Joel encouraged students to study the Bible and other Scriptures of the world. He saw the Bible as the book of life, and said:
“The Bible is the best of books, if it can be taken as a way of life and not just read in order to be able to say sanctimoniously, ‘I read the Bible from cover to cover once a year.’ There is no profit in that, a little glory, but no profit. The profit that comes from reading the Bible is in being able to select a passage of Scripture, take it into meditation, ponder it, try to get back into the spirit and experience of the one who revealed it, or the circumstances that brought it forth, and then seeing whole new meanings that are brought to light by those things.” (Living by the Word, Chapter 8, “Scripture as a Way of Life”)
Joel’s interest was in the universal spiritual message that can be found throughout the Bible:
“The Bible is not a record of something that happened two thousand years ago. The Bible is a record of your life and of my life as it is happening today. At this very moment, each of us is in some stage of consciousness that is to be found in Scripture. We may be Hebrews wandering through the desert. We may have come up to the light of Isaiah. We may be part of that multitude sitting at the Master’s feet, drinking in the great words of wisdom. Tomorrow we may be some of those who go to crucify him.” (Beyond Words and Thoughts, Chapter 3, “Thou Shalt Not Make Unto Thee Any Graven Image” )
Joel gave several classes about the Bible and how to work with it. Often, he included mystical interpretations of Bible stories and passages in his class sessions. As an interlude between study books during June 2020, we heard two of Joel’s classes on Scripture and how to use it. With the gracious cooperation of Sue Ropac at The Infinite Way Office, we have permission to post each of these classes after we have heard them in our group session. The recordings will be available for listening through July 31, 2020.
To access the recordings and study materials page for this short program, click/tap here.