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bgwill3 -> RE: Why don't you read your Bible? (6/24/2008 3:18:04 PM)
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Reading the Bible is important. I was the kid in 8th grade who won all the trivia contests in youth group at the church. (Dorky, right? lol) But I was also an emotionally hurt kid, and it is only by the goodness and mercy of God that I am still alive. One reason that I dove into the Bible at such an early age is because I found it very difficult to "make friends" as a kid. So it is nothing I can boast in because I am nothing without the grace of God.
I find that there is danger on either extreme, whether not reading the Bible at all, or knowing it backward and forward. On the one hand, ignorance is no way to live as a Christian, and the Scriptures demonstrate the immutable will of God, a reliable guide when one allows the Holy Spirit to enlighten his or her mind. I have always thought of the Bible as life's textbook and instruction manual, written by God himself, to show us how to navigate this earthly existence. As such, why wouldn't I read up to learn about my Savior and Best Friend?
On the other hand, as some have stated, those of us who become experts are often the ones who are more willing to debate than to offer encouragement to fellow believers, and we are more likely to be intractable.
I myself have asked forgiveness, more than once, when I hear someone preaching what I thought of as a "poorly delivered" sermon, because the person mispronounced the names of people and places in the OT (a few minutes with Strong's would help), or because he misquoted Scripture (notes???), or because he misapplied Scripture or dismissed its proper context. The Spirit can speak truth by whichever vessel, even if that vessel is not an expert grammarian or a biblical scholar. I recognize that I don't have all the answers, and that even if I can quote a passage, I may be blinding myself to its truth if I don't approach the Word humbly.
After all, Satan knows Scriptures well; and those who manipulate and twist Scriptures to their own benefit are experts in it as well. Many Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and others, know the Bible better than some Christians, for obvious reasons. Moreover, faith comes by hearing, and the Lord intends for us to reach the unsaved through the word being preached, not through the word being read. Otherwise he would have said, "Just print copies of the Holy Writ and distribute to every man; and so shall ye be saved." Salvation, truly, can occur when one is alone with a Bible, reading for himself. But I believe that growth in the Lord includes reading the Word for oneself, but is not limited to that: we have to keep on assembling with believers, and we should be willing to receive from and submit to the leaders in our local assembly whom God has appointed.
As for reading cover to cover, its a good idea. With a newborn believer who asked me once (a friend of mine), I suggested that he start with the gospels, and read them first; afterword, reading through Genesis and Exodus; then going to the Wisdom texts (Job, Psalms, Proverbs) interspersed with the historical texts. He had set out to read from cover to cover, but I told him that the Bible was not written in one sitting, from cover to cover, so it might be easier to read thematically, or to find a good bible-in-one-year schedule. Anyhow, I am with Jeremiah & Paul: "Let him who boasts, boast"--not in how many times he read cover to cover, nor in how many Greek words he can expound upon, nor even in how many demons he cast out or tongues he spoke in--but rather, let him boast "in the Lord."
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