one of those fake frubals so many people got thousands of in the Frubal Frenzy of '49.

I do not view James as a sjip or reverse book (card). I also believe Romans explains things better.

 

[Muffled]

This thread is supposed to be about the Epistle of James (otherwise known as the Book of James) Epistle of James - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not the King James Bible.

I believe you are incorrect because the OP states that there is a comparison to other books of the NT.

 

[Muffled]

Brickjectivity,
You definitely cannot go wrong with James!!
I believe myself that it you are a beginning Christian, or one that has not had a lot of time to study the Bible, First and second Corinthians should be studied because it has so many things about how Christianity should be practiced.
There is disputing about which Gospel book was the first to be written. It seems to me that it was Mark, because it was so much shorter, and it gave the other Gospel writers leaway to expand on his writing. If the other Gospels were written first, it would seem odd to me that Mark would write a book that did no expanding on what was already written.

I think you are thinking more in the way of a Christian disciple, one who has already received Jesus but I am not sure that majoring in religion is beneficial for a beginnier.

I think Luke would serve better since it gives a complete Gospel without relating back to Hebrew scripture as Matthew does or focusing on the spiritual aspects as John does.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Thanks for your reply. I'm sure James would humbly accept your suggestion, and Paul would be surprised at having his letters be considered scripture. James would be like, "Well, I guess its ok if Paul thinks so, but why not just read the Tanach instead?" Mary would probably say "No, no James is smarter than Paul any day."