[serialposts]As we look back at what we’ve accomplished in 2012, we first want to say thank you. BibleDude.net isn’t about one person, or even a small group of people. It’s about the community. That’s why we’re a “dot net,” because that’s about the network that brings us all together. In fact, as I look back through the top posts from the last year, it’s the stuff contributed by the #iambibledude community that stands out the most.

Specifically in the READ category, the conversations focus on our foundation in the Word of God. These are discussions about authentic Christianity, Bible literacy, theology, and worldviews. It’s where we build our understanding of the message of the Bible, and relate it to the world around us.

These are the top seven posts from the READ category in 2012:

7. Psalm 19 [the series]

C. S. Lewis, the great Christian author and British literature professor wrote concerning Psalm 19, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” (Read more…)

6. which tree are you eating from?

The crazy thing about this is that our own guilt and self-condemnation is often one of the biggest things holding us back from accomplishing everything that God has empowered us to do. The truth is that in Christ we are forgiven, and we need to walk in that forgiveness! (Read more…)

5. God’s Heart in a little green marker

If you’ve ever wondered what motivates God, if you’ve ever wanted to know the reasons behind the movements of His hand, if you’ve ever asked, Why, God? Why?!…

Then look for the green. (Read more…)

4. be authentic, for the love of God.

Our stories don’t always have a happy ending…yet. Tell the truth, even if it’s in progress. We all are, after all…in progress. (Read more…)

3. read it like you’re bleeding

Not everyone who opens the Bible will feel its power and be changed, just as not everyone who touched Jesus that day was healed.

But this woman touched Jesus intentionally, expectantly, and with faith. (Read more…)

2. the first epistle of saint john [the group blogging project]

It seems the main purpose of the letter was to reassure Christians in their faith and to counter false teachings.  These two ideas go hand-in-hand.  When John counters the false teachings he is reassuring the believers in their faith. (Read more…)

1. a letter to those who hate religion

We’re fallen and broken and making a mess of things. We’re sinful and selfish and so off-track. We’re human, and even when we try our hardest to emulate Him, to be Him in a hurting world, we miss the mark and get tangled up in our humanity, in our very nature as not-gods. We have let you down. He won’t. He isn’t like us. (Read more…)