1.2 – Your Experience with the Bible

[Joonghee]

Reading the Bible alone is very difficult.

If you read the New Testament first, it will be difficult to understand the Bible, and you will skip the Old Testament later.
So, I first read the Pentateuch and read the Synoptic Gospels and the Old and New Testaments again.

I do not agree that the Bible is the big story about Jesus, but if it is limited to the New Testament, I can agree.
I think the Bible is the story of our ancestors. It is the story of people just like us who our ancestors made mistakes, and they tell us that we should do well and not make mistakes like our ancestors.

[Kathryn]

I realize over the years that my approach to the bible has changed from a pinball approach to a much deeper revelation. One thing that has remained the same has been my longing to engage my head and heart to seek and understand God while reading the scriptures. To know who God is in a much deeper level and intertwining the spirit within me with this. To me the bible is a form of commune with God. I usually wait to see where God is leading me to read what scriptures – whether it is an entire book, a few verses or a certain genre or point in time.

Having said that, I can also remove myself from the texts and read it like a story. To hear God speak to a broader audience than just me. To learn and grow how God has moved throughout humanity to bring us to today and the toward the future. But always desiring to learn more of God.

[ECO]

This is so beautiful Kathryn. It is nice to hear how you wait on God to know what to read, but that you also have a broader understanding of the Bible’s role. It reminds me of the famous quote usually attributed to Kierkegaard: “The Bible is God’s love letter to us.”

[Brian]

I’ve been a Christian for just over 20 years at this point. In that time, the way in which I read the Bible has changed quite a few times. It has definitely had the “open to a random page and read” approach, but as of late I have been more apt to following a reading plan. I have also just finished preaching a sermon series on Ephesians, which had me spending additional time on a small portion of Scripture for a longer period. I think that going forward, this may become my hybrid method.

I think that looking at the Bible as a whole story is really important. Everything from beginning to end points forward to and back to Jesus. Realistically, without Jesus, the Old Testament would leave us feeling empty and looking for a resolution to the story, whole the New Testament would ultimately have no meaning and likely not exist at all. With the life of Christ being the pivotal moment, we need to read the rest of the story with that in mind. An instruction manual can be compartmentalized and chopped up into bits that you only look at when you need to know about certain things. These are two completely different styles.

[ECO]

Brian, thanks for these comments. It is clear that the story of Scripture becomes more meaningful when we read the whole bible and not just the New Testament. It is sometimes helpful to think of the OT as the family photo album. As Christians, if we don’t learn to read the whole bible we become like Alzheimer’s patients who can’t remember our past or a plant with withering roots.

[Josh]

My experience of the Bible has changed throughout my life. As a kid I used it more like a pinball machine, but as I became older I learned to read the bible using a yearly plan. When I came to Bible College, I loved studying the historical context and learning the ways that God speaks to humanity in “time” but also in “timeless” ways.

I have found that thinking of the Bible as a story about Jesus instead of an instructional book helps me to view it as a coherent work, and not just separate books. Also, it keeps me mindful that I am part of a big story with Jesus as the main character.