Is the Bible less significant

A friend of mine lent me a book he has written lamenting what he sees as a loss of respect for and personal use of the Bible in the lives of Christians today. He is writing, of course from an English perspective. I found myself largely in sympathy with much that he had written. The following comes from mt letter on returning the book.

Recently I heard it suggested that the emphasis on “professional ministry” had led to the decline in scripture knowledge and I think that might be partly true but it is far from the whole truth. I would blame the emphasis on professional ministry for disabling Christians generally but that is another matter.

Like many my age I grew up with the benefit of a structured Sunday School where the Bible was taught. In that hall there was a slogan left by a visiting missionary. It stated “Find a time and a place to pray, and read your Bible every day”. I was also made to take the annual Sunday School Union Scripture Examination and we were drilled on this for several weeks. Consequently before I became a committed Christian I had a good knowledge of what the Bible was about, how it was compiled, the main characters etc. It was like having been to Bible College!

Today we have what I consider generally the benefit of having various versions of the scriptures. The aim has been to make the Bible more accessible. While to some extent that aim has succeeded it has not obviously led to a general increase in personal Bible study, which is where I would like to see greater emphasis. There are some great exceptions and I am always delighted when I see teenagers carrying Bibles to church – often where the adults do not do so.

I feel that there are probably three areas of weakness:

The first of these is the loss of the “family alter”. There is nothing like being introduced to the great stories of scripture from an early age.

The second is a weakness within many theological and Bible colleges, where, it seems, the values of scripture reading (public and private) seems not to have a high profile. If students learned how to engage with the scriptures in a dynamic way during the time of their training they would bring that into their ministry.

The third is in the area of public worship. Here I would place the blame not so much on the absence or limits of scripture reading, but more on the way that it is done. In most churches that I go to it sounds boring. Saying either before or afterwards anything about hearing the Word of God will do little if it is not then communicated appropriately. Even in evangelical churches I have heard the Bible read as if reading from a text book or a car manual. Boring!

Much that is in the Bible is drama but that is so often lost. So I would urge having sessions where people learn to read the scriptures with more expression, with pauses, and appropriate emphasis. A ministry colleague of mine always ensures that when she reads the Bible she makes it live. She has sometimes done this by creating a dialogue, or by allowing someone (prepared) to make interjections or ask questions. It really makes people sit up and listen.

Other good ideas include ensuring that other elements in a service complement the scripture readings, or by providing some way of “spotlighting” the scripture reading to aid that focus to what it actually said. Reading the gospel from within the congregation and having everyone stand to listen can be useful, but not so much when done every Sunday, as it then becomes too familiar. I rather like the custom of a URC minister known to me who concludes the Bible reading by holding the book aloft and towards the congregation and saying, “The Word of God for the People of God”, to which the congregation is expected to respond, “Thanks be to God”.

In conclusion I return to the issue of personal Bible reading through the week. I think we could come up with more creative ways of encouraging this. On a purely personal level I have found using hymns and worship songs and scripture together to be helpful. Sometimes I sit and read through a hymn carefully and thoughtfully and then turn to the scriptures it brings to mind. Sometimes the scriptures then bring another hymn to mind, and so we go on. This is very much akin to Brethren and earlier Pentecostal morning meetings.

And a PS would be to remind myself that if I expect others to be inspired to read God’s Word and be blessed by it then I must ensure that my own experience is a good one and that my life is being informed and excited by reading God’s precious word.