{"id":1052,"date":"2012-04-15T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2012-04-15T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2012-04-16T13:17:01","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T18:17:01","slug":"reasons-to-read-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1052","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to Read the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My favorite high school English teacher once asked our class, \u201cIf you were marooned on an island and could only have one book, which one would you choose?\u201d\u00a0 After we reflected on that question a while she shared her choice would be either The Complete Works of Shakespeare or the Bible.\u00a0 I thought including the Bible was an interesting choice coming from one who wasn\u2019t a Christian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet so much of our cultural literacy comes from the Bible.\u00a0 Phrases like thorn in the flesh, skin of your teeth, my brother\u2019s keeper, bite the dust, salt of the earth, blind leading the blind, going the extra mile, do unto others \u2013 the list is endless \u2013 are all biblically based.\u00a0 The Bible has had more influence on literature, music, philosophy, art and even law than we might think.\u00a0 So reading the Bible for educational purposes would have merit.<\/p>\n

However, there are so many other reasons to read the Bible.\u00a0 Here are a few\u2026<\/p>\n

Reading the Bible gives us firsthand knowledge about what it says instead of relying on someone\u2019s interpretation.\u00a0 So many times scriptures are misquoted.\u00a0 For example the Bible doesn\u2019t say money is the root of all evil, it says, \u201cFor the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.\u201d (1 Timothy 6:10)\u00a0 There is a difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reading the Bible helps with moral dilemmas we face, enhancing our lives.\u00a0 \u00a0Whether or not one believes everything it says, the Bible is a tremendous source of wisdom and instruction. \u00a0Just reading the Proverbs alone would help one live a better life.\u00a0 After all, it was written so all could attain wisdom, discipline, insight, discretion, and discernment.\u00a0 (Proverbs 1:1-6)\u00a0 Whose life wouldn\u2019t be richer by understanding and incorporating these attributes?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much can be learned from the teachings of Christ.\u00a0 President Thomas Jefferson didn\u2019t like the skewed embellishments of Jesus by the evangelists of his time (some things never change), so he carefully cut and removed the passages he thought reflected the teachings of Jesus from his Bible.\u00a0 He then pasted them into his own version of the New Testament\u00a0\u00a0 In fact this edited Bible is on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. until mid July of this year. \u00a0Now Jefferson was not known to be a devout Christian but he learned from Christ\u2019s example and what he taught.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Christians, reading the Bible should have even more significance.\u00a0 After all, they know all scripture is inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16)\u00a0 So if Christians don\u2019t know the Bible how will they know if someone is teaching truth?\u00a0 (1 Timothy 4:16)\u00a0 Teachers\/preachers should have sound doctrine.\u00a0 (Titus 2:1)\u00a0 How will we know this unless we have a firm foundation of truth which can only come from reading the Bible?<\/p>\n

Theologians and scholars not only read the Bible, they study it.\u00a0 They want to know what each \u201cjot\u201d and \u201ctittle” means.\u00a0 (Matthew 5:18)\u00a0 While there is merit in this kind of study Christians miss the mark if their primary goal of reading the Bible is just to gain knowledge about God.\u00a0 Knowledge is just information.\u00a0 Knowledge by itself just puffs you, it doesn\u2019t build you up.\u00a0 (1 Corinthians 8:1)\u00a0 There is a difference in knowing about God and knowing him personally.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we approach Bible reading prayerfully God reveals himself to us through scripture because he is active in our lives.\u00a0 He guides and motivates us, and meets us where we are.\u00a0 The Bible is actually a living book.\u00a0 God meets us where we are with scriptures.\u00a0 As we grow in grace God reveals more and more to us. That\u2019s why the same scripture we read today may have a deeper meaning than it did a year ago.<\/p>\n

The Bible is still one of the bestselling books of all time.\u00a0 Too bad more people don\u2019t read it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My favorite high school English teacher once asked our class, \u201cIf you were marooned on an island and could only have one book, which one would you choose?\u201d\u00a0 After we reflected on that question a while she shared her choice … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}