Don’t [Just] Read your Bible [Alone]

My article from this week's edition of the Rockford Squire:

In decades past, it was necessary in many places for a problem to be addressed in the Church – largely across denominational lines.  In many circles, it was common for people to hold the misconception that if they attended a Sunday service, they had their weekly dose of God’s Word, and it would hold them over for the week until they repeated the process.  As a result, there was broad encouragement for people to read their Bibles at home, on their own, or to gather with a peer group to discuss it.  Bible distribution increased to greater levels than previously witnessed.  Other disciplines like a daily, individual “quiet time” emerged, and Bible reading in the home really did increase. 

 

Today, we can still see residual effects of that movement, but we have reached the point where an opposite correction may be in order.  However people approach what they read in the Bible, one can see a generally positive attitude toward it, but today, it can be witnessed that many people who identify as Christians only read their Bible at home alone.  When the effort was made to encourage Bible reading in those past decades, it was intended to be in addition to hearing the Scriptures on Sunday, but in a growing number of cases, it has become what people do instead of hearing the Scriptures in a weekly service. 

 

While there is certainly a danger in a preacher twisting the Bible to say what he wants it to say, the danger is equal or greater when the reader becomes his own preacher.  If someone proclaiming God’s word publicly strays from the truth, there are others there to correct him, but when the reader only preaches to himself, there is no one to correct his errors, and they have the opportunity to compound. 

 

So, do read your Bible, even at home alone, but also gather with other Christians to hear God’s Word proclaimed and explained.  Receive the Sacraments in a weekly service, and discuss the Scriptures with others, whether in a structured study or a less formal group.  Even have a live expert in your corner who can be your guide to quality resources beyond your Bible to aid your understanding, and coach you (preferably with knowledge of the original Greek and Hebrew language of Scripture) in understanding what you have read and how other Christians have historically.  Grow deeper not in just what the Bible means to you, but in knowledge of what it actually means, so that you would gain assurance in genuine, reliable truth.