The New Testament Made Easier: Acts Through Revelation (Gospel Studies (Cedar Fort)) [Paperback] Ridges, David J.

by David J. Ridges

Key Features: The words and works of Christ s apostles following His resurrection become clear through in-verse notes and powerful quotes from LDS leaders and scholars. This volume is a companion to the best-selling Part 1: The Gospels. Noted teacher and gospel scholar, David J. Ridges, makes Acts through Revelation come alive in The New Testament Made Easier, Part 2. In-the-verse notes provide a unique teaching tool which allows you to read the complete King James Bible text of Acts through Revelation while, at the same time, being taught the meaning of difficult Bible words and phrases, symbolism, doctrine, culture and setting. Occasional notes between the verses clarify and alert you to major concepts and messages. Quickly gain a basic understanding of these scriptures as you read Acts through Revelation with the help of explanatory notes, between and within verses. Example: Romans 6:6-7. Note: In verse 6, next, Paul uses a very strong word to describe the effort sometimes needed on our part to repent of sins. He uses the word crucify. This implies that some sins require much pain and godly sorrow in the repentance process. Indeed, changing friends, being cut off from family, going through withdrawals from chemical dependency, confessing serious sin to the bishop, etc., can be painful, but walking in newness of life (verse 4) makes it far more than worthwhile to crucify our sins. 6. Knowing this, that our old man (our old lifestyle) is crucified with him (Christ), that the body of sin (our past sins) might be destroyed, that henceforth (from now on) we should not serve sin. 7. For he that is dead (JST He that is dead to sin ) is freed from sin. Transfer these notes into your own scriptures to help now as well as in the future. Quickly get help for a specific verse or chapter. Review for a lesson, talk or family night discussion.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Lds, Church, Reference

469 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

David J. Ridges taught for the Church Educational System for thirty-five years. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University and taught adult religion and Know Your Religion classes for BYU Continuing Education and spoke at BYU Campus Education Week for many years.

Ridges has served as a curriculum writer for Sunday School, seminary, and institute of religion manuals. His callings in the Church include Gospel Doctrine teacher, bishop, stake president, and patriarch. He and his wife, Janette, have served two full-time Church Educational System missions. They are the parents of six children and are enjoying a growing number of grandchildren. They reside in Springville, Utah.

Reviews

[Vivienne]

This book was helpful in understanding the New Testament.

[Brent Huntsman]

The author makes reading the New Testament easier to understand. He clarifies the definition of many of the words and phrases used in Paul's time. A companion study guide to the New Testament that gives clarification and understanding to the writings of the apostles.

[Laurie]

This book helped me get through Paul's Epistles with renewed understanding. He helps by giving tips about the culture and the times. David Ridges absolutely saved me in figuring out more about the book of Revelation! I have never felt so comforted about that part of the Bible.

[LMoody]

I learned SO much this past year from this study guide. I love how David Ridges pointed out many verses from the Bible that the Joseph Smith translation clarifies. He shared historical context and included super helpful insights.

[Josephine M Morris]

A wonderful book.

I love David Ridges books. Because of his knowledge of Ancient Scriptures and his understanding, through a great deal of study I am sure, he helps us to understand what Jesus wants us to understand. I am very grateful for his work.

[Cassaronda]

Good for help with basic understanding and some definitions. Definitely didn’t agree with all of his “interpretations.” It’s good for a seminary-student-level of inquiry. I would recommend Skinner or Welch for deeper scholarship.

[Anita]

I read this book for my come follow me study. I really like this author and his gospel studies series. I filed it under the prompt read a book with a number in the title or on the cover 2021 hpootp flourish and blotts reading challenge.

[Christina Conder]

I decided to read the whole New Testament this year and had a great experience. I didn't read this whole guide, but relied on it during the Epistles of Paul and the book of Revelation. It was very helpful.

[charles price]

Great help

Great help in studying the gospel. I highly recommend these books. I often use his books when preparing lessons for church

[Patsy]

Excellent study resource. This year, I read it cover to cover and enjoyed it that way. In the future, I think I will turn to it when I have a hard time understanding a particular passage.

[Cathy]

This really helped when I was reading "Revelations".

[John]

This was a great resource as I studied the New Testament. Really helped me get a lot more insight and understanding from Paul's writings and the other apostolic letters than I would have otherwise.

[Kaylynn Johnsen]

This was the second Ridges set I've used and it will be a valuable resource for years to come.

[Dave Weber]

I understand the bible now that I've read it with David Ridges help👍

[Kristy Q]

Each time I read these books, my understanding and love for the scriptures increases. Can’t wait to jump into part 3!

[Celeste]

I have enjoyed all the Made Easier books-Revelations with this book made a little more sense. Overall the whole series is great.

[Tanya]

This is a really difficult book for me to review, because I have such different feelings about different parts of it. I absolutely loved reading Acts with the aid of Ridge's commentary; I grasped insights that I'd never had before, and really connected with the early apostles. Through the Pauline letters I understood like never before the huge battle between the Mosaic Law and the New Law; somehow I hadn't previously noticed how constantly that comes up in the New Testament.

The last part of the book, of course, deals with Revelation, and I wasn't that impressed with the commentary for this section. I probably just didn't apply myself diligently enough, but about 18 of the 22 chapters in Revelation still feel like gibberish to me.

My biggest complaint about Ridge's commentary is something that I liked at the beginning. Each verse is constantly interrupted by parenthetical explanations of what each sentence means. For some difficult verses that's very helpful. But it got to the point where I just read whatever he wrote and stopped trying to understand the scriptural language for myself. That compunction to laziness combined with the disruption in the flow of the verses got old.

Still, I gained enough from my study of The New Testament Made Easier: Part 2 to give it 4 stars.

[Karin]

This commentary was especially useful for the Book of Revelation. It lists all the symbolism for numbers, colors, etc. beforehand and then points them out throughout the text. There were a lot of things that I understood better this time through.

[Char]

didn't read through the whole thing,--mostly just the end for our institute class, but I loved that there was explanation, but not too much commentary or liberty taken, particularly w/ Revelation. Good resource, and well-done

[Chow]

Sometimes extremely helpful but at other times it was confusing. There are a lot of parenthetical sentences in the middle of another sentence. But overall I'm grateful we read the new testament with this.

[Whit]

Absolutely wonderful book

[Sally]

I find Brother Ridges books so helpful with my study. I'm grateful there are people like him who give their time to research and study so I can benefit and understand my scriptures better.

[Lara]

This series of books has great depth and is easy to read.

[Ann Hollon]

Extremely helpful to me. Will revisit again.

[Lois]

I loved this book it helped me understand so much more about the New Testament

[David Barney]

Wonderful study aid.

[Jason]

very good!!!! I understand the new testament better. great resource.