According to Evangelicals, the Bible is the most important book ever written. The Bible, unlike all other books ever written, is a supernatural book written by a supernatural God through human instrumentation. Every word is true, without error or contradiction. The Bible is God’s blueprint for our lives, a roadmap that leads to life eternal. You would think, then, that Evangelicals would read and study the Bible every day, increasing in knowledge and understanding.
Think about it. If there was one book out of the 150,000,000 million or so ever written that told you everything you needed to know about this life and the life to come, you would likely read and study it every day. Nothing would be more important than what God said, right? Why, then, do most Christians rarely, if ever, read the Bible? Evangelicals talk a good line about God, Jesus, and salvation, yet most of them have never read the Bible through once. Most Evangelicals rely solely on what their pastors say from the pulpit or what they read in an apologetics book to define their beliefs.
As a committed follower of Jesus, I read and studied the Bible every day. I read both the Old and New Testaments through from the table of contents to the index many times. I thought it important for a born-again Christian to read, study, and understand the Bible. Yet, most of the Christians I knew, including some pastors, weren’t diligent Bible readers. They knew they ought to, but life got in the way.
I finally concluded that most believers sincerely wanted to read and study the Bible as their pastors did, but they simply didn’t have the time and energy to do so. Long hours of work and domestic obligations severely limited the time they had to devote to the “Word.” I was paid to pray and read the Bible, so, of course, I could leisurely devote myself to reading the Bible. The people I pastored didn’t have the freedom I did. They had to make time in their limited schedules to read the Bible. Sometimes, “life” got in the way of doing so. I know that my partner, Polly, had six children to raise and educate, and a busy husband to care for. When did she have time to read and study the Bible? She tried, but failed, and felt guilty for years over his lack of Bible reading. Years ago, I apologized to her for the blame and guilt I laid at her feet. Polly loves to read, but back in the day, she didn’t have the time to do so, and, quite frankly, she didn’t find the Good Book all that interesting — as I am sure many of you can attest.
That said, we show what we value by what we do. Based on their behavior, it is clear that most Evangelicals really don’t value the teachings of the Bible. They are content to live their lives according to the beliefs and pronouncements of parents, preachers, and teachers. They have what I call “borrowed beliefs/theology.” Rare is the Christian who devotes himself to reading, studying, and understanding the sixty-six books of the Christian Bible.
Are you are former Evangelical? What were your Bible reading habits? Did you read the Bible every day? Every week? Sporadically, if ever? Did you read the Bible from cover to cover at least once? Did you feel guilty when you didn’t read the Bible? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Okay 👍, now I know how to leave a comment in the Comment section, lol!
Yes, I was guilty of reading my bible a lot less than I might give the impression of doing. As years went by, I stopped buying books of daily readings cos they used the OT as much as the NT and I found myself disliking the authors’ comments, the spiritualising of a ‘loving heavenly father’ who ordered so many acts of genocide and brutality. I stuck with the NT. And, wow, your comment about Polly not finding it a good read really, really resonates. I tried sooo hard over sooo many years to believe that my daily reading was god speaking to me, but honestly, I had to manufacture a spiritual feeling that this was so.
Can you still buy those ‘Promise Boxes’ which have scrolls of individual bible verses in them for you to pick out? I always privately thought if god really needed me to know something that day, what a bizarre way to tell me. Friends used a daily verse on their desk calendars to get advice, or randomly saw one on a public billboard that they just knew was god speaking to them.
Now that so many x-tians read the bible on their devices, I wonder if many are relieved, they haven’t got to physically pick up that bible by their bedside, their desk or from their coffee table where it was always traditionally on show -they’re now able to give the impression to family and friends etc that they study it daily online….but I’m pretty sure many don’t.
I read through the Bible at least six times as an Evangelical. I was fanatical about it. Every word. Every name in every genealogy. All the endless rants of the prophets. God put all these words there. They must be there for a purpose.
It took me years to realize those names don’t have a purpose. Much of the book is endless ramblings that ancients thought were important. But they do nothing to clarify anything I need in life.
Plow through Leviticus or Numbers and tell me all of that is there because God wants it to be there.
It is so odd that Evangelicals think these are the very words of God and do not read them.
I agree with you on Leviticus and Numbers. I read through these books, desperately looking for anything that would nourish my “soul.” I came away empty, feeling like I just read the phone book. ❤️🤬🤣❤️
I did it again! I sent comment accidentally as a message! Sorry, Bruce! It’s been alot of late nights 🌙 I’m a bit on the forgetful side.
I read it but in the Good News Bible translation, not KJV. My mom, an intelligent person and avid reader, understood that I’d likely never get through it if forced to read what is often boring and confusing in Shakespearean language! I don’t know if she ever read it through herself – probably – but I’d bet that my grandma did, probably many times. They’re the only ones in my family that I expect read the entire Bible.
Most people i knew used devotionals like “Our Daily Bread” to sample the Bible. They felt like they were putting in the work, I suppose.
When I was going through deconstruction I heard a podcast with Rob Bell saying “you’re reafing the Bible wrong”. (I was pretty sure there wasn’t a God but was reading a lot of books about who the writers of the Bible may have been, some about the prevailing historical and philosophical influences were for the centuries these works were written, etc). Rob Bell said we needed to understand that these works were written to pass along information that people of the era thought was important to pass along. We needed to understand more about the context of the periods – which is what I was doing but from the standpoint of deconstruction.
I don’t read the Bible anymore. I’m much more concerned with the rise of fascism in the US.
I read it but in the Good News Bible translation, not KJV. My mom, an intelligent person and avid reader, understood that I’d likely never get through it if forced to read what is often boring and confusing in Shakespearean language! I don’t know if she ever read it through herself – probably – but I’d bet that my grandma did, probably many times. They’re the only ones in my family that I expect read the entire Bible.
Most people i knew used devotionals like “Our Daily Bread” to sample the Bible. They felt like they were putting in the work, I suppose.
When I was going through deconstruction I heard a podcast with Rob Bell saying “you’re reafing the Bible wrong”. (I was pretty sure there wasn’t a God but was reading a lot of books about who the writers of the Bible may have been, some about the prevailing historical and philosophical influences were for the centuries these works were written, etc). Rob Bell said we needed to understand that these works were written to pass along information that people of the era thought was important to pass along. We needed to understand more about the context of the periods – which is what I was doing but from the standpoint of deconstruction.
I don’t read the Bible anymore. I’m much more concerned with the rise of fascism in the US.
I’m pretty sure I read the Bible cover to cover 4-5 times. I read much of the Bible multiple times beyond that. For many years as an evangelical, I read the Bible almost every day. I usually did some kind of more intense study a couple times a week. Yes, I did feel guilty if I went more than a couple days without reading. Of course, I interpreted the Bible through the lenses/brain washing of the particular flavor of evangelicalism I was part of. It was the charismatic/word of faith bunch. Shortly before my deconstruction started, my wife and I started seeing some serious issues in the churches we had been part of and we quit attending church for a while. During this time, now relatively free from the 3 times a week church influence, I did a deep study of the Bible, the history of the Bible, the history of the church, etc. Needless to say, I was shocked at both what I found and didn’t find. I started to realize that much of what I had been taught and had been teaching was not what the Bible said. Not really. You can make the Bible say a lot of things if you combine the right scriptures. Especially out of context. My wife didn’t follow me very far down this rabbit hole, but I kept going. I can say that it was an honest and deep study of the Bible that made me an atheist. It wasn’t until after I decided that I didn’t believe any of this anymore that I found agnostic and atheist YouTube channels, blogs, podcasts, books, etc. I haven’t read the Bible in many years, now.
On a side note, this last Sunday, my wife was asked to share her testimony and teach a little at a church she has been attending. I’ve known the pastor there for about 25 years. We used to do lots of ministry stuff together and what not. He knows I’m not attending church and haven’t for a long time. Of course, its because I’m being deceived by the devil. I wasn’t uncomfortable at all, it was what I was in for years. It’s a small COGIC/Pentecostal type church. I have to say, my wife did a wonderful job! This Sunday I’ll be there again to support her and I’ve been asked to bring my trumpet. Just like the old days. LOL There were a couple things that made even my wife cringe this last Sunday. During the music/worship part of the service, the congregation was encouraged to turn to the person next to them and say something about them being a millionaire. “Eye roll” Then the worship leader had a young lady come up for prayer to cast the “spirit of depression” out of her. Ugh!!!
“the congregation was encouraged to turn to the person next to them and say something about them being a millionaire
That sounds like a congregation that is under the influence of Trumpism. Very disturbing that Christians are allowing themselves to be controlled by politicians now.
Hi Ange. Yes, that is part of it and it’s getting worse all the time. But the “God wants you to be a millionaire” thing has been around for a while in the prosperity gospel churches. People can make the Bible say just about anything.
Alas, I never read the whole thing. I’d say the Genesis is great Babylonian mythology with a bit of kosher salt. I like creation myths and God summoning forth the universe like Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice is quite stirring. I’ve also read Ecclesiastes, Job, and John and much of the other Gospels. Much of it is boring and a hard read, especially if you insist on reading a 500 year old translation. I get it though, the thees and thous give it a flavor almost like it came from some ancient wellspring. KJV has a poetic panache as well. ¶ I currently have Asimov’s guide to the Bible 1&2 on my shelf, even that seems like too much of a chore to pull them down and give it a read, but I’d really like to hear what an atheist, Jew, and supergenius like Asimov had to say about it.
Hey, I didn’t know Asimov wrote that book! I’m sure it’s pretty interesting.