We began our dialectic studies of the history of the world, from Creation to the present, on a four-year cycle with the Bible.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
That was the perfect place to start.
Audio Bible for my Dialectic Kids
My kids read through the Bible our first year of studying history from the beginning of time to the Roman Era, all covered in the Bible.
They listened to audio tapes while following along in their Bibles, and while working on their art activities of the era we were studying.
They were already familiar with most of the stories in the Bible because of our past flannelgraphs, from church, from Awana Club, and lots of books they’ve read on their own. Thus, this was an easy assignment.
We discussed their reading in the mornings during devotions, where we opened our Bibles, and prayed to the Lord to begin our day.
I answered any questions they might have, and I helped them make connections to our studies, and applications to our lives.
The Bible is a classical work and a primary source document. My encouragement to them has been of the value of reading the Bible for ourselves in order to learn God’s plan for our lives.
The Bible through History
The ancients didn’t have the Bible as a complete book to read at our convenience as we can do today.
Even though the Bible existed in the Middle Ages, only a few were literate, so the masses were dependent on the clergy to correctly relay God’s plan to them. But they didn’t.
Martin Luther is famous for the Reformation, because not all God’s Word had been taught by the church.
Because of the invention of the Gutenberg Press, brave men like Luther, Tyndale, and Wycliffe translated the Word of God for commoners to read for themselves, revolutionizing the world.
People were freed spiritually as they learned spiritual truths. These truths impelled the freeing of humankind from serfdom and slavery.
The Bible for us to Share with Others
We now have this amazing Book available at our fingertips…a book that centuries ago many yearned to be able to read…which few now actually read from cover to cover.
I used to be one of those people, merely trusting eternal truths to come from the church.
Thankfully pastors and teachers challenged me to read the Bible for myself.
When I finally did, I made more connections with Scriptural truths.
Then I fell into that trap again.
I trusted the church to teach my kids spiritual truths, but they got sick, so for a season we had to stay home.
As I taught them the Bible through flannelgraphs, my own faith grew through that time, because I was reading the Bible more.
While faithfully teaching God’s Word to my kids, they became Christians and learned a lot.
When we were well enough to attend church again, the lesson was to keep reading the Bible for ourselves.
May we all be Bereans: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. -Acts 17:11
Instead of merely trusting Paul’s teaching, the Bereans fact-checked it against God’s Word.
We are called to do the same, and that is a hallmark of classical study.
