I don’t think anyone - Christian or not - will disagree with me when I say that the Bible - the Old Testament and the New Testament - is the most important book to Christianity. From the “liberal” Christians who think of it as a collection of tales and parables, inspired by God, to the more fundamentalist Christians who believe that it’s the literal word of God, and that everything written in it happened exactly that way, its importance to Christians cannot be overestimated.
Yet, it’s surprising how the majority of Christians don’t really know most of their Bible, having never read it, or most of it, in their lifetimes. They only know the parts they hear in church sermons: usually, the beginning of Genesis, parts of Exodus, the Gospels, and parts of Paul’s letters.
Which strikes me as very odd, to say the least. I don’t know about you, but if I truly believed, with all my heart, that this one book was the word of God - either inspired, or literal -, and that what was inside that book could mean the difference between salvation and hell, I’d find the time to read it!
Think about it. If you’re a Christian, why haven’t you read the Bible from beginning to end, and possibly several times? You don’t have the time? Too busy with your job? I’d think that the salvation of your eternal soul, and the better understanding of God’s word, would be worth taking less work home for a couple of nights. After all, is your reputation at the office more important than knowing the word of God?
Or maybe you don’t like to read. Fine, a lot of people don’t. Still, it’s your soul! Eternal, never-ending. If you can’t be inconvenienced to do something you don’t enjoy even once, if you can’t be bothered to know his word, will God be pleased with your dedication? I doubt it.
The problem goes even further than this. In early medieval times, the Bible wasn’t translated to most languages (translating it was a part of Martin Luther’s “heresy”), and even masses were in Latin; the priests were the intermediaries between the common people and the Bible, and that was exactly how then wanted it. Ignorant people would believe anything the priests said, and were much easier to control.
These days, on the other hand, translated Bibles are everywhere, and many newer translations are in modern English, and easy to read, instead of being in archaic English, like in the King James version. So, there should be no excuse, right?
And, yet, I don’t think priests / pastors / ministers really encourage their “flock” to read the Bible, except for some of the more common parts. Can it be because they don’t want to lose their relevance as intermediaries between men and God, as it was with medieval priests? That may be a part of it, but I think that the main reason is something else.
And that reason is this: many people would be horrified by several parts of the Bible, and might reject it outright. And I don’t mean just the Old Testament. Therefore, Christians are fed the “nicer” parts, and aren’t really encouraged to read the rest of the word of God.
Which parts? What’s really in the Bible that may be repulsive to modern people? That’s for part 2, as this one is already getting too long. 
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Looking forward to reading part 2. Great introduction here and a very well written text.
Did you know that the Bible is one of the compulsory readings in some Literature courses in Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa? I’ve never read it (I did read the illustrated version of it though, but it’s not really the same, is it?). No wonder, really. I always refused attending Sunday School as well.
Well, I would sure read the Bible when I have time. You have to agree that it’s one of the best pieces of man’s work, don’t you?
I am not quite sure that what you said about priest and pastors not wanting their “flock” to read the bible is quite right. I have always been told I need to read all of the bible. Yes, some parts are scary to think about but, that is like the saying, “the fear of GOD.” Pastors encourge us to question the our readings that is how we learn from them. I am not sure what type of church you may have attended, but that does not sound like any church that I have ever heard of.
To the first 2 commenters: as an atheist, I think that the Bible is a fascinating read. It’s a piece of history, written thousands of years ago, and gives us an insight into the myths and customs of the ancient Israelites.
Also, some parts, especially in the King James version, are beautifully poetic.
I plan to read the Koran too, in the future. I love history and mythology, and these old books are fascinating in those aspects.
tinni: both from my experience, and from everything others have told me, most pastors don’t really encourage people to read all the Bible. They don’t tell them not to do it, either, but their main focus is on church activities, prayer, and so on.
And it’s a fact that most Christians haven’t read even 25% of the Bible.
Anyway, the “horrifying” parts of the Bible I mention aren’t about hellfire and damnation. I don’t mean that kind of scary. It’s a different kind - related to this world, and to humanity, not to the afterlife. You’ll see what I mean, in the next parts…
As a human being, being a priest would be one difficult task.
If you told someone they should read the bible, there’s plenty of things they may take from it that are absolutely horrible. Like “Jerusalem was meant for Jews and everybody else there should die.”? People are impressionable.
Yet, the bible is what a priest is supposed to use for text on living.
So if I were a priest, (Personally far from it) I’d pick parts from the book that I thought made good sense, and repeat them over and over to people I thought… just weren’t getting it.
So a priest has a form of responcibility NOT to bring people into an old world form of view, using old text.
Taking very old text and turning into good values today though, isn’t THAT hard, (”Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone”) and some priest fail miserably.
[quote post="147"]So if I were a priest, (Personally far from it) I’d pick parts from the book that I thought made good sense, and repeat them over and over to people I thought… just weren’t getting it.[/quote]
But it’s the “picking and choosing” thing again: if you do the above, aren’t you, in effect, creating your own religion? If you choose to ignore 90% of the Bible, why not ignore 100% of it? Why is it that some parts remain divinely inspired, while others are obviously the product of bigoted, primitive men?
But I’ll write more about this in the next parts of “The Dark Side of the Bible”.
Good point. With that effect of making your own religion, I’m sure that’s what most people do than.
Can’t wait for Part 2.
Im a christian and I agree with everything you said. I have a view of Christianity that many I know find hard to accept. To me it seems obvious, but its a Christianity that isn’t as “easy”.
Find every parable that Jesus used to describe the “kindom of heaven” and you will see that there is one recurring theme that is hard to miss. The kingdom of heaven is a collection of people who BELIEVE, but only those who meet Gods standards are accepted by him. So believing in God/Jesus gets you in the door you could say, but following the word of God keeps you in. Jesus said that, “you are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.”(john 8:31).
In the parable of the king having a wedding party for his son(matthew 22:2), even though the person was in the “party”, because he wasn’t wearing “wedding clothes” he was thrown out. If you believe that you are going to a wedding, you wear wedding clothes. If, like you said in your post, you believe in God/Jesus, you study what He had to say and you follow it.
So I believe that belief in Jesus without practice of His words is NOT salvation. This upsets a lot of Christians I know, but its what the Bible says. What sort of belief leads you to do the opposite anyways? Atheists can take comfort in the fact that the “christians” who spend more time condemning others than becoming like Christ, will most likely be in hell soon. . . but who really knows for sure
The Bible is a product of human history, but that does not preclude divine agency. According to the biblical witness God enters human history, picks up people where they are and leads them where he wants them to be. This is a historical process that can easily be seen in biblical history itself. Once we understand that we can be critical of biblical statements in the name of God without losing the underlying redemptive dynamic of the Word of God.
If you are interested in my research (I am a professional theologian), visit my website http://www.klaus-nurnberger.com where you will find a position paper, abstracts of my two books on the subject and further details. There is also a blog: puzzled-bored-upset-by-the-bible. I would appreciate your cmments there.
Klaus