How to Memorize the Books of the Bible Part 1 of 3 – Overall Structure

 

I am going to show you how to commit all of the books of the bible to memory and do it quickly and effectively.  I highly recommend you follow along with the audio that goes along with this post.  Maybe you want to teach it to your kids, maybe you just want to learn it for yourself.  Either way, I congratulate you.

The “how-to” of these lessons are going to come in three parts.  What we are going to do in this section, Part 1, is commit the overall structure of the books of the Bible to memory.  Then we are going to fill them in Part 2 with the books of the Old Testament.  In Part 3, we add to it the books of the New Testament.

By the time we are done, you will spend about 25 maybe 30 minutes doing this.  But, I guarantee at the end, you are going to have all 66 books of the Bible committed to memory.

Are you ready to go?  Okay, let us get the structure first.

The Bible is divided up into two major divisions, the Old Testament and the New Testament.  I think that everybody knows that so we do not need any kind of memory techniques to figure that out.

Most people however are not aware that there are nine major segments in the books of the Bible.  I am going to show you how to first of all commit those nine major segments to your memory.  We are going to do it utilizing our body files.

But first of all, queue up the body files that you used in the class starting with your toes, progressing to your knees, your muscle, your rear, your lungs, your shoulders, your collar, your face, your point and the ceiling.  Since there are only nine, I am not even going to use the ceiling.  We are only going to go to the point.

This is body list, books of the Bible.  Now, your first body file is your toes.  The first segment of the books of the Bible is the five books of Moses.  Moses is your trigger here.  And I think that most of you probably have a picture in your mind how Moses might look.  Maybe an older gentleman with a long white or gray beard and long gray hair, maybe even carrying the Ten Commandments.  He could be dropping the Ten Commandments on your toes.  Glue Moses to your toes.

The next section of the Bible is going to go on your knees.  It is the History or the Story of the Nation of Israel, so I just want you to imagine your knees.  They are telling you a very vivid story about the nation of Israel.

Now, the third file is your muscle and the next section is the Wisdom Book, so you will need a picture for wisdom.  Personally, I use a brain to represent wisdom.  You might use a wisdom tooth if you want, but I use the brain.  I just want you to imagine a brain right there on your muscles.

Okay, we are on to our next one which is our rear and the next section is the Major Prophets.  There are five of them, but for right now, just remember “Major Prophets.”  Create a tripper for Major Prophets by imagining a Major like in the Army or in the Navy.  Glue that image to your rear.  That is the Major Prophets.

The Minor Prophets are next and it is going to go in our lungs.  In or on your lungs, I want you to imagine a coal miner.  He is wearing a helmet with a light on it and he is carrying a pick ax.  That is a miner and it represents the Minor Prophets on your lungs.

So take a second to review those.  On your lungs, you have a Minor Prophet, on your rear, you have the Major Prophet, on your muscle, you have the Wisdom books, on your knees and they are telling you that Story about the History of the Nation of Israel.  Lastly, on your toes, who is dropping the tablets with the Ten Commandments?  That is right, it is the five books of Moses.  Very good!

Alright so we are moving on, we have only got four more to go.  The next segment, we are going to get into the New Testament.

Now the next major segment of the books of the Bible is the life of Jesus.  Where is that going go?  That is going to go on your shoulders.  So most of you probably have a picture of what Jesus would look like to you, so just imagine him.  He is riding up there on your shoulders to represent the life of Jesus and the early church.

The seventh one goes on your collar, and the section is called Paul’s Letters.  As you remember from your workshop, the name Paul, phonetically, is exactly the same as a “ball.”  On your collar, I want you to imagine a ball that has got letters of the alphabet all over it.  That is that ball of letters triggering Paul’s Letters.

The eight section of the Bible is going to go where?  Of course, it is going to go on your face, and it is the Apostle’s Letters.  So how could you create a picture for Apostle’s Letters?  I would imagine an envelope that has postal stamps all over it.  It is a postal letter.  That image represents the Apostle’s letters.

And then the very last segment is the Prophecy section.  And it is going to go where?  On your point.   I want you to just imagine a professor.  Phonetically, Professor and Prophecy are pretty much exactly the same.

So if you have done that vividly and utilizing some action the will be strongly glued to you body.

Let’s review these, going backwards from your point:

Point – Professor for the Prophecy Section
Face – Postal letters representing the Apostle’s Letters
Collar – Ball with letters for Paul’s letters
Shoulders – Jesus for the life of Jesus and the early church
Lungs – Coal miner representing the Minor Prophets
Rear – Army Major for the Major Prophets
Muscle – Brain symbolizing the Wisdom Literature
Knees – They are telling you that story about the Nation of Israel
Toes – Moses for the five books of Moses.

Take a second and review those.  You might even want to jot them down.  To lock them in long term, used spaced repetition, and review them in one hour, one day and one week.

I will fill in all of the books of the Old and New Testaments in the next two parts.