What it feels like for a Christian, part 4: Reading the Bible

I know the date of posting says Monday, but it's after midnight, so it's Tuesday. Ha.

The Bible has stood the test of time. For centuries, people have been trying to discredit it, but it’s stuck around and shaped the world we live in. Its principles, the way it views human life, and its laws have determined our practices. It’s written from many different perspectives and several different cultures. It has around 40 different authors, spanning centuries, and yet it all fits together. It contains historical fact that even people who don’t believe in God admit is reliable. It’s a mash-up of history, stories, poetry, proverbs, prophecy, laments, and philosophy. Lots of people assume that the only things the Bible contains are morality tales.

The Bible can be a fun intellectual challenge, especially if you care what the Bible says. A scholar said something like “If you haven’t been challenged, thrilled, and changed by studying the Bible, then you haven’t studied the Bible.” Also, the Bible is alive, because you get something new out of it every time you read it. Depending on where you are in life and how much you know about the Bible, you will get different things out of it. It can fulfill a certain existential hunger too. It can go as deep as you can go. Go ahead and test it.

Some people like to read the Bible unaided, except by the Holy Spirit. Others warn of the dangers of misinterpretation/bias. I would warn of the dangers of missing the full significance of a passage. We see things through our cultural lenses, so commentaries that outline the cultural significance of certain details are extremely helpful. I think adding expert opinion can enrich the experience, but just reading it is fine too. I’m also a fan of Christian nonfiction, which can elaborate on difficult passages, or passages that seem simple until someone points out what all is in there. Many Biblical terms and words provide challenges to translators, and commentaries will point out the literal translations and the choices the translators made and why.

The only book of the Bible that bored me was Joshua, weirdly. The more time you spend learning about the Bible, discovering what it actually says, and going through its layers, the more you love it. Also, it’s a great resource for getting to know God. If you aren’t a reader, it will be more of a challenge. But you can still get into groups to study, listen to sermons, or get the Bible on tape. Soon, passages and concepts from it will fly to you as fast as a lines from your favorite movie. Maybe that’s what “writing it on your heart” is.

Some people say, “Christians don’t read the Bible, but atheists do, and that’s why they don’t believe it.” I don’t know who said that, but I disagree and I’m pretty sure whoever first said that made it up. Because, as someone who read it, I truly doubt that your average atheist has. The atheists won’t care enough. It’s a challenge for a Christian to get through, and they believe it’s the literal word of God. I recommend anyone give it a try though, if they want, and that they also have a Christian on speed-dial to provide some summaries and answers.

From my experience, atheists who dislike the Bible have heard of two or three things in the it that they don’t understand, that sounds biased/racist/morally wrong, that sounds stupid out of context, or that they disagree with. Then they use those two or three things as a reason to discard the entire Bible. Then they feel comforted in the fact that nothing in the Bible is true and they don’t have to think about it. If you actually ask, “What do Biblical scholars and intelligent Christians say about this difficult passage?” then you might get somewhere. Give it a fighting chance.

Considering both sides until you have heard it all will show you that the Bible is not totally ridiculous, and there are real, sane reasons things are included in the Bible that offend us in this time and place. Also, you have been shaped by a culture completely saturated with Biblical principles and priorities. You are judging the thing from which YOU GOT your standards for judgment in the first place. If you find a passage that ticks you off or confuses you, find a rebuttal. Or you can post the reference here and I will see if I can help.

Read the translation you will actually read, unless your church rules demand otherwise. I like ESV. Sometimes I read The Message along with something, like, The King James version, to see the differences in interpretation. The Message is one guy’s take on what the Bible would sound like in modern language. It’s fun to see what someone else gets from certain passages.

Top 15 books:
1. John
2. Isaiah- Packs a wallop. Sheer power.
3. Psalms
4. Proverbs
5. Deuteronomy
6. Ecclesiastes
7-9. Matthew, Mark, and Luke- Reading all four gospels in one sitting is a good experience
10. Hebrews
11. Revelation
12. First Corinthians
13. Romans
14. Genesis- Hone in on the culture here. It’s the beginning of God revealing himself to the world and showing how he is different from the other ancient gods. It also shows how people are the same today as they were long ago.
15. Leviticus- Here, God was making a nation that would stand out from the rest of the world. Yeah, some of the laws are a puzzle to us today, but if you look at them in context, you can see that they were a huge step forward at the time. You can also see God’s values, the importance of justice, and God’s emphasis on caring for the poor. And a lot of the laws are funny.
Honorable mention: The stories of David and Elijah.
(btw, if you read three chapters a day and five on weekends, you can finish the Bible in one year)

I’m excited about next week’s post. It means a lot to me.