Why read the Bible...

How to approach the Bible?

For some the Bible is a book where each word has been dictated by God irrespective and independently of the human hand, which acts simply as the means for the divine command to be written. The Bible becomes literally the words uttered by God. 

For others, the Bible is a just book like any other. It may be  a particularly interesting anthology of ancient texts and is of genuine historical interest particularly given the sociological implications of their formative impact on so many societies - that is, they have had a significant impact in the past but the insights are now surpassed by greater learning and understanding. These texts are only enlightening in a retrospective dimension.

Very often these are the only two possibilities put forward and the debate becomes polarised between them. This means that rather than engaging with what the text actually says these two perspectives are forced onto the reading of the Bible and the meaning of the words get lost  in the argument.

I would like to offer a different place to start when approaching the Bible. I suggest that the Bible is best understood as testimony and has been captured by many people in many forms. What do I mean by testimony? A testimony is an account of an experience. If you see a crime, if you're part of the experience of that event you are called to give your testimony in court - to give an account of what you have experienced.

The Bible is a collation of different experiences of God in human history. Some of these experiences are captured in story form, some in legal writings, some in poems, letters, some in visions, prayers and songs.

But what makes these captured experiences so special is that they all point to in a particular direction and that direction comes to a single person - Jesus Christ.

This underlying consistency of direction finds its fulfilment in this particular person at a particular time. And this is truly amazing when you consider that there are dozens of authors, there is a time span of at least 1500 years between when these stories start and when the last words are added to the writings, yet they come together.

The Word of God - the revelation of who God is, is not these words (the Bible) But The Word - the message of the living person - Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Word of God and these written words direct us to Him.

So. these written words are the experiences of people, priests, prophets, poets and kings who experienced God and captured in words what they experienced. These experiences have a commonality - a touch stone of Orthodox spiritual experience and what this book offers is an experience of God that will lead us to Jesus. 

The same Spirit that  gave the writers their experiences works through these words to draw us to be part of the same movement of God.

These experiences - the knowledge and understanding of the nature God, the certainty of His spiritual presence, are offered to you and me. 

When we read these words and we experience the same underlying Spirit, our eyes are opened to who we are in God's sight and where we are heading. 

We see that sin and brokenness are not held against us, but are part of a process of becoming God's own sons and daughters. 

We experience how far we are from what we could be, what we will be and how we often fail to accept life as the gift God intends it to be - just like the people who wrote these words. And we experience the transforming power of the Spirit changing our desires and leading us into a new way of thinking and living that increasingly makes old mean, fearful ways unbearable.

The effect of these written words is to draw us into a relationship with the Living Word and through that relationship into our eternal destiny with God. Even to begin to grasp how wonderful this future will be, our imaginations need to be broadened by the words of vision and poetry in this book.

Blind Bartimeus says to Jesus, "I want so see" - and Jesus says,"your faith (your open trust in me) has made you whole". 

So, experience that wholeness. The real and miraculous opening of his eyes is a living metaphor for the power of God opening our spiritual eyes. And this has to be personal and real to us. Jesus says, "it's the truth you know that sets you free." 

Not someone else’s experience - not a concept or an idea - but your experience of God that releases you into the hope and power of God's vision for your life and beyond.

When that happens – facilitated by these words and God’s Spirit - when our spiritual eyes are open, the experiences of those who wrote these words become our experiences. We know what they mean because we share our experience of the underlying work of God's Spirit in our lives. 

This library of stories becomes our personal history - our story.

So, my advice? Get reading. Treat yourself to a new Bible - a good contemporary translation like the NIV or the NRSV and read it again. 

Click here for a suggested reading plan and here for an on-line Bible and get reading.