Bible Verse Memorization

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DTSMA68 said:
Can someone recommend a book or website on learning how to memorize bible verses?

Thanks,
Rob
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At the risk of sounding sarcastic, how about just reading the Bible itself?

Read it every day, five minutes each day, as you chew your Captain Crunch in the morning, and slowly, over time - I’m talking years - you will be able to recall whole paragraphs and sections. And the parts you can’t recall word for word will be familiar enough for you to be able to recall the general gist and so know where to look.

I wonder what the rush is. That’s not the way the Holy Spirit works. You can’t force the word of God on yourself, let alone other people.

-Tim-
 
I heard a book advertised some time ago, forget where, for memorising the Commandments, Seven Virtues, Seven Deadly Sins, Mysteries of the Rosary, &c, &c.

Anybody heard of it, know the exact title? Thanx.
 
DTSMA68 said:
Can someone recommend a book or website on learning how to memorize bible verses?

Thanks,
Rob
Click to expand...
I almost had the sermon on the mount memorized Mt 5 - 6 -7. I’ll tell you why I didn’t quite get there when I am done. This is how I did it:

First for thrity days - pick your time - but enought to really get the three chapters in mind; for thirty days I read all three chapters every day.

Then I picked out four or five verses say the first lines of chapter 5, : “seeing the croweds He wind up the hill and when His disciples came to Him, He sat down opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying.”

I would read this for 29 minutes over and over and over. I am telling you that is a long time. Then, and this is what does the trick BUT DO NOT DO this UNTIL you have read it a million times… then I underlined the verbs seeing, went up… sat down… opening … teach

each one of those verbs I made a silly picture and make sure — this is crucial… made sure the pictures where joined together; eg, I would see myself with some out-ragious bernaculars seeing a giant crowd coming at me, while my foot is caught in an elevator that sayw “going up”… the elevator get to the top and get out set down and low and behold the crowd comes to me… suddenly my mouth opens the size of Mamouth Cave and out of it you see my tough with a teacher on it …

Now at first you will be timpted to make the picture, but do not… first do the sweat work then make the pictures make sure in making the pictures that you can clearly see how they (the pictures) are attached to each other - this after reading a hunder times is the MOSt crucial part of this…

People that know me know I am no brain; in fact, I am not trying to being a phony Mr Humbe it is just I learn a little slow; but this method got me a degree in accounting from a tough school - no great grades but if you knew how slow I am you wojld be surprise and when I quote scripture I really impress people. This has helped my humility beyond reason… just kidding.

Do this; ie , memorize scipture it is one of the most rewarding system to get close to God I was thinking of doing it for the Mass as it is the crown jewel of our faith.

The reason I did not complete the three chapters? 1 i did not make s special effort to keep the pictures together I still can garble through. And when someone talks about the Sermon on the Mount I can see the pages like they are in front of me.

Do it I know kids that memorize books of the bible…I knew an old man that had the whole NT memorize you could give him chapter and verse… he was no … for got the name you know people that can do … saphont… that is the name

sorry for the poor spelling I am in a hurry.
 
I highly recommend Bible memorization, not so you can quote them in an argument or impress people, but so you will know where in the Bible certain verses are without resorting to a concordance. It simply increases your general knowledge of the Bible because you do get an understanding of the context; you can’t help it. And the verses do come back when you need them. The Holy Spirit will use the verses you memorize. The more you memorize the better.

Maybe those who discourage you from trying it have never seriously tried it themselves. I can speak with confidence on this issue because when I was younger I packed away over 500 verses using the Navigators program.

I can understand that some people may discourage memorization because they think you will not see the forest for the trees and will be quoting out of context. I think that Bible reading from cover to cover (or listening to the entire audio Bible over and over) plus Bible memorization make a great pair.

The big decision is what translation to use. My memorization work was in the New American Standard Bible when I was a Protestant. Because of that I feel an attachment to that translation even though my main Bible is now the RSV-CE.
 
Just to qualify what I said before: I’m not so much against memorizing passages and pericopes per se as to memorizing individual verses only, treating the Bible as if it is a collection of verses. Now there are verses which could stand alone by themselves, but otherwise I’d rather that people memorize two consecutive verses instead of one, three instead of two, one chapter instead of one verse etc. whenever and if they could.

And yes, I’ve never seriously tried memorizing by verse, because I tended to ignore numbers in the printed word in my youth for some reason (must be why I’m so bad at Math). 😛

BTW, is anyone willing to develop a new system of dividing passages?
 
patrick457 said:
Just to qualify what I said before: I’m not so much against memorizing passages and pericopes per se as to memorizing individual verses only, treating the Bible as if it is a collection of verses. Now there are verses which could stand alone by themselves, but otherwise I’d rather that people memorize two consecutive verses instead of one, three instead of two, one chapter instead of one verse etc. whenever and if they could.

And yes, I’ve never seriously tried memorizing by verse, because I tended to ignore numbers in the printed word in my youth for some reason (must be why I’m so bad at Math). 😛

BTW, is anyone willing to develop a new system of dividing passages?
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I would echo this comment and add to it. There is nothing wrong with memorization in and of itself, but I questioned the motive behind the OP’s wanting to do so.

I live in the deep south and Evangelicals are often all too eager to use the Bible as a machine gun and individual verses as bullets, and will simply pelt you with verses until you are exhausted and give up. They invariably fail to take into account the social, economic, political and religious context under which the author wrote, the audience which the biblical character is addressing, etc., and as such are very prone to intepreting a passage in the context of our modern life. In so doing, verses are often applied to situations which the authors - human and divine - were not trying to address. That’s how we get whacky things like the rapture.

Memorizing two concective verses is better than one, three certainly better than two, and whole paragraphs preferrable to that. But what is best is a thourough understanding of what the the author was trying to convey and what it is that God wants us to know - the ideas and teaching behind the verse. Memorizing verses, expecially as a Catholic, is secondary to understanding the teaching of scripture as a whole.

We get it once in a while here on CAF - someone who comes on and says, “Hey, I’m arguing with a non-Catholic over on facebook. Here is what he said. Can anyone give me a Bible verse to prove him wrong?” That does no one any good and only illustrates how the person really needs to start reading the Bible on a long term, consistent basis, for the sake of his own salvation. I hope that is what the OP is after.

-Tim-
 
Somebody actually sent me a message asking this very question. This is how I responded:

restlesspilgrim.net/blog/2011/08/31/thanks-for-the-memories-part-1/
restlesspilgrim.net/blog/2011/09/01/thanks-for-the-memories-part-2/

I offered three main tricks for learning Scripture:

*1. Prayer Integration
I open every time of prayer by reading the passage Scripture I’m trying to memorize. This includes the blessing at mealtimes.
  1. Sticky Notes
    When I’m trying to memorize a particular passage, I’ll write it on post-its which I will liberally sprinkle throughout my apartment – the front door, the fridge, the mirror by my toothbrush, the cookie jar…
  2. Passwords
    If I can’t remember the reference for “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” then I will set my computer’s password to philippians4_13.
…but I basically make the point that familiarity with Scripture is more important than memorization. Particularly in the realms of apologetics it’s much better to know the shape and structure of the book of Romans than simply memorizing a few verses devoid of context.
 
David_Castlen said:
Oh!!! But the Catholic Church did write the bible, yes it did…It is a duo authorship…God played his instrument (Man)
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I rather think the Jewish authors of the TANAKH (Old Testament) would disagree with you quite adamantly!
 
One key that helped me memorize longer passages is to start at the end.

Memorize the LAST verse, then next to the last, etc.

This way, if you make a mistake it is near the beginning and you can quickly correct your error. Also, after you get the new verse memorized, you can easily review all the old verses. The farther in you are, the easier it is because farther in, the longer you have been reciting that verse.

eg:

10
9,10
8,9,10
7,8,9,10 (by now, as soon as you think 9, then 10 comes without trouble)
6,7,8,9,10
5,6,8, (oops)
5,6,7,8,9,10 (by now once you are at 7, the rest is easy)
4,5,6,7,8,9,10

by the end the only thing you need to get from thin air… is the 1st verse.

Of course this was the method recommended for learning solo’s on the banjo. Same idea.
 
One of my favourite ways of memorising, especially Psalms, is through hymns and Psalm settings we sing regularly at Mass. Psalm 23: The Lord’s My Shepherd. The rhythm of the music helps the words to stick.
 
rebecca123 said:
Isn’t it great that today most people are literate and can read the Bible, unlike the past.
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Oh dear, rebecca, you’re hoist on your own petard. If it’s great today most people can read the Bible, did God abandon his people for nearly 2,000 year until we learned to read?

And, by the way, this still isn’t true in the Third World where most are still illiterate!
 
Frankk said:
I rather think the Jewish authors of the TANAKH (Old Testament) would disagree with you quite adamantly!
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Yes you are absolutely correct; albeit, all the bible is inspired by God and written by men and revealed as infallible words from God by the Catholic Church. I am wrong only the New Testament was written by Catholics.
 
David,

I wonder if Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn would have called themselves Catholics or Jewish Christians? If my memory is correct I think they referred to themselves as Followers of the Way, with the term Christian not coming into use until much later.
 
Frankk said:
David,

I wonder if Mt, Mk, Lk and Jn would have called themselves Catholics or Jewish Christians? If my memory is correct I think they referred to themselves as Followers of the Way, with the term Christian not coming into use until much later.
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**Well, I call myself a fan of the Marlins. Rumors abound that they are going to change their name when they get in the new stadium. If they do they are still in essence “The Marlins.” This is the same for the authors of MML&J along with Paul, Jude, Peter, James and the author of Hebrews. They were and are Catholic. I think the name “Catholic” was adopted around 150 - 200 by someone in Antioch; the same place that “Christian” was first used. No they would not call themselves “Catholic” but they were Catholics.👍 No I will not be calling myself a fan of the “Whateveristo come of my Marlins” but I will be a
Whateveristo come of my Marlins’ fan.

I am guessing you are a Catholic; otherwise, I hope I am not being acerbic. God bless you.**
 
I have been reading the Bible, word of God, for years. It is one of the ways you get to know and grow in love with the author. He, the Holy Spirit, will make certen verses stay in your mind, and over time you will remember many different verses that hold special meaning to you. Because they are special to you, you will study and know the context. It is His job to lead you into all truth, John 16:13.
 
David_Castlen said:
I am guessing you are a Catholic; otherwise, I hope I am not being acerbic. God bless you.
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Indeed I am. But don’t worry about being acerbic - I’ve been slagged off by experts! 😉

An interesting aside is that Jesus, of course, was/is not Catholic. He was born a Jew, of Jewish parents; he was circumcised and raised as a Jew; he was a Jewish teacher; he died a Jew and he will return as a Jew (Rev: 22:16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you all these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David…)
 
DTSMA68 said:
Can someone recommend a book or website on learning how to memorize bible verses?

Thanks,
Rob
Click to expand...
The scripture teaches us that, with God all things are possible.

John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
 
Frankk said:
Indeed I am. But don’t worry about being acerbic - I’ve been slagged off by experts! 😉

An interesting aside is that Jesus, of course, was/is not Catholic. He was born a Jew, of Jewish parents; he was circumcised and raised as a Jew; he was a Jewish teacher; he died a Jew and he will return as a Jew (Rev: 22:16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you all these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David…)
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Well, St. Paul also asserted his Jew-ness (Philippians 3:4-6), as it were. And John Wesley professed to live and die a member of the Church of England. 😉
 
Frankk said:
Indeed I am. But don’t worry about being acerbic - I’ve been slagged off by experts! 😉

An interesting aside is that Jesus, of course, was/is not Catholic. He was born a Jew, of Jewish parents; he was circumcised and raised as a Jew; he was a Jewish teacher; he died a Jew and he will return as a Jew (Rev: 22:16 - I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you all these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David…)
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Thank you,

Catholics are Jews, we have been graphed in.
Jesus is not a Catholic? That is compelling; I will have to think about that.
 
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