Template Study Bible
The Launch. August 2015
Dear Fellow Travelers,
For the last 25 years I have been coloring my Bibles with 8 colors, each representing a domain or institution found in all human cultures. My quest has been to know if God had an interest in the areas to which the world gives so much importance and, if so, what His thinking is on each one of them. The journey has been exhilarating and mind-bending as it relates to God, and how He relates to us on earth. And the journey has no end!
It seems I am spending the remainder of my days writing on each of these spheres, studying them from Genesis to Revelation. In order to do that, I have purchased eight new Bibles and am coloring each by one domain so as to research all of scripture for the book I am writing. People have often asked me if I was going to do a colored study Bible, and I have said no. But I believe it is a waste not to invite you along on my discoveries at a time when I can make them accessible to you.
So, here is our first attempt at an evolving on-line study tool: evolving because we upload the books as I finish them (sorry for the frustration!). It is also evolving because I would like to add commentaries. But I suspect these will come when the Books on the spheres are published, which could be a while. The last one took six years.
Here are some guidelines if you wish to join us in this study:
#This is not the definitive colored study Bible. There are many ways to look at each of these spheres, and they probably all have learning value. This is just the way I did it this time. Feel free to disagree and communicate with us. You will learn, we will learn, and the Kingdom will be expanded.
#I would not publish this Bible. It is not a finished work. It is a study for me, and a tool for you. Buy a new Bible if you get excited and start coloring one of your own.
#Passages are colored because what is being said takes place in that institutional sphere, or because it gives a principle for that sphere, or because the sphere contains the metaphor or allegory being shared in the text.
#Of course communication and education could both be used to color the whole Bible. So I have had to make choices on how I want to study those spheres. This is limiting but essential for what I want to do with the material.
#Church is the most complicated of all the spheres because of the different ways we define church. Traditionally, for some, the entire Bible could be colored for that domain. I have specifically limited my study to what we do in and through the institution of the church. What we do on Sunday, what pastors do and what the laity do when they are at/in church. This is not the only way to look at it.
Well, that is it for now. Enjoy the journey and remember: the Spirit of the Living God is with you as you read. Invite Him to illuminate what He has preserved.
Yours for knowing Him,
Landa L. Cope
