MY DUSTY BIBLE
April 26, 2009 – 5:39 pmSome years ago I read a sign outside a church in a small town just north of Boston that read “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” It made me smile and was an amusing break from the usual trite and forgettable sentiments that one sees on church notice boards. I suspect, and I hope, it was meant with some humor, but something about that funny statement made it indelible in my memory.
This year I’ve tried reading the Bible, but to say I have found it hard going would be a an understatement. I feel like a teenager reading Shakespeare for a class they don’t enjoy. The language is hard, the context is harder, and for me the whole experience is about as enjoyable as going to the dentist.
One problem I have is that despite the fact I enjoy writing, I have never particularly enjoyed reading. I read dreadfully slowly and struggle to remember anything from the pages of a book. A paperback that might take you just a few evenings to breeze through could likely take me many weeks to complete. I often re-read chapters I have already read, sometimes because I need to remind myself of where I was up to, but often because I simply don’t realise I have already read the chapter until some key element reminds me.
In my adult life I am embarrassed to admit that I have read no more than five books from cover to cover. In truth I just don’t find the process of reading books an enjoyable and rewarding way to spend my time.
Another problem is that the Bible isn’t exactly a book you can just pick up and read. It’s not supposed to be fiction, but at the same time there’s a things in it that are hard to accept as fact. If you start in Genesis and just read you quickly become bogged down in some, if I may be blunt, really boring genealogical lifeless blurge which surely could sap the enthusiasm of even the most fervent Bible reader.
“In order to understand the old testament you need learn about it’s context.” One Christian told me. But wait a second, I need to read a book and become a quasi-expert on middle eastern history and culture before I can understand the Bible?
When I picked up Douglas Coupland’s ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ I didn’t have to read another book to put the characters and places into context. I simply picked up the book and started reading it, the characters, scenes and essential background information quickly became apparent.
Another Christian told me to “ignore the old testament.” Ignore it? Hang on a second, the old testament makes up a significantly large and weighty part of my Bible. If it were simply meant to be ignored then why include it in the first place? Am I to understand that the old testament is something akin to your appendix?
I have a copy of ‘The Message,’ it’s a new testament Bible written in contemporary English. I’m going to try and read that, but what if that similarly doesn’t grab me? Is reading the Bible more like reading an instruction manual or unwieldy user guide? Right now you’re reading the words of a guy who tries to build Ikea furniture with only the briefest look at the simple instructions, so if the Bible is just a manual then I think maybe someone needs to bring out the Ikea illustrated version complete with pictures, numbered items, and left over screws!
I’ll give ‘The Message’ a try. I’ll say a prayer before I read it. It won’t be some big wordy ‘thee’s, thou’s and thy’s’ kind of prayer, just a quick word. “Hey God, you chose terrible authors for your biogrophy, if any book needs a miracle then I think it’s yours!” Maybe I won’t say exactly that, I might just skip to the miracle bit, what do you think? Perhaps if you believe in God you could say a prayer for me too.
—
Get ‘Who the hell is God?’ delivered to you by Email
Posted in General | 10 Comments »
10 Responses
to “MY DUSTY BIBLE”
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail
By Shawn Meyer on Apr 26, 2009 at 6:23 pm | Reply
Simon,
Great stuff! I truly enjoy your style. Let us remember that the Bible is a compilation of writings. Each writing unique in its own right and many written by different people. A compilation of writings put together to form a book is not necessarily best read as a book. Based on what you’ve indicated, I would recommend beginning with either Matthew or John. The Old Testament makes up 77% of the Bible, and therefore must not be ignored in my opinion. However, there may be a better time for you to tackle that. A friend told me the other day that she read the New Testament twice before reading The Old Testament. She said that it wasn’t until she read The Old Testament however, that she truly began to understand why the events described in The New (Jesus’ death, resurrection, our salvation, etc…) were necessary.
I love your quest! You are obviously an excellent “Thinker”. May I suggest the attempt to understand with your heart? Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)” Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; ” I think this verse is trying to tell us that our understanding alone, as humans, may not be enough. Could it be possible that if we allowed a slight bit of the “Feeler” in us to surface, our understanding may grow? Just a thought….Blessings!
By Existential Punk on Apr 26, 2009 at 7:57 pm | Reply
i have been a Christ-follower for over 20 years and have never read the Bible all the way through. i have read alot of it but find it rather boring for the most part. It’s not meant to be read or taken as Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (BIBLE) but rather i think as a story of G-D interacting with creation.
The Message is decent for a paraphrase version.
i am a slow reader too and my comprehension and memory is bad due to Chronic Lyme Disease affecting my cognitive abilities.
Don’t worry if you find the Bible boring. i imagine if most people were really honest, they’d feel the same way! G-D is more than words written on paper and formed into a canon by men with different political, cultural, theological, etc. motivations.
All the best to you!
Warmest Regards,
EP
By Glenn on Apr 27, 2009 at 4:38 pm | Reply
I’ve struggled with this my whole life. Different translations have helped…I enjoy The Message, but sometimes feel it is a more shallow reading than I might get otherwise. I have really enjoyed the TNIV (Today’s New International Version) because it is written with a lot of original language study, but uses language that is more in line with contemporary uses of English (gender inclusiveness, modern words, etc). While I wouldn’t suggest you skip the OT, geneologies are probably less “formative” for folks today. For me the stuff about Jesus is always the most challenging and most satisfying, whether it’s the Gospels or OT prophet like Isaiah and Jeremiah. I always look for Jesus in my reading of the Bible. Keep writting man, love your insights. Peace.
By Mark Raggett on Apr 27, 2009 at 9:05 pm | Reply
Unfortunately, as you said, the Bible is not a fiction novel like ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’. It wasn’t written by one man who’s income depended on creating a book that included all the necessary context and kept the reader with the author all the way through. It is a collection of books written by different people, at different times, to different audiences for different purposes. For example Paul wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth. Wouldn’t it be informative, or almost necessary, to have some sort of idea of the issues in that Church at the time? With that said I don’t think it is a undecipherable as to require a degree in ancient near eastern culture to understand it. I think you can understand most of the Bible as a self contained book. Knowledge of the culture definitely isn’t going to hurt though.
And no, the Bible isn’t a book you pick up and read from cover to cover. 3 years later, once you’ve recovered from the coma induced by Leviticus and made it all the way to the end of Malachi you’ll only just be getting out of Judaism and reading about Christianity. I would recommend starting with a Gospel. Mark is generally thought to be the first written, and is also nice and short. John is generally more theological so if you want a little more about who Jesus is in relation to God and what what he did means to us, as opposed to straight recounting of events, that would be a good bet. Acts and Paul’s letters are also good early reading.
The relationship of the Old Testament is an interesting question. Generally any Christian will see it in the light of the New Testament. I can see why someone might tell you to ignore it. Some of it is quite difficult, heck an early sect of Christianity thought it was about a different, less than perfect god. If you’re interested in investigating Christianity then the New Testament is going to be your first port of call. However, there is a lot of great stuff in the Old Testament that you’d be missing without it and it really sets the stage for the New Testament.
What other bible versions do you have apart from the Message? The Message is really more of a commentary on the Bible by Eugene Peterson. Knowing you the little I do I’m pretty sure you want to read the thing for yourself and not one man’s take on it. Translations run on a scale (something like http://www.themixkc.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/translations1.jpg). On one end you just translate the original language word for word and mix the words round a little so they make some sort of sense. This normally ends up being pretty clunky English. The Message is the other extreme, vaguely stick to the original text but try to make it as readable possible. The choice is readibility or faithfulness to the original languages but there’s lots of translations that give a decent balance. I think you might prefer a Today’s New International Version (TNIV) or New Living Translation (NLT) which are still pretty readable but deserve to be called translations of the original languages instead of a paraphrase like the Message.
Why not go for an audio bible? Or even try to find a Christian that you like and read it with them so they can give you their opinion (you can say you’re interviewing a Christian on some portions of the Bible for your blog instead of calling it a Bible study if you like). It seemed to help a guy mentioned in the book of Acts (Acts 8:26-38).
By Shane on Apr 27, 2009 at 10:40 pm | Reply
Simon,
Mark gives some good and (I think) balanced advice here. Having said that, I truly enjoy The Message paraphrase and read it regularly. If that is what you think you would prefer, enjoy it to the fullest! It is good stuff. I would also encourage you to get a small bible handbook that will help with those basic context and culture questions. Suggestions would be Halley’s Bible Handbook or Nelson’s Bible Handbook. These are cheap if you buy used through Amazon. Don’t worry, these are not books you need to read cover to cover in addition to the bible. They are just for reference when you have various questions that might be cleared up when understanding the original intent of the text and cultural context. I prefer the NLT for basic reading. Also, the audio book I suggested in my previous post, “Letters from a Skeptic” includes some great questions about the nature of the bible. I hope this helps.
Shane
By Chloe on Apr 28, 2009 at 9:12 am | Reply
You have gained some pretty horrendous advice from christians you’ve spoken to, I shudder to think who could quote me on equally horrific lines…I’ll have to watch that! In fact, the volumes of hefty emails i’ve sent you in recent months will probably contain evidence enough…
Anyway, the Bible…I reckon every honest christian would agree that at times it’s hard going. But being told to ignore the Old Testament is BAD advice. But it’s not necessarily where you need to start. The apostle Paul speaks about milk and solid foods at various points in his letters to the churches. The whole process of weaning. God’s Word is likened to bread and sustenance, so it follows that a food anology comes into play. I guess to start with, and then again at many points in your life, you stick to the milk – so probably the gospels…and acts…Then when you’re coming to terms with that you break yourself into the rest of it.
All i’d say, at risk of sounding like a patronising nice churchy person, is that it’s worth persevering.
Everyone will give you different instructions on where to start. Generally dictated by their favourite books. That’s where i’d probably say John, because his philosophy and his poetry grab me. But there’s no one best starting point. You’ll figure it out.
I laughed when i read your accusation that God chose really bad authors! Some christians are uptight about how we describe the Bible, they’re immensely over protective, and i think sometimes their insistence on the literal historical word of God is more detrimental than they realise. The Bible is a human book – that’s a beautiful thing isn’t it? There can be such separation between human and divine – so much emphasis on our fallenness and general rubbishness. God made us didn’t He? He became one of us didn’t He? He affirms our humanity. And i think He did that with the Bible too. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says God choses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. I reckon that goes for the Bible too. And that’s sort of its beauty and its miracle. Everyday plebs were taken on and used by God to speak to His people, and their books aren’t purged of their personalities, they’re full of them! So probably when we jar with some passages, or yawn at others, it can be as much a personality clash as being in a state of theological error. I think the easiest way to look at it, and for me the most helpful, is to consider the incarnation. Jesus – the divine godhead took on flesh! God’s Word is His Word so far as it speaks of Christ – no more no less. The ‘truth’ takes on humanity in those written words, and in that way God mediates His thoughts to us in ways we can begin to comprehend.
Does any of that make sense?
Sometimes the Bible is the most exciting book we can dream of picking up. Sometimes its dry, dull and unappealing. Kind of like a real human relationship i guess.
This is a kick in the backside for me. I go through phases of loving the Bible and being a proper geek studying it, and phases like now of barely motivating myself to bother. Ridiculously, i know when i do, and when i press on through the pages with a humble heart and mind i’ll be inspired again. Also, i know i need other people to be excited about it and talk to me about it, then that Bible fever sort of catches.
I’ve got a busy busy day today. And reading my Bible was the first sacrifice i was going to make. But i reckon now i should pick it up, for at least 5 mins and give God a chance to speak.
I hope some of these musings are vaguely sensible, perhaps even helpful.
By Rachel on May 2, 2009 at 7:34 pm | Reply
Ha! Mark recommended Mark… no comment
You’ve got so much information here about the versions etc. I thought of just two things I’d like to add.
1. Audio Bible. As I’m sitting here thinking about it, I wonder if maybe, you’re not a visual learner but Audio is better for you. I’m not sure… but I know you spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, music (an inordinate amount I would say…), and ted talks- so I think may audio might be the best approach for you. You’ve mentioned to me before great podcasts you listen to etc. and its never really inspired me quite like it has you because I just have a hard time learning and taking in chunks of information just by listening to it. Maybe audio is to you what books are to me? I could read anytime, any day, and just go on and on and on. Its just how I was made. Which leads me to point 2….
2. I also suspect that you take in information by engaging with it… responding to it. Maybe if you did something like, write your own psalm or something like that it might help you interact with the text more. I dont take in information too well like in a lecture, but if I’m writing it, or if I’m dialoguing with someone about it- I understand everything very very well. I know you read a lot to prove your points, like for your blogs. Maybe if you read and respond somehow, or dialogue with someone about it, it will help you understand or learn from the text better. Its just my initial thoughts, and I certainly don’t want to project what helps me learn on you- but as I thought about it- it made sense that this might help you given what I know about you.
Hope that helps and hope your reading/ interacting/ listening time is a blast.
Rachel
By Ralph on Jul 2, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Reply
How is the Bible study going?
By Simon Jones on Jul 3, 2009 at 7:33 pm | Reply
It’s going slowly but surely Ralph. The old testament isn’t good. I’ll blog about that soon, just got busy these last few weeks is all. Thanks for asking though.
By Dawn on Jul 31, 2009 at 1:51 pm | Reply
I have been a Christian for many years and confess to having not read the entirity of the Bible and have an appalling memory for chapter and verse. My preferred version is the New Living Translation, somewhere between the Message and the King James. It helped me – perhaps it will you too. Have to say Simon, I like your honesty. There are not many people around brave enough to stick their head above the parapet and talk openly and honestly about their understanding and struggle with faith.
I think the OT is important and valuable but it is the NT that brings my faith and my relationship with God alive. The Bible’s not God’s biography but through everything that’s written we get to know so much more of the heart of God and His love for everyone. We can learn that He is fair and just and true. He is not to be feared but reveared. He is loving and not a tyrant.
I believe in God and, as requested, I will pray that as you read the true and real nature of God will become aparant and that the words you read will cease to be dry and boring but will radiate life and truth. God bless.