by Lorinda K. F. Newton

In the beginning, God planned for parents to be the primary teachers of their children. Instruction about God was to be incorporated into daily life.

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

In a previous post, I described how my family read the Bible together. Here, I’d like to introduce my readers to another resource our church used in 2020: the Read Scripture app, a joint project of The Bible Project and Crazy Love. This app helps you read through the Bible in a year with a Psalm for each day. You can start the program at any time, however, not only at the beginning of the calendar year.

Biblical Ideas Illustrated Via Video

Besides the Bible text, the app contains short videos from the Bible Project. For instance, before you start reading a book of the Bible, you can watch a video that gives you an overview of the book. In addition to discussing the main events or ideas in the book, these videos look at the book’s literary structure and how it fits into the meta-narrative of the whole Bible.

For some books, the app provides thematic videos as well. For instance, before reading Genesis chapters 4-7, the app shows a simple 2-D animation called “Image of God.”

Two men, Tim and Jon, narrate each video and engage in conversation to discuss issues the text addresses. One asks questions or makes comments, and the other responds and explains.

Videos Enhance Understanding

I have gained new insights into how to read Scripture from these videos. Even though I was a literature major in college, I never was taught, nor have I noticed, that each book of the Bible has a literary structure. I knew some did. 

During one reading, I learned the literary structure of the book of Ruth. The narrator also pointed out how the book demonstrates how God works through ordinary lives. The book is more than a historical account of the lives of Ruth and Naomi, the ancestors of King David and Jesus.

The thematic “Holiness” video increased my understanding of what that word really means. Using the sun as a metaphor, Tim and Jon explain that at the right distance, the sun gives life. But get too close, we burn up. In the same way, people who approached God in an unrighteous state die, not because God is destructive, but because he’s so good. His very nature of being holy destroys any impurity or evil that enters his presence, just like anything that gets too close to the sun gets burned up. 

Crazy Love Reflections

To increase your understanding of the Scripture reading, you can also listen to the Read Scripture Podcast by Francis Chan. These podcasts are not included in the reading plan. To access them, you need to go to the app’s setting and scroll down to the “Listen to Read Scripture Podcast” on the menu. 

The Crazy Love podcast contains more content than the Read Scripture podcasts. You will need to scroll down to where it says “Week 1” (dated 2017). Each of these weekly podcasts runs about ten to twenty minutes, during which Francis Chan reflects on the past week’s reading.

The Bible Project Augments Any Bible Study

If you are not interested in a year-long Bible reading program, I still highly recommend that your family watch some of The Bible Project videos together. They add dimension to some dry texts such as the Law and can increase your comprehension of whatever Scripture text your family is reading.

In addition to the book overview and thematic videos, The Bible Project has several video series: “How to Read the Bible,” “Luke-Acts Ministries,” “Torah,” “Wisdom,” and “Spiritual Being.” Learn more about biblical words through the Word Studies series. The website has written notes as well.

The website says The Bible Project audience typically ranges from ages 18 to 45, but my kids enjoyed these as high schoolers. I believe middle schoolers and even younger children also may benefit from watching them. Often, people find reading the Bible boring. These videos could enhance your children’s interest in reading the Bible.

Call the family together each day to read the Bible together. Discuss a passage’s meaning, what it says about God, and what you can do to live more like Christ.

Lorinda K. F. Newton homeschooled her children from 2004 to 2023, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview on Substack. On Substack, she also publishes the “Newton Library Update” about her home library. ©2024 by Lorinda K. F. Newton. This post originally appeared on Lorinda’s Ponderings on March 20, 2020. Reposted with permission.