For many reasons! Here are a few. It is one of the most effective ways to "meditate" on the Word of God "day and night" (Joshua 1:8); to treasure it in our hearts that we might not sin against the Lord (Psalm 119:11); and to meditate on the Lord in the "night watches" (Psalm 63:6) so that we can regard all his ways (Psalm 119:15). Since "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17), the memorized Word helps us in evangelism making the Word of truth readily available to build our own and others' faiths. It works on our hearts to cultivate Christ-like character. It helps us to resist temptation, and enhances prayer and worship. John Piper has a helpful message on memorizing scripture that we suggest for further encouragement.
John Piper gave a sermon January 4, 2009 on what it means when Jesus said in John 15:7 "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you." Watch and listen.
For practical help on how to memorize, please see An Approach to Extended Scripture Memorization by Andrew Davis.Why Version of the Bible Does River City Use?
One of the fundamental principles of Protestant biblical interpretation is that "Scripture is its own best interpreter." Luther expressed this principle with the words, Scriptura sui ipsius interpres ("Scripture is its own expositor"), and it was summed up by the authors of the Westminster Confession thus: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture ... it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly." For this reason Pastor Bob Carter uses several different translations depending on the area of scripture. He does however highly recommend the NASB (New American Standard Version) which he finds to be one of the more literal translations.
