Thursday, November 20, 2008

Bible Graffiti

I mark up my Bible . . .  A LOT.  There's nothing better (for me) than looking back at passages that stuck out to me at one time, or to easily find something on a particular subject that I marked before.  I have a method to my madness though.  Through the years of Bible studies, reading Christian authors and just plain experimenting with a method that works for me, I have come up with some codes to keep things right at my fingertips when trying to find something in the Bible.  Unfortunately I don't remember where some of these came from, so I can't give the right credit, but many of these I adapted myself.  Here is some of my coding:



On a new Bible I highlight the chapter number after I have read it.  Ahh . . .  the feeling of completing a new Bible and seeing all those pretty markings on all the chapters throughout the Bible.



When a particular passage sticks out to me I either highlight, underline or put brackets around it.  Don't ask me my method there.



There are certain words like faith and hope that I circle.



When it talks about love I put a heart.



When it talks about Jesus on the cross I draw a cross with a heart in the middle.
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When it's a direct promise about life I put BP, for "Bible Promise".

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When it talks about something to do with children or generations I put a little stick figure by it.



When it's something about a wife it gets the "special" pink highlighter.



When it's about a husband or marriage in general it gets the double wedding rings.

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Sometimes I cross out the word "you" and put "Erin".



Sometimes I circle and put "For Me".  I like to put the date on stuff like that so I can look back and think about what I was going through in that time of my life.



Other times I journal about what's going on in my life, of course with the date.



Ok, that's the art that I give my Bible.



What graffiti do you leave in your Bible?



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Erin

7 comments:

  1. Oh man. My bible is so marked up. And its falling apart. I got one of those highlighters with the tabs in the end, you know, so I have lots of red flags coming off the side. I sort of use Kay Arthur markings, but I make up my own too. And I write notes in it. My two oldest girls have different translations and if their wording makes more sense and speaks to me I write that out next to it. I write history notes, commentary, just anything down.

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  2. The only markings I use are dating and highlighting. I also write prayers in the margins of my bible. I think I might adopt some of yours. :)

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  3. I am an underliner. I really like the idea to circle and date passages that are "For Me" at that moment. What an amazing way to see how God speaks to us?!

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  4. I love to mark up my Bible as well... I never thought about pictures... haha! You're funny!

    See you tonight!

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  5. Sorry I'm not very good at drawing. After looking at the double wedding rings it kind of looks like a butt. Well, it is beside the word husband . . . J/K ;-)

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  6. I color mine. I like the symbol idea though. I think I will leave the butt out. LOL

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  7. I journal a lot also...what you said about putting down the date is so important. I always regret it later when I forget to put the date. It makes life more astonishing when we can see WHEN God did an amazing work.

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